Belleville-sur-Loire to Pouilly-sur-Loire

Ellen's knee has been complaining, so today was an easy day.  Only about 40 km, with plenty of breaks.

We've been traveling through mostly agricultural areas, primarily row crops like corn, rapeseed, and (I think) wheat.  There are also occasional small herds of cattle and goats.  When we stopped at one point to take a photo of some goats in a field right next to the path, their canine shepherd barked if we approached the fence but stayed quiet as long as were on the other side of the path.

The path today was almost all paved, and very easy riding.  Lots of other cycle tourists; it is clear that the Loire is a very popular route.

Passing the village of Bannay, we stopped to look at a lock on the canal.  First time I've seen one that is self-operated: there is a control right at the side of the lock that looks reachable from inside a boat.

In Saint Thibault we stopped at a lovely little park where the canal meets the Loire.  Many other cyclists were there also: we met tourists from Austria and Germany.  The park had a nice self-cleaning bathroom, a repair stand loaded with tools and a charging station.  Bought some little quiches at a nearby bakery for our snack.

We arrived in Pouilly mid-afternoon.  We'd reserved a little apartment (La Bananeraie) in the center of town.  Stefan, our very kind host, speaks no English.  We had fun using Google Translate and passing the phones back and forth.  Dinner turned out to be a bit of problem.  Today is a Catholic holiday, Ascension Day, and pretty much everything is closed.  We ended up walking about 25 minutes to a little pizza kiosk at the end of town.  After we ate the excellent pizza, we spent quite a while chatting with the delightful young woman who owns the place.  When we left she gifted us a bottle of local wine from her boyfriend's winery.  It's at Total Wines in the US; check it out.

Sully-sur-Loire to Belleville-sur-Loire

Today's forecast was for intermittent rain, and it had rained overnight when we woke up in the morning.  In the breakfast room of our hotel we got in conversation with two other couples also cycling the Loire: one Germans, the other Brits who live now in Dordogne France.  Both couples were headed the opposite direction from us, toward Orleans.  We had fun sharing info on bike touring along the Loire, and then the conversation veered into politics: Brexit, AfD and of course our own disaster.  When it was time to leave Ellen could not locate her prescription sunglasses.  We scoured the room, unpacked our panniers and everything else, looked around the courtyard where we'd parked the bike: nothing.

As we rode out of the village Ellen suggested stopping at an optician to see if they'd have something to go over her regular glasses.  We picked the right place.  They had very nice clip-on, flip-up shades.  The owner trimmed them to match Ellen's glasses, polished the scratches on her lenses, and before we left showed us a couple of pictures of her touring with husband on their tandem.  With all this drama we weren't rolling on the bike path until well around 11:30.

The path today was a great mix of surfaces, and we were very rarely on a road.  We had paved bike paths, hard pack, some (fortunately smooth) single track, brief sections of cobblestones, and one short section near our finish on a grass path.  We also passed (at a good distance) two nuclear power plants.  (Nuclear is France's main source of electricity.)  Although rain was in the forecast we had only a couple of sprinkles, but it didn't really warm up until late in the afternoon.

In the small village of Saint-Gondon we stopped for a break at a beautiful park.

We stopped for a quick snack at a small bar in Saint-Brisson-sur-Loire.  They didn't have much snack food (like sandwiches) on the menu so were forced to eat a yummy cake and mousse confection.  Another pair of cyclists were stopped at the same place: an older Dutch couple who were biking from the French Riviera back to home.

At Briare the path took us across a viaduct, built in the 1890s, that crosses the Loire.  Private motorboats were on the viaduct.

Some of our route followed the Loire, some was along canals and other waterways, some through forests.

Boys fishing along the Loire

We finished in the tiny village of Belleville-sur-Loire after riding 57 km.  Lovely room in a small guest house.  The only restaurant was a 20 minutes walk away, but it was a lovely evening for a stroll.

Garden at our guest house

Nuclear plant outside of Belleville

On the bike: Orleans to Sully-sur-Loire

Biking at last, and what a glorious day.  We had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, loaded up the bike, said our goodbyes to the very helpful Erika, and headed out.  Pretty easy navigating through the city to the river, then very soon our route took us over a bridge (bikes and pedestrians only) to the south bank of the Loire.  The path was a mix of hard pack and pavement, with occasional brief sections of mud or cobblestones just to keep things interesting. 

Looking back at Orleans

The route was mostly very well marked and easy to follow.  I had downloaded GPX tracks for the route from Bikeline, and this proved useful in the few tricky spots.

At one point there was a sign for an old chateau, built in the early 1500s, just a short distance off the path.  Not too much left to see.

We took a brief rest stop in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire.

A little further, near the tiny hamlet of Le Mesnil, and in a small community of a few bungalows by the river, we came upon this amazing "maternity ward of biodiversity."  The small garden is cultivating all sorts of borderline-extinct plant species.  Too cool.

We arrived at our destination of Sully-sur-Loire a little after 3 pm (53 km for the day).  After cleaning up in the small, old and cute Hotel La Closeraie we walked a short distance through the village to the Chateau, former home of the Duke of Sully.   This is a large chateau, with multiple turrets and surrounded by an impressive moat.  It was initially constructed around 1395 to incorporate several buildings dating from around 1218, and expanded over the following centuries.

King's bedroom

We followed a self-guided tour through the chateau.  The garrison quarters under this timber roof were quite impressive.  It's about 50 feet high, and almost all the oak and chestnut timbers are original (about 20 percent were damaged during the war and subsequently replaced).

When we came out into the courtyard at the end of the tour, there was a photo shoot going on for a couple of custom vehicles: a rat rod based on the running gear from a Citroen 2CV, and a very cool custom motor bike by the same builder.  Check out the 2CV logo made of tiny wrenches.

Paris to Orleans

Following our host's recommendation we visited the Sunday market in Place Bastille.  It's huge, with amazing displays of fruit, vegetables, meats, seafood, and everything else.  We enjoyed a breakfast of gallette with ham cheese and egg, and fresh orange juice.

Even though our apartment was only a 20 minute walk to the train station, we wanted a cab due to the heavy (47 pounds each) bike suitcases.  Called for a ride on G7 (a local service like Uber) but when he arrived we couldn't fit the bags in his trunk.  We would have put one on the back seat but he was not willing.  Called another, larger cab: same problem.  Third one was more minivan sized and we made it to the station.  On time, but with less margin than we had hoped for.

After about an hour on a comfy train, we arrived in Orleans in a drizzle.  By the time we made it out of the station both cabs were already gone.  Called for an Uber; folded down half the back seat to accommodate the second bag (our driver is an engineering student at the university here), and in short order were at the Hotel d'Orleans.

Due to the lingering influence of jet lag I'd only slept about two hours the night before, so after lunch I took a nap before tackling the bike down in the hotel's garage.  Assembly took 1.5 hours: a new record for longest time (in the past it's usually been an hour or less).   Part of the extra time was repairing a flat on one wheel.  (I wonder whether the low pressure in the cargo compartment on the plane caused an inflated tube to rupture.)

Today we'll pack up the suitcases and send them to our end point hotel in Mulhouse, take a test ride on the bike, and explore Orleans.  We walked around the lovely Place du Martroi (with a statue of Joan of Arc) for a bite of breakfast and then made plans to mail the suitcases.  

This turned out to be a bit of an adventure...  The tourist office had told us there is a DHL place nearby.  When we asked at our hotel's desk about taking the tram there, she called the number to confirm.  Turns out that office is no longer open.  Our very helpful desk clerk, Erika, then looked for other locations.  But finding none nearby, she suggested the Post Office which is a five minute walk away from the hotel.  We walked up there to check on mailing suitcases, but (of course) the postal clerk spoke no English.  I called Erika, handed the phone over to the clerk, and after a little back and forth they established that we needed to wrap the suitcases in plastic film before mailing them.  Erika couldn't recall the English word for plastic wrap so we walked back to the hotel.  She showed us what we needed in their kitchen, and we walked up to a large market (which was right next to the Post Office) for plastic film, tape and a cheap pair of scissors.  Returned to the hotel, packed up the panniers, put our other clothes in the suitcases, and wrapped one of them very thoroughly in plastic.  (Erika suggested we wrap one to show to the Post Office and make sure it was wrapped sufficiently for their standard before wrapping the second one.)  We rolled the two suitcases back to the Post Office, got the ok for our wrapping job, and wrapped up the second one.  Then we waited on line for one clerk, who sent us back to the first one, who then passed us along to a third clerk.  Eventually we got the bags weighed and labeled, and (we hope!) on their way to Mulhouse.  Fingers crossed.

The Orleans Post Office

By the time we made it back to the hotel it was 3 pm.  We retrieved the bike from the garage to take it out for test ride to make sure everything was set up properly.  Just about 20 minutes through town and along the Loire River, a couple of minor adjustments to handlebars and saddles, and we were back.

And now we were ready for some sightseeing on foot in Orleans.  Joan of Arc is a big deal here because it was in Orleans in 1429 that she led the French army in defeating the British during the Hundred Years War.  The Cathedral (built between 1287 and 1829, a remarkably slow construction job) is large and truly magnificent.  There are many beautiful stained glass windows illustrating Joan of Arc's life, and one end of the building is adorned with banners illustrating family crests.

After the Cathedral we toured the former Hotel Groslot (now part museum, part municipal building), found the synagogue, and made it back to the hotel by a bit after 9.  

Room in the Hotel Groslot

Synagogue. Note star above the window

Just another street in Orleans

This bronze statue of Joan of Arc in front of the Hotel Grosmont was pierced by shrapnel in the Second World War.  Look closely and you'll see several holes.

Orleans is a delightful city.  Historic, easy to explore, relaxing after the bustle of Paris, friendly.  Today was a long day, but we accomplished all the important stuff.  And as they say in the old Westerns, "Tomorrow we ride."