Tour de Loire Valley - Tuesday

The day began with the promise of a big hill to start and a few small hills to finish the day.  Well, the big turned out to be a "sooty munter  of a grunter" (Janet's expression).  We started at about 40m above sea level and finished at 318m. It was a 5 km climb to the top which took us 35 mins.  Here is the bottom of the hill.  I think you can see where we are heading!  To the high point.

Nearly at the top, pretty view of vineyards.

Now we have made it.

The town of Sancerre has the most spectacular view around the Loire Valley. The Loire River is in the above picture.

It is a mostly tourist town, but still many people living here.  Gorgeous old streets.

A nice Boulanger with Devine chocolate eclairs

150 steps up the Chateau Tower gave the most spectacular view across the valley. The only blight was the nuclear power station in the distance.  We later rode quite near this.

What goes up must come down, so 5 kms down hill. Jan checked the bike brakes before we headed off as they got some work on the way down.  An exhilarating ride.

Off to our next stop which was lunch in Cosne.

We then rode on with a quick stop at the Fromagerie to purchase some goats cheese, beautiful.

From there, our journey back to the boat was via bike paths and some rural roads.  Below in the distance, are two Nuclear Power plant towers.  80% of France's power comes from Nuclear sources!

Our last stretch of riding was 11kms.  Jan said there were 3 hills. I think he forgot about 10 of them. It was a little challenging at the end of the day. 52kms in total.  Back to the boat about 4pm.  We weren't done yet.  Optional extras. Canoeing or Ultralight flight.   Canoeing 7kms down the Loire River was just stunning.  Except we did start at the foot of those Nuclear towers!

An exhausting day, but it was fabulous. 2 Americans chose the Ultraflight.  Great to watch them take off but no way!  Not for me.  Sorry Nicola, not as game as you.

Our day has ended with dinner on the deck in the twilight.  Such a wonderful journey.

A short day tomorrow. Only 35kms.

Bye for now

Tour de Loire Valley - Monday

It was a much more pleasant night for sleeping, no need for the fan.  

We started the day with breakfast on the move. The barge headed off at 8am.  We had 2 locks to go through before we started our day of riding at about 10.30. It is such a simple, but effective system of boat movement through the canals.  

It took only 5 minutes to empty and we were off into the lower part of the canal.

Before the 3rd  lock, the bikes were unloaded, and the barge lowered to head off to pass through another 10 locks for the day.

Onto the bikes, ouch, the bum was a little sore. Today's journey was to be 45km.

Easy riding early to a village called La Charite(?). A morning tea stop here. Another Cathederal,1200s.  Some parts of this one were destroyed in a fire, so housing has been built around it (a long time ago)

A visit to the Boulangier for morning tea 

Getting better at selfies

We ride along and cross the Loire River many times, but the barge goes along the canal nearby.

It has been much drier in this area this year so much less water flowing in the Loire.

Many of the towns are fairly quiet. It is the summer vacation for schools.  Also many towns have suffered from centralisation, not much employment for young people.

Our lunch stop was at Pouilly, which is the home of Sauvignon grapes. All sauvignon vines come from here, even those in NZ and Australia.  We visited a winery for tasting of their Fume. It was a very good presentation of wine growing and wine making.  We went into the Aroma cellar where we were able to smell the different bouquets of wine. Very interesting

Tree trimming, French style.

Bike ride back to the barge about 4. A welcome sight once again. 5 minutes down the road to another winery, Sancerre for more tasting.  They provided some goats cheese, which was amazing. 1 was 1 day old, one 3 days old and the other 3 weeks old. All very different but great.

Our guide, Jan, is Swedish.  He has guided this tour 28 times. Age 50. 

Stefan and Florence (and their son Gabrielle 10 yrs who is having this year out of school)

live on the barge for the summer season.  In the winter, they are on their own boat. They don't feel comfortable living on land.

Tomorrow, plenty more kms to cover, only one big gradual climb to start with which will take us about 40 mins to get to the top!  To use your expression Janet, a munter of a grunter.  Today, we had a fairly steep climb which tested the legs. But we made it!  

We have just had an evening walk around town, no photos as it was a bit dim. We don't eat until 7.30 each night.  A bit different to the last one in Amsterdam where dinner was 6pm every night.

Pam and Wendy, the towels on this barge are pretty good.

All good fun. Bye for now

Tour de Loire Valley begins - Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday was a big day. We met the bus in Paris at 3.30 and it was a 3  1/4 hr bus ride to meet our barge at Coures Le Barres

This is home for the next week. We were greeted by our hosts, Stefan (the pilot) and his wife, Florence.  

After  pre dinner drinks, a lovely meal on the banks of the Loire River.  We dined outside, not just for ambience, which was great, but it had been a very hot day and the dining area was very hot! (36oC)

It was a hot night onboard.. Window open and the fan blowing all night.  We have the luxury room (?). A double bed with a bunk above.  The others have just bunk beds.  Ensuite as well. Compact, but adequate.

The view above from my bed as I write (sorry about the bra, drying from a day of sweating)

We headed off on our ride this morning, with our first stop about 7 km at Fourchamblaut.  A local market to wander through.  Some amazing food on offer.  

We bought a baguette filled with blue cheese. Devine!  

Our next stop was the town of Nevers for lunch. A spectacular church a feature.

Back on the bikes to the village of Aperoment.  A magnificent castle and historic town, not to mention nice ice creams.  After 40kms and another 12 to go, we deserved it.

It was a welcome sight to see our barge at the end of the day and relax for the evening

We are a small group of 11.  A couple from Canada, (50s), a couple from USA (60s) a couple from Germany (50s), 2 women from Germany (40-50s?) and a woman from Italy (20s)

I'm exhausted so more tomorrow. 

Friday - Back to London

Today was a day of travel, from Bath to London. More of those narrow roads, plenty of traffic about today as it is the start of a long weekend (Bank holiday on Monday). We left about 10 and thought we would stop at Windsor before making our way to London. Everybody else thought that was a good idea too as it was chaotic.  We spent 20 mins driving around 1 car park alone!  After wasting about an hour, we got out of Windsor (we did see Windsor Castle as we were stopped beside it for 10 mins whilst we dealt with traffic chaos (partly because of fire trucks).

Back onto the M4 and a service stop had to suffice for lunch instead of lunch on the banks of the Thames!

Eventually made our way back to the car hire drop off.  Thank goodness for that gps!

Backpacks back on (no Cam, we won't be hiking with you.  We have left our run too late).

Our nearest Underground station didn't take us to directly to our destination so a change of trains was required. One escalator was not working so had to walk down about 75 steps. Glad that we had the backpacks then, rather than the suitcases.

It was a warm day in London today, so by the time we got to our hotel, 250m from Kings Cross St Pancras station, we had worked up a sweat.

Nicola went out to catch up with a former housemate, Sarah, for a cuppa while we went for a walk around the block.

We have been out to a trendy courtyard surrounded by Spanish bars for farewell drinks and tapas with Nicola.  A great week together, although she is probably sick of us!

She heads home tomorrow and we catch the train to Paris to begin our bike and barge tour.

Looking forward to the slower pace of bike riding.

Bye for now

Thursday - Stonehenge and Salisbury

Back into the car, down some more narrow roads to Stonehenge, about 1 1/4 hrs from here. The Councils have a big job keeping the road edges trimmed. With many hedges forming fences, they must have mechanical trimmers (like a mower, but sideways). Trucks do a little bit of the work naturally. It really is a little hair raising driving along some of those roads.

You are all familiar with Stonehenge, I'm sure. Neolithic people dragged these huge rocks into a circular formation and put a few on top others.  They were pretty smart people, in their engineering ability to manoeuvre the rocks, as well as get them straight, level, and facing the right direction in relation to the sun etc.  About 4,300 years ago.  Helen and Russell, they are slightly different to the rock your saw today (Wave Rock in WA for other readers)

Despite their age, thousands of people a day are pouring through the gates to see them.   They are very nicely fenced off to stop fare evaders. There were plenty of camper vans parked on nearby roads and people tramping through the paddocks, hoping for a free glimpse. However, their attempts were hampered by fences and security. All they could manage was a distant view.

I wouldn't mind a dollar for every photo that was taken of Stonehenge today. I would be able to have another holiday.

It was then onto Salisbury for lunch and a wander around. Park and ride was the recommended option again. The cities have such narrow streets and minimal parking. Bus drivers also know where they are going. Today was a very overcast day, although mild.  By the time we arrived at Salisbury, it was lightly raining.  We found a place for lunch, waited a while to be served, got drinks pretty quickly, then waited and waited and waited.  The waiter kept reassuring us, lunch won't be long.  He eventually went to check and they had lost our order!  Free drinks were given, and 15% off the bill as well.  It was well after 2 when we got out of there.  Won't be rating that one on trip advisor.

Salisbury, like every town/city in England has a Cathederal. Salisbury Cathederal is the tallest of them all. It also has an original Magna Carta. Only 4 exist (22 originally). One at Lincoln Cathederal and the other 2 held at the British Library.

A spectacular Cathederal built in the 1200's. The spire was added in the mid 1300's.

Salisbury is a bit like Bristol, an eclectic style of buildings and houses.

Our time in this area is almost done.  Tomorrow it's back to London for the night before we farewell Nicola.

Bye for now.

Wednesday - Out and about the country side.

Our hosts other dog. Just as big as the other one.  Much more friendly. We walk through the gate at the back to get to our car. This one always comes over for a pat.

Today, we went for a drive to the beach, 29 mile west of here, through lots of small villages and along some narrow roads. It was not always the most relaxed driving as the passing cars were quite close and so was the thick hedge on the left side.

Most of the cars out here are small cars. Given the width of the country roads, that is quite understandable. The car parking spots seem smaller as well!  Many houses don't have parking spots either. The price of petrol may be another reason for small cars £1.13 pl. That's double our price at home

The beach, Weston Super Mare, was very busy.  Plenty of people dipping their toes.  About 20oC.

Not quite warm enough for us.  It didn't really look that inviting either. Not exactly Torquay or Ocean Grove

There were all sorts of attractions on the beach, carnival rides, donkey rides

And a sand sculpture exhibition

We continued our journey on to Bristol, where we wisely chose the Park and ride option again. This was off peak, so it only cost £4 in total.  Bristol has an eclectic array of buildings.  Obviously the strict planning rules of Bath have not been applied to Bristol.  

St Nicholas Market was quite unusual.  Inside the building were lots of very small stalls with wooden doors. Quite old. All sorts of food stalls as well as just about anything else for sale.  Our fish and chips by the water were very nice, but had we known about this market, I'm sure we would have had lunch here.  Bristol is much more multicultural than Bath, so the food smells were amazing.

Fortunately our car has a very good gps, otherwise we would still be out there. A lot of traffic about, and lots of different roads. Nicola is chief gps operater and has done a good job.

Tomorrow we are off to Stonehenge and whatever takes our eye.