After a long previous day, we were slow to get going and wanted to give our underneath bits a little more recovery time. They’re taking their time to adjust to their new role!
We set off at noon and did a bit more Troglodyting in the cliffs by the campsite.
The workshop of a metal sculptor
Having had enough of caves, we braved the heat and once again continued east along the river.
Thankfully the route was often through trees so was cooler.
First stop at a cute little cabin in the woods for refreshments. Best lunch stop so far: our own little sandy beach, cooling water and a great view. Photo from the middle of the river. The crystal clear water is no more than 3 ft deep with a sandy bottom all the way across. There is quite a strong current but never too difficult to walk through.Cycling past this crop of Mariajuana, (hemp) The smell of it reminded me of walking through urban parks. Not sure why?! Shady trail along the river.A fun stop at Bréhémont where we were greeted by a scruffy bloke with a ponytail, who offered us a surprise cold drink. If we could guess what was in it, it would be free!! It tasted a bit like cider, but “apples” was the wrong answer! In fact it was pear sirop and fizzy wine. The same man with the ponytail, who incidentally spoke 5 languages, rented out these bikes. Propelled by an electric motor powered by hydrogen and oxygen . I’ve not heard of them before; probably another scam of his; just a push bike really with a fat frame!Overnight at Villandry
Actually this was the chateau in the village of Villandry where we stayed, but the hotel wasn’t worth photographing.
Another beautiful ride. The furthest ride so far, and another 34 degree day! Luckily, loads of access to the river to cool off!
The bikes are performing very well, and we still had 30% power remaining after nearly 100 km👍🏼
The cycle route has been cleverly designed to take you to interesting places that you would not normally see by road.
Very well signposted route, necessary as it keeps diving off in different directions!Navigation rock for the old bargesYet another crossing of the riverBikes get a lane either way but cars only have one lane to share!!👍🏼😁 Most bridges the same. Approaching SamurArt on routeInto troglodyte territory😵💫Entrance into to caves; an actual road.
So cool after the heat outside. Like cycling into a fridge!
Finally made it, after several stops to swim and to buy drink, to arrive at our overnight stop in a tent on stilts, overlooking the Loire.
Searching for a restaurant last night. Only found a Crêperie; should have been called a crapperie!A bit cramped on top but comfy beds!
A beautiful day to set off, on our first leg on the EV 6 route eastwards along the Loire.
Leaving Nantes town centre
The river is tidal at this point, so very muddy, like the Severn.
After about 20 kms it became much less dirty and the countryside was very productive.
A sweet potato crop
We crossed the Loire 4 times during the day, which was a bit hairy, as we had some strong easterlies, and as the bridges were narrow, a fair bit of wobbling went on as other traffic passed us.
4 big leek gages , just been harvested, on route to the packing shed I assume. First stop of the day
So many access points to the river and it’s sandy beaches. We enjoyed 3 swims through the day to cool off in the 34 deg heat.
I made it to a weir mid stream with a herd of cattle on the far back on a beach of their own!Lunch stop, perched on a dead willow treeInteresting flood marker through the years
Beautifully maintained cycle route
Nice pad in the country, overlooking the riverLooking towards our next bridge crossingFinally at our accommodation , on the banks of the Loire……..Beer o’ clock
Yesterday, Sept 2nd, we had breakfast in Bordeaux then caught a train to La Rochelle.
There was no space on the intercity for any cycles (vélos) so we had to travel on the TER train, which basically stops at every station, but is free for vélos!😀.
Great; but everyone else likes “free”, so are trying to get their bike on board. It was a very stressful bun fight; trying to board two laden electric bikes onto a pretty full train!!😡
Lifts weren’t big enough so you either had to push bikes up stairs or wheelie them into lifts!
2hrs :30 mins later we arrived in La Rochelle.
A much nicer grand station. With a 3 hour wait for our next train. We had a pedal around the pretty town and had a great lunch. We even managed a trip on La Rochelle Eye!
Very fancy station On board La Rochelle Eye
On route to Nantes, after another chaotic boarding. The young vélo controller badly tied our bikes up with 2 others and after a few miles they all came crashing down it the aisle🤬 Sue’s was badly scratched and my mirror popped off.
At this point we decided that trains and laden electric bikes don’t work!!
After a 1:30hr ride, we finally arrived at our starting destination: Nantes, exhausted!
We finished our day in a nice Irish bar in the centre, by the cathedral, where the best bars are usually found!!
Day 3
Recovery day.
Nantes is a lovely city with nearly as many bikes as Amsterdam!!
Another hot day forecast so we decided to take our bikes to the Animal Machine site on the Isle de Nantes in the middle of the Loire.
A fascinating place, where we ended up riding a huge mechanical 50 ton elephant; instead of a bike for a change!
In Nantes!!10 metre high Jumbo with capacity for 50 peopleBeautifully constructed with laminated tulip tree wood.
Other animal machines were also interesting, but the jumbo was the best.
I’d be love to have been the driver in charge of the trunk!A mechanical heron flew over us!
Tomorrow we start cycling on the Euro Vélo 6 towards the east. Unfortunately it’s forecast to be a strong headwind and hot again, so we plan on an early start.
It’s the 1st of September and Sue & I are off on our second bike adventure.
Euro Vélo 6 marked in purple. Starting from Nantes.
The long term plan is to cycle across Europe to the Black Sea, following the Eurovelo Route 6 starting from Nantes in France, (50 kms from the Atlantic)
The first leg is from Nantes to Freising, where we hope to be at the end of September. Then hopefully continue in the spring; if we have the desire to do so!
2 years ago we cycled back to Gloucester on the Eurovelo Route 1, accompanied by our little dog Huxley. It was a great experience so we wanted to try another one of these long distance routes.
This year we’ll soon have a combined age of 130🤭, so we’ve therefore decided to go with pedal assist bikes, to help our old legs. For those who are not familiar with these machines, they have an electric motor which helps you pedal. However if you don’t pedal, they don’t go anywhere.
It’s a bit like a match funding programme: the more you invest, the more you’re given.
The bike has 11 gears and there are 4 power settings; therefore you have 44 choices.
Both bikes are the same except Sue’s has a small frame to account for her short legs!
We’ve had these machines for 6 months and have found them superb. This month long trip will be a real test for them!
Day 1 Sept 1st
Borde Neuve-Agen 63 kms
Agen was our first destination and where we boarded a train to get to Bordeaux then onto Nantes, to start the EV6 route.
I wanted to see how hard it would be to travel with a fully loaded bike in a train???
Ready to leave Borde Neuve on a warm Friday morning at 10:30Leaving Borde NeuveMum and Dad, looking after the dogs and house, see us off.
Warm day to start, so BOTF hat required to stop my head burning as not much hair left to do that job!First stop for a snack from the cold box!Next to the Canal du Midi, a Public Abattoir!!🤔
Very strange place with spectator seating!
A scene I thought more common in Roman times!! Shame, no public executions today!
Or do you invite people to watch your animals being slaughtered??
The journey along the canal cycle path was very pleasant under the shade giving plane trees. They are in a period of moulting their bark in great slabs.
Our first experience of train stations with bikes! Lifts not big enough for laden bikes!
After arriving at Agen, we found our train was delayed by 2:30hrs🤬
Luckily another earlier one was able to take us, but with a 45 min delay in our schedule it meant we’d not catch the next train booked to take us to Nantes.
We were both tired after a hot day, so when we arrived in Bordeaux, we were somewhat relieved, and found a hotel close to the station. After a pizza and a wine, we were in bed by 10!!💤
Euro Vélo Route 6 