Rigney-Ussé to Saint Florent sur Loire, through Saumur and Les Ponts-de-Cé (Angers)

July 7, 2023 - Rigney-Ussé to Saumur

Peter was not happy this morning because we had to do an early wake up. It was supposed to get up to 90 degrees though, so I didn't want to get stuck in the heat of the afternoon. I made scrambled eggs from the eggs we bought last night, it's good to get some protein for breakfast instead of the french bread with jam and pastries, which is standard at hotels.

It's always beautiful to get out in the early morning. Photos turn out better, it's nice and cool, nobody else is on the road. Actually in general the bike trail was quieter, I think we're getting past the busiest part (where all the chateaus are). Or maybe it was just too early for people.

An unused, locked off, bike rest area

I had hoped to stay at some point in a campground in one of these elevated tents, but it never worked out.

We stopped for coffee and hot chocolate at Candles St Marten. The cafe was next to an interesting, very old church there, that had the heads of statues of saints and royalty chopped off, the saints apparently during the religious wars of the 1500s, and the royalty during the French revolution.

I'd love to stay on a boat like this!

We ran across two great mulberry trees, the first one a black mulberry, very tasty but more sparse berries. Then the other a white mulberry tree, very prolific, but the white ones are not as tasty. Still pretty good though.

Next the path went up a hill, it was tough even though it was honestly a pretty trivial hill. But I'm glad we got up there, there was an interesting church and a great view.

Then a really interesting area, the trail went right through the troglodytes area, which was an old underground city. The official trail is only part of it, you see other roads going into the other underground area. It would be interesting to spend a long chunk of time wandering around there.

This picnic table looks like it'll be here for the next millenium

So many chateaus!

Then we got into Saumur, and into the hotel that I booked. I really wish that hotel check-in here was a more normal time like one or two, instead of four or five. But at least they let us get in at 3:00, that was apparently an exception for them. We were on the fourth floor! That's a lot of steps.

We rested for quite a bit, showered, relaxed, and then walked around town. It was still quite hot. We walked up to the castle and took in some of the views, then wandered through town. Peter was thrilled to find a public piano available and played for quite a bit.

Saw this interesting chair in a shop window

Peter found another public piano

Then the plan was to have dinner at the main plaza, where there was going to be a band playing.

We sat down and were about to order, but then - a big thunderstorm! At first I thought we were good, because we were under the middle of one of those large umbrellas. But after a bit the rain started coming down through the fabric, so we took off. We ran over to a kebab place next door, and got some food to eat back in the room. The rain tapered off, and we could hear that the band had started playing. But then there was another heavy thunderstorm, this time with hail. We actually had a good view, from our window, of the rain pouring down the roof next door, puddling in the gutters, the hail floating on top.

July 8, 2023 - Saumur to Les Ponts-de-Cé

Got another earlyish start this morning (breakfast at 8:00, the earliest possible, on the road after finishing breakfast by 9). Whenever there's a breakfast buffet available, we do it, it's usually pretty reasonable, and there's usually a few healthier choices. This morning there was corn flakes, but no cold milk to pour into them. Cold milk is usually hard to find at these breakfast buffets, often people use yogurt. So I used the hot milk that's always available in the coffee machines. A little weird, but it worked.

It was noticeably much more humid today, after the heavy thunderstorms and hail last night. There were a lot of roads with traffic today, and not as many dedicated bike paths, unfortunately. That makes it a little bit stressful, being close to the cars.

I didn't notice this when we checked into our hotel, but this was right next door (apparently formerly used as a primary school?)

This toilet is typical of the older toilets - the men's urinals are very exposed

This old ruin is where we started going up into the hills, following the marked trail, though it turned out we could have skipped all that elevation gain, and stuck to the main path.

Stopping for coffee and hot chocolate

The older houses have changed, from being made of what looks like white limestone, to a funny thin dark stone laid together with mortar. That just happened in about the last 15 km of the bike ride, all of a sudden the houses changed. That stone is called Ardoise (slate).

Had a very interesting discussion with a fellow biker (French) that we met at a picnic area. He had a trailer, and was hauling lots of stuff. He was setting up to actually make a big meal, using a cooking stove, he had pasta and some ground beef prepped. We started chatting, he was very interested in American politics. I told him some of my thoughts, and that he needed to not just listen to mainstream news sources, but also some alternative news sources, and suggested Tucker Carlson, at which he grimaced. He was firmly in the MSNBC camp. But a friendly guy.

I had messaged the bed and breakfast that were staying at tonight, to see if we could come early (most of the time it's 5:00 p.m.) and they said that was fine, so we arrived around 1:30. They were quite friendly, and new at being bed and breakfast hosts.

After relaxing in the bed and breakfast for a while, we got a few groceries to for lunch tomorrow, because on Sunday nothing is open. Then dinner at the restaurant in "le camping" (the campground).

One of the tents at the campground

July 9, 2023 - Les Ponts-de-Cé to Saint Florent sur Loire

I felt a little bad at breakfast, because our hosts at the bed and breakfast were willing to give us exactly what we wanted (I had mentioned oatmeal and eggs), for 6 Euros, which is the lowest I've heard of for breakfast here. We ended up just doing oatmeal and the standard bread, butter, and jam. I asked him to stop with the eggs which he was about to make. Overall a good stay, we also learned more about the local rock which is now everywhere (Ardoise).

Sunday seems like a very busy day on the trails. There were lots of groups out, bikers, dog walkers, walkers, an Aston Martin car group, motorcyclists, runners, and one large group of men that were all about 30, that looked like they were doing a camping trip on bikes. Also we ran across three separate food markets, and two festivals.

This was the first section of the Loire that I saw, where there were some mild rapids

A tower for Kenny

This picture, I took to remind me of those large cobblestones that jolted me so much. I usually got off my bike.

Weird hay stacking practices

I took this picture to remind me of all those times when I saw a sign and thought there would be some interesting historical information, but instead there's yet another sign about the local plants and animals. I would really have liked more historical info.

A portable brandy-distilling setup, last used in 1994

That ruin in the distance is actually an old coal mine (Mine de charbon de la Tranchée). I had no idea at the time, thought it was a ruined church or something.

Sneaking an ear of corn

This was, I think our third day of 50 km a day. It might not sound like much, but what with heat, figuring out where to buy food, buying the food, figuring out where to eat in the shade, stopping for photos, getting lost and having to find your way again, it can make the day seem long. One part was an extremely long straight stretch, through fields after fields after fields. On the plus side, we picked a piece of baby corn and ate it.

This bed and breakfast is the nicest yet, fairly large room, very open and airy, with a balcony.

Peter and I hung out in the room for a while, both very tired. We finally got it together enough to take a walk around town, which has a very nice old Abby, and a viewpoint. The viewpoint would be nothing special in most places, but it's so flat here that it really stands out. The folks at our previous bed and breakfast host told me to be sure and see it. Dinner was a place called Fish and Sheep, a little open air eating spot pretty close to the Loire. We split a lamb plate, pretty tasty.

View from the Abby

Playing something very similar to bocce, but with larger balls. It's called Jeu de la Boule de Sable

I booked another bed and breakfast for tomorrow night in Oudon, which is only 25 km away. I wanted a slow day, to relax. Otherwise going all the way to Nantes would have been another long day.