Day 2 - Spire Spotting

My stroll around Vitre last night was lovely. I found a couple of bars which were open (and many more which were closed, what with it being Lundi and all), and enjoyed a couple of beers in the 20 degree evening sun. Vitre itself is over 1,000 years old and thanks to a couple of twists of good fortunate - avoiding significant damage during WW2 and being on the path of a few strategic railway lines - is a modern and prosperous city. Whilst bogging up the city I should also give qudos to the municipal campsite. Clean, spacious and quiet with hot showers, laundry facilities I was not unhappy to part with my 7.30 Euro for the privilege.

My only complaint was that it didn’t serve breakfast and so I made a prompt departure and rode a pleasant 6km - narrowly avoiding an absent minded fisherman who chose to step into the road just as I was tanking it downhill to the river that he nearly didn’t get to fish in - to Erbree where I found a boulangerie & duly stocked up. I devoured my pastry goodness outside the impressive Eglise St Martin.

From there the route followed quiet lanes through some excellent countryside. First up a beautiful Beech tree forest which was sublime. Sun on my face, the wind at my back and birdsong left & right. The road through the forest climbed to a plateau and opened up the Oudon valley into which I was about to ride.

After 45km I stopped in the old town of Craon for a coffee and a second boulangerie visit in the main square. I very much enjoyed my pigeon French confusion as I asked the tabac owner got some water and he duly produced a bottle of pastis. Maybe later monsieur.

Another 20km down the road I hit the beautiful village of Segre. Keen to inhale the relaxing air, I stopped to fill my bidons and pay my 3rd boulangerie visit. 

For the next 35km I followed the arrow straight D967 into the Loire valley. The road dipped up and down following the contours of the land. Every now and again I would pass through a village, in each case it’s existence was given away long before my arrival due to the disproportionately large church. It led me to wander how much of a super power France would be in their earlier history they had devoted as much time to inventing the microchip as they did building huge churches.

As ever my thoughts turned towards my stomach. Ideally I had wanted to reach La Loire and have lunch there however I was becoming increasingly concerned that I’d get caught out by the French “half day” scenario: even though everything was back open again, most places I’d spotted were closing at 2pm. It was already 1:30 and I had around 15km to go before I would hit the river. 

I’m the end I plumped for a 4th boulangerie stop, stuck my ham salad baguette in my bag and headed towards the river. Around 5km away my sugar levels started to dip so I found a very peaceful spot by the side of a lake and took that as a sign to stop for lunch. 

The Loire never fails to amaze me in terms of its grandeur. It needed a total of 3 bridges to cross the river, the amount of water it must carry in full flood is almost unthinkable.

After crossing the Loire the route went up into the vineyards and provided a hard earned view across the valley. The road was stunning, fairly quiet with splendid scenery all around. 

I then dropped back down to the Loire and followed its banks - upstream - for a few miles. I’d turned back into a headwind and my legs had enough, but I still had 20km to go. The temperature was now 24 degrees and I had precious little water left in my bidons. Finally I stumbled across a tabac on the side of a busy road. Not my most salubrious stop but the cold bottle of coke did the trick. 12km to go to the campsite - 1 more hill… How hard can it be? 

The reward was in the campsite which is stunning. All the mod cons plus a swimming pool for a cool 10 Euros. Time to find the budgie smugglers