Day 9 - Monday 20th September, 2010
Briare > Marseille-les-Aubigny
55.9 miles
5:10 moving time, 10.8 mph moving average
An early-ish start and another cold morning. My question of "is this weather normal for the time of year?" to the hotel owner was answered before she even spoke. The smirk and look of disgust said it all. "Non". Apparently the lowest of the lows are normally around 12 degrees, not between zero and two, and we're not the only ones who are upset about it.
Still, we weren't in tents last night, the Loire was amazing yesterday, and we feel good. A little tiredness in the legs (and bum, and back, and wrists, and neck), but nothing too much.
We never got bored of the views!
We stay on the Briare side for a bit before we cross, and the sun's out but it's not warmed up yet. Fingers crossed this afternoon will be as hot and sunny as yesterday - still can't quite get over the temperature range we cover in one day.
This section is lacking a path surface, and we're riding on the harsh foundations - it's still being worked on and it's not all quite ready - this section's due to be finished next year we think. In fact we don't think we're even meant to be riding on it but we can't see another way round.
Nuclear power. Lovely spot for it.
We see another power station and again we think it's nuclear. Later this is confirmed by a radiation symbol on a sign. Nice. As we said yesterday, it's just unbelievable that anyone would consider building one here. The cooling towers and smoke stacks look amazing in their own way though. We ride very close to it, and the path only just detours us around it.
There are quite a few more unfinished sections now, and it's hard-going on some of it. We're obviously riding carefully not only for our safety, but because we don't want to ride the bikes to destruction - loaded up hard as they are. For the sake of man and machine, we detour off the cycle way after a couple more bone-crunching miles.
Huge nuclear power station aside, the scenery is just as amazing, and we keep stopping to look and take snaps.
We're constantly amazed at the scenery
Sancerre is marked on the map, just off the river route. Technically it's part of the trail.
We're in a slight dilemma as we're on a tough schedule, but at the same time it's the one place we're both familiar with from drinking enough of their wine, and we decide that it's a detour worth adding to the schedule.
Idyllic spot for fishing.
So, we're off on our pilgrimage to Sancerre.
After a few days of flat riding, what we're not prepared for in any way is that Sancerre's sits at the top of a big hill, and it's a very steep climb up. We don't know it's vital statistics, but it looks a bit 'interesting' to say the least. Of course had we done some research we would have known this in advance....
It's now burning hot, and after many long, gruelling minutes of pedalling, and perhaps even the odd swear word, we near the top. It's nearly wiped us (me) out though, with my pedals having been spinning at a hundred miles an hour, and the village is still higher. Had we known it was so high and the gradient so steep, we almost certainly wouldn't have bothered coming, considering the time pressure we're up against.
We can't resist it. We think we earned it.
Once we're up there we're glad we did though as the views are amazing. We grab a quick lunch of salads - after a bit of confusion with the order where my vegetarian goats cheese came with a load of ham, which John kindly took over and swapped mine for his. It's expensive and touristy but the view from the outside table is great.
It's an expensive lunch and not the best. The waitress literally seems to hate us with a passion for some reason and treats us with contempt. Deep down we'd both been dreaming of a posh vineyard lunch with beautiful wine tasting, but that hasn't happened and we didn't have time to search for it anyway. Need to get some more miles done. Another trip....
Like a crazed fool, I cycle back up to the post office near the top of the hill so I can send my wife a postcard from Sancerre, and John comes along too - probably because he feels sorry for me on my extra pilgrimage. Legs feel pretty tired now. Burning in fact.
As we leave a the village we take a backroad that I can't believe cars can possibly use. Its so steep we crawl down at a snails pace - fully on the brakes. The view of Sancerre and surrounding area on the way back down is amazing. You can see right across the valley and down the Loire river. Really beautiful.
You can see for miles. Is that more hills in the distance?
The view out across the vineyards on the way down.
Back on the path south, and a few more bone shakers of unsurfaced roads.
Something's broken on my bike but it's only a plastic disc by the cassette. It's come loose and is rubbing and making an unsettling noise. Will break it off as soon as I can as it's unnecessary anyway - couple of grams saved.
Back on a surfaced track in the afternoon we're hot and we've run out of water. We kept thinking we'd pass a village shop, but all villages are a bit off-route and the one we detoured into had nothing like a shop.
At the next village a lady in her driveway directs us 3 miles to the nearest town/shop when we asked where we could get water. We certainly didn't expect it but if I saw two cyclists in the burning heat and having run out of water I might have offered to fill a bottle up from my sink. C'est la vie.
We're not desperate as we're in civilisation but it's not nice being really thirsty and I wonder how it would feel in the wilderness.
John loses some layers and we contemplate the water situation
A few miles later and a few euros later, we had some bottled water, which was really cold and hit the spot. Who would have thought the afternoons could be so much hotter than the mornings.... from jumpers and numb fingers, to 50 block in the afternoon each day for the last 2 days.
At Marseille-les-Aubigny, resting by the canal, we decide it might be a good idea to try and find somewhere to sleep since there aren't any campsites near, we don't want to camp anyway as it's still cold, and we know accommodation isn't as easy to find we originally thought. After wading through some leaflets from the helpful Mairie (Town Hall), and a few confusing phone calls later, we're booked into a Chateau! Well, at least we think we are, and it's a mile or so away so we hope we are.
We pull up to what is an impressive building and meet the man from the phone. He says we've basically got it to ourselves as it's a bit out of season. The rooms are enormous and absolutely gorgeous, and we really have got a whole floor of a wing to ourselves. With no sight of the owners or anyone, we take in the rooms - somehow arriving here dirty and sweaty with a load of panniers seems a bit wrong but we love it! And ironically, its pretty much the cheapest place we've stayed so far. The man books us a place to eat (there's only one place within cycling distance), and after a shower we head there - armed with torches and lights as it's going to be a dark ride back.
'Roughing it' for the night at Chateauvert.
As luck would have it, it's a pizza place! Really, another pizza? It feels like Pizza is the staple 'open out of season' restaurant in most villages and towns in the whole of France! What's that all about? My visions of beautiful, healthy, French food is fading fast. I was hoping for a nutritious meal as I feel like I've been lacking protein and other good things for recovery, but not tonight.
It's a tiny place and the owners are very friendly, and the four very posh English people at the table next to us talk loudly about their boating issues of the day, while we sample the local wines - including a Sancerre. So they're on the canal we guess.
A pitch black ride back (feeling slightly warmed from the drinks) leaves me wondering how my legs will be tomorrow as they're not seeming to want to climb the mini-hill back to the chateau. Oh well, sleep ahoy.
Would need ten pictures to capture the scale of the room
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