Today was a bit scary for me. We’d spent the morning sightseeing and vlogging around Tours, and the last stop was the train station.
Mike had gone off to film a vlog while I took some photos of the train station with my phone. As I was doing this, I sensed someone watching me and turned around and there was a lady eying me up.
She was like a cat, trying to corner me. I stepped to the left, she stepped to the left. I tried going to the right as she followed, maintaining eye contact like a cat stalking its prey. I tried stepping backwards and she followed. I thought about running but didn’t think that wouldn’t end well.
Then I saw Mike a distance behind her, oblivious to what was happening. Feeling trapped, I yelled out to him. Thankfully he saw what was happening straight away and came running over, yelling at the woman.
A horrible scowl crossed her face and she muttered something that must have been a curse word. It wasn’t until Mike was at my side that she finally backed off. We headed into the relative safety of the train station and waited a few minutes before heading out a different way, making sure she didn’t follow us.
In all my years of travelling alone, nothing like this has ever happened to me. She must have thought I was an easy target thinking I was distracted, but I always keep an eye out on what’s going on around me. I know it drives Mike nuts at time, but it’s important to follow your gut instinct. If something doesn’t feel right then it probably isn’t. Think we were lucky this time.
Other than that, we’ve enjoyed touring around Tours, hiding away from the heat in our air-conditioned hotel.
We went out for dinner and had no idea what we were ordering. I ended up with raw fish in 38 degree heat, and Mike had a snail.
Back on the bikes tomorrow, and I think it’s gonna rain for the next few days.
We left our lovely little camp and were on the road by 8.30am. The reason we managed to get away so early in was because we skipped coffee.
The morning was cool but still about 25 degrees, but soon warmed up to mid-30s.
Most of the day was smooth flat cycle paths, a lot of it beside the river. We barely had to check we were going the right way!
We passed at lot of cyclists going the other way and they all called out ‘Bonjour’ so we were constantly Bonjouring people all day. The we came across the non-bonjouring crowd. No matter who we bonjoured they just ignored us. They were definitely not French!
Anyway, I wrote a song as we cycled along and it’s called Bonjour. I’ll sing it for you sometime, maybe on a vlog.
We stopped at a little town for espresso and had a little break. I’m finding I’m becoming less dependent on coffee so that is good.
As we continued our cycle I spotted a magnificent chateau on our right. We took a little detour down to it and it was impressive. Mike put his drone up and hopefully got us cycling towards it.
A river ran alongside the chateau and a lady was paddling with her dog on a SUP and I thought of Buddy. Then we stopped at the cafe there for an Orangina. I think my coffee addiction has been replaced with orangina, which is a lightly carbonated orange drink. Delicious.
We were going to stop at a campground just 30 kms away, but we got there at midday and decided to ride a further 20km to the next camp. It’s now only a 15 kms cycle ride to Tours where we will hunker down in an air conditioned hotel as it’s going to be 40 plus degrees over the next two days. Tours is supposed to be a nice city so it makes sense.
We stopped at our camp at 3.30pm and are waiting to see where the sun goes before we set up our tent as we got it completely wrong the night before.
It’s 9pm and it’s finally cooled down enough to write a blog, although it’s still about 28 degrees.
We got away from camp about 9am this morning, an early one for us. I’d checked my phone and it said it was a flat ride today and about 30 kms. I was feeling good about that, not wanting to ride in the heat of the day.
The signs guided us out of town and suddenly where cycling up a hill. But Google told me it would be flat. There was another cycle tourist so we knew we were going the right way.
Then there were more signs sending us up more hills. What the heck? After a while we got suspicious. The signs were sending us this way but where were all the other cycle tourers? Since we got on the Loire valley it’s been very popular with cyclists.
After some more ups and downs we made it back to the river. We had to stop to give way to all the cycle tourers taking the flat river route, smiles on their faces, not a care in the world.
Those damn signs are in cahoots with our gadgets me thinks. We were slightly annoyed we didn’t get to follow the flat route. Knee was probably more annoyed than anyone.
It was lovely cycling until we got the the town of Saumur. We stopped and had a drink at a cafe, just a brief respite from the heat. There were no sign posts telling us where to go so we just made up our own route. Saumur was a neat little town full of bars cafes and restaurants, all surrounded by old buildings and caves set into the hill.
After a look around the town, we found the signs again but they were sending us up a very steep hill to the chateau. We thought it looked better from the flat and followed our own route along the river.
Then the signs sent us back up a hill and this time we followed because the route was taking us through caves. The temperature dropped 15 degrees and it was so nice and cool.
The caves dated back to the 12 century where they were used as accommodation for chateau workers. They were then expanded in the 16th century. It was so cool wandering past peoples homes in the rocks, and I didn’t want to leave. We found a little spot with a table and chairs, toilet and even an electric charging point for bikes, and had our lunch.
Reluctantly we left the coolness of the caves and headed on, following signs. We were sent through wineries, grapes for as far as the eye could see. It just kept going and going, the temperature creeping up to 35 degrees and no shade in sight. It was brutal.
Eventually we made it back to the nice shaded paths beside the river. We stopped at a camping ground, but it was very busy and full of motor homes. And it was 23 euros to camp! So we headed 15 minutes further up the road and found a lovely campground right beside the river for only 14 euros.
We picked a nice shady spot next to a charging point and settled in. Not long after, the sun moved and we were transported to a nice sunny spot. It seemed that no matter where I moved to, the sun would follow me. So it was pretty hot there for a while, but after a cold shower we felt much better.
There is no shop here so we had to get creative with dinner. We made a satay sauce with dried peanut butter (thanks Ems) mixed it with some curry powder, water, and garlic oil. Fried it up and served it with some boiled rice. It was actually quite nice.
We had two nice rest days in Angers, although walking 12 kms a day is hardly a rest. we visited the old town and did a tour around the chateau. The next day we visited Decathlon as we needed more stuff. Mike needed a new mirror as his broke when his bike fell over. I needed a foam roller for my legs. We also picked up some brake pads, chain oil, and a clothes line.
It was hard work getting back on the bikes today. To avoid Angers, Mike navigated backwards rather than forwards, and there seemed to be a lot of hills.
We were looking for the Eurovelo 6 route which runs through the loire valley, then the Danube all the way to the Black Sea. We are only going to follow the loire to Basel, the will follow the Rhine river up to Rotterdam.
There was a lot of mucking around trying to find this route today. When we finally found it, it was following yucky roads. I saw a bunch of cycle tourers following a nice path along the river. They seemed to know where they were going so I suggested we follow them.
It was fantastic, cruising along a flat cycle path beside the river, wind in my hair, not a care in the world. Then it dawned on us. We were going the wrong way! We were heading back towards Nantes and we didn’t want to go that way.
Eventually we found the route and all was good with the world. It was clearly marked and it was just a matter of following the signs. Before we came away, Mike had downloaded the route onto his Garmin. But now, his route is telling us different things to the signs. We decided to follow the signs.
After a while, the signs gave us two choices. We could follow the quiet country roads to the next town for 6.5kms. Or we could turn off and follow the river to the same town for only 6kms. It was a no brainer really, we would follow the river.
It turns out the river path was on loose gravel and in full sun. It was hard work and not even that picturesque. It was the longest 6kms I’d ever done. Probably because is was 30 degrees and the heat was getting to us. it seemed no matter how much water I drank, I couldn’t kill the thirst.
At the town we stopped and had a coke to refresh ourselves, then continued 14 kms to the next camp.
We crossed over the river and the path was much nicer on the other side. Firm path and pockets of shade from the trees. All was good with the world again.
We’re at a nice camping spot tonight. The have a marquee where campers can shelter and cook a meal. The have a gas burner, fridge and microwave. These are things we take for granted in Nz, but it’s very rare in France.
So far there are two other cycle tourers camping here and we saw two walkers come in, one with a donkey carrying all her stuff. It’s currently eeyoreing in the distance. Just hope it’s not near our tent!
We had a wonderful nights rest at the chambre d’ote and in the morning they gave us breakfast. It was just like being on camino again, where we all sat at a big table, we had croissants, bread and jam, and a big bowl of coffee. We love how they do things in France.
The morning started out amazing, we picked up a nice flat cycle path. We had a map which showed the cycle routes all the way to Angers and it veered off at a town called Serges. But when we got to Serges, there were no sign posts to say which way to go. So we double checked our map, but there were no landmarks or roads on the map to know where we were supposed to turn. This is very typical French.
We followed the cycle path a bit further on, hopeful it might lead us south, but alas, it was heading north. So Mike had to resort to his garmin to get us there.
It worked out okay in the end as we followed quiet roads and they were mostly flat. In the afternoon it got very hot and humid, but we slogged away, knowing that we had two rest days coming up.
The garmin truely behaved itself today and we navigated to the camping ground in a big city, without seeing hardly any traffic. We’ve booked into a chalet in the campground, so we have power, our own bathroom and cooking facilities.
We walked 30 minutes to the nearest supermarket and stocked up on healthy supplies for the next few days, as it’s Sunday tomorrow and all the shops will be shut.
Mike is hoping to do some maintenance on the bikes such as replacing the brake pads, and oiling things. I am hoping to get some editing done. Oh, and of course we’ll visit the town of Angers.
Due to the frogs partying and the church bells donging, we had a late start today, getting away about 10.30am.
The roads today were quiet country lanes with very little traffic. It was the perfect day for cycling, overcast and not too hot.
We were still trying to head to Nantes, but the gadgets still want to send us on the main roads. We know there is a canal path, if only we could pick that up. We’d been heading south, but due to avoiding the main roads yesterday, we ended up at a campground to the east. Now when we look at the map, Nantes is in a SW direction, when ultimately we want to be heading east towards Switzerland.
Then we realised, we don’t actually have to go to Nantes. It was just a starting point for the Loire valley cycle route, but we’ve been to Nantes before, so don’t really need to go back. We can pick up the Loire valley route from Angers. So we changed our route to navigate to a campground on the way to Angers.
There were no shops on the way today, but we stopped at a town that served coffee. We sat and had a little rest, before heading on.
We were feeling very pleased with ourselves, managing to avoid main roads. We were navigating to a camping ground at the 43 km mark for the day. But when we arrived tired and hungry, we found it was shut. This is starting to become a thing. The nearest campground from there was another 37 kms on. As well as that, my knee, which had been fine for a few days, was playing up again. And we hadn’t had any lunch and it was now 5pm. We scoffed some walnuts and peanuts and biltong and that helped curb the hunger.
We had a break while looking at our options. There was a town about 10 kms away with three hotels, but I didn’t want to cycle there to find they were full, or shut. Mike tried calling a couple of them, but there was no reply. I was willing to set up camp at the closed campground if need be.
After about an hour of researching where to stay, Mike found a chambre d’ote (B&B) about 7 kms in the direction we were heading. He rang them but they didn’t speak a word of English. Using his schoolboy French he managed to book us a room for the night. Phew.
I put some anti-inflammatory gel on my knee and put on my knee brace and we were on our way. Thankfully there was a shop on the way and I was able to pick us up some ready made salads for dinner, and some ham for Mike to have with his baguette as a salad wouldn’t fill him up.
We arrived at the chambre d’ote and it’s a big house on a farm. Our room is very comfortable with our own bathroom and a patio for the bikes.
We camped in what we thought was a quiet little spot but it turned out to be anything but.
We went to bed just after 8pm which is the middle of the day here, the sun still high in the sky. I read for a bit then passed out around 8.50pm but was jolted awake by the church bells right next door donging loudly nine times.
This continued half-hourly and the midnight toll really took it’s toll, taking forever to finish his shift! Not only do that, the bells also do a little double dong on the half hour. As long as you remember to count the dongs you can always know what time it is without looking at your watch.
I managed to get a better sleep through the 1 and 2 hour dongings, then the party down at the pond got completely out of hand. I tell ya, frogs really know how to party. No music of course, just a heck of a lot of croaking.
This racket continued all night but I soon got used to it. Then at 4am (I know this because the church donged four times) something started randomly buzzing in my ear. I turned over and it buzzed in my other ear. It seemed to be coming from my pillow. I put all my clothes in my pillowcase and I thought a bug might have gotten in.
I tipped all my clothes out searching for the little critter. I couldn’t see it but it was dark. I put my clothes back in and lay back down. Bzzzzzz.
Blimmen heck, where is it. I turfed my pillow down the other end of the tent and slept without one. Bzzzzz came the sound from under my head. Was it in my air mat? How would I get it out of there? Bzzzzz. Bzzzz. It was becoming more regular and insistent now.
I lifted my mat and the buzzing vibrated under the tent. At least it wasn’t inside. I grabbed my kindle and whacked it. Bzzzzz. I didn’t want to break my kindle so got my sunscreen and poked where the noise came from. Bzzzz. I spent 30 minutes rolling, poking and thumping. I know this because the church double-donged 4.30am. One more thump and the noise finally stopped.
At last I could lay my head down in peace. How Mike slept through all the excitement I have no idea, but he did hear the frogs partying.
At dawn the frogs settled down and the birds started up. But I’m used to birds so I slept in until 8am.
I forgot to mention Crepe Man. We’d just finished our dinner of rice and lardons and I noticed a Crepe food truck out on the street. I asked Mike if he wanted a crepe for dessert and he said yes. But I accidentally ordered him something else. It wasn’t a crepe, and it wasn’t sweet. It was like a flatbread with some stewed apple and something vaguely looking like meat. He picked at it a bit then threw it in the bin.
We had planned to go to Chateaubriant which was 53 kms away. She started by sending us down a main road with big trucks barrelling past and no shoulder to cycle on. After about 15 minutes of agonising cycling I told Mike I would not be following this for the next 53 kms and we pulled over to look for an alternate route.
We’d met a couple of English cycle tourers at the camp the previous night and they said they are following a book which navigates them through picturesque paths off the main roads all the way to Nice. I wish we had’ve gotten details from them.
Anyway, I found a route on my phone which would take us off the main road. We just had to cope with another 1.5 km. Just before we turned off four big trucks rumbled by and I decided I would do whatever it took to stay off this road.
As we turned off Mike noticed a dead end sign. I didn’t care, I’d be doing whatever it took not to go back on that main road. I’d push my bike through fields of ticks if need be.
We cycled along a nice tarmac surface, no other traffic about. Then the road turned to dirt and we suddenly appeared to be cycling through somebody’s farm. I thought, here we go, dead end ahead. I stopped to take a photo of some horses in the paddock when I noticed up ahead that Mike had been pulled over by a man on a tractor.
I pushed my bike up towards him as the angry man on the tractor pulled away.
“We’ve got to go back,” Mike said.
“Back on the main road?” I said, remembering my vow not to go back there.
“Yes, this is private. The man on the tractor said we can’t ride through here.”
I showed Mike my maps. “But Google is sending us this way.”
“It doesn’t matter. This little section is private and he is watching to make sure we don’t go through here .”
I looked ahead and it was only 50 meters through their private property to the road on the other side. I heard voices to my left. There were two men inside the property talking.
“I’m going to ask those men,” I said, hoping they might be nicer to a girl. “Come with me to translate.”
Reluctantly Mike followed, constantly looking back, worried that tractor man would reprimand him again.
I explained my situation to the two men in my best English, showing them my map and how I did not want to go down the main road.
“C’est prive” he said in his best French. Clearly my best English wasn’t getting through to him. Mike then had a go in his best French asking if we could walk our bikes 50 metres through their property to the road on the other side.
“Oui, no problem,” they said.
Phew, we were out the other side and on our way.
It was far more relaxing cycling through fields of corn. We stopped in a small town and had a coffee at a restaurant overlooking a magnificent church with an intricate steeple. It donged while we were there and made our day.
It was one of those days where Google kept trying to send us back on the main road, and us fighting back. We decided to give up on navigating to Chateaubriant and navigate to a campground in the general direction we were heading. Just to be sure we were going the right way, Mike navigated on his Garmin and I navigated on my phone.
But this is where the problems began. Mike’s Garmin would want to turn us left but mine would want to go straight ahead. Then mine wanted to go right while Mike’s wanted to go left. Not only were we fighting with the gadgets, we were now fighting amongst our selves. Our phones were annoyed we weren’t listening to them and had turned us against each other.
After a few terse words backwards and forwards, we found solace on the church steps. We sat down for a break, ate our quiche Lorraine’s and regrouped.
Relaxed and well fed, or fed up, we took another look at where we wanted to go. It turned out we were both navigating to different campgrounds!
We both decided to go to my campground, but after about 10kms it told us to turn right. No longer trusting Google, we stopped and checked. Just as well we did and it was trying to send us back onto that stupid main road!
We ignored Google again and went straight ahead and were transported into a stunning medieval town. Why would Google want us to miss this? We sat and marvelled at the wonky chocolate rippled buildings, trying to forget that we were trying to head south whilst adhering to my vow earlier of avoiding that main road.
There was a campground about 20 minutes ride away but it was only 1pm and we decided it was too early to stop. We tried to find a route south, but all roads led to that dreaded main road. By this stage I was feeling exhausted and felt like an afternoon nap. Mike was getting grumpy because he wanted to keep moving.
After about an hour of procrastinating in this picturesque town, the bakery opened and I bought us a couple of pastries. These were like the elixir of life, giving us the boost we needed to make a decision. We decided to head to the nearby campground as it was now 3pm and a good time to stop for the day. Turns out it was the campground Mike was initially navigating to.
It’s a small municipal campground in La Guerche-de-Bretagne and is only costing 11 euros per night. A man keeps hovering around us and our tent, so if you don’t hear from us tomorrow, send help.
Morning coffee in front of the church that donged.
We spent a lovely two nights in Fougeres and felt really rested. As we cycled out of town, I stopped to give way to a car on the roundabout. The car behind me screeched his brakes and almost ran into me. Then he tooted telling me to go. I yelled at him and said ‘c’est la voiture’ and pointed at the car. Okay, I actually yelled ‘there’s a car’ but he wouldn’t have listened either way as he sped off past me when the car had gone. Very rude.
The morning was a drag. The road was busy and we had a head wind. It was one of those days where you put your head down and just want to get there.
We were heading towards rain clouds. A bunch of cows were sitting in a paddock indicating a 100 percent chance of rain.
Our jaws dropped as we arrived in the town of Vitre. A chateau loomed on our left and we cycled down the hill through medieval streets, stopping to take many photos.
We fuelled up on a pain au raisin and ham baguette before heading to our campground. On the way we finally found a shop that sold a blanket. Now I can finally use our picnic blanket for what it was designed for!
We set up camp and set up our awning with enough space to sit under if it rained. Thankfully we did as it started raining as we were cooking dinner. Tonight we had bacon and rice followed by blueberries and chocolate for dessert. A big day tomorrow, probably about 55 kms.
The lady had the campground made a big fuss of Mike being a kiwi and took a photo of him with his Nz passport and put it on their instagram page.
The previous evening we crawled into our tent at 10pm and not long after, the rain we’d been expecting for days finally came, loud and heavy. I ignored the thought of packing up a wet tent and willed myself to sleep.
We awoke at 6am to glorious sunshine and headed to the monestery for a quick photo and drone shot, then packed up our wet tent and we were on our way.
The roads today were long and boring and my knee is still playing up. After 43 kms we made it to a scenic town of Fourgeres and booked into a hotel for two nights. We checked into our room at 3pm, and we both immediately passed out exhausted, and didn’t wake up until 6pm.
It is a public holiday in France today and all the restaurants and shops were shut. Thankfully we found a kebab place open. Mike had kebab, chips and salad, and I had the same but with felafel.
The next morning we had to move rooms in the hotel as our room was booked for that evening. It’s amazing how much we can spread out in one afternoon! We spend the morning packing up and moving, then did a tour around the town.
Fougeres is very old, with signs of habitation dating back to 5000 BC. It sits at the crossroads of two roman roads. The town initially had a wooden fortification which was replaced in the 11th century with a stone one and was enlarged and enhanced in the 14th century to try to stop the many attempts to override the town.
There is also a chateau here which we viewed from a distance.
After the tour, a handsome Frenchman took me into a little room and closed the curtain while I took my pants down. Okay, it’s not as dodgy as it sounds. The pharmacist was getting me to try on a knee brace for size. So I bought the knee brace and some anti-inflammatory gel and hope this will help.
We spent the rest of the day resting, hoping to get back on the bikes tomorrow.
