A Long Day and a Long Detour – Days 5 and 6

Yesterday we left Ancenis and made good progress, covering 46 miles to Angers. It was a nice path. We found lunch in a small town along the way and had a picnic on the local promenade on the river: jambon buerre for me and tuna fish salad for Brian. Our one mistake was not getting more water at that point. It was still hot, over 80f, and we had both run out water by the time we got to Angers. Once again, though, the Bureau de Tourisme got us set up. This time I remembered to ask about air conditioning. I could tell I had overheated and probably pushed a little too hard. I got to France with a cold, we haven’t been sleeping great, and my diet has been turned upside down. Despite the supplement I take with dairy, my body doesn’t love the cheese as much as my palate does.

The hotel was right by the train station, but nice and affordable, too. I sprung for the breakfast there because I was too tired to think about looking for a patisserie. It’s never the most affordable option. In Nantes I scored formules (think “mealdeals”) of a sandwich, pastry and a drink for each of us for 12€. So that was breakfast and lunch for both of us for less than most hotels charge for breakfast for one!

After a so-so night’s sleep and a disappointing breakfast, we asked the hotel if they could keep our bags in the same place as our bikes. No one has ever seemed to be put off in the least to accommodate our bikes, but we always ask for places that are bike friendly. With our gear stowed, we headed the few blocks down to the castle. It’s an impressive structure with interesting history tied to the Plantangenet family. The most impressive part was the Tapestry of the Apocalypse. It’s 100 meters long and 8 meters high. The detail is stunning – parts of it looked painted!

We got back to our bikes and got them all set to go – an operation that can take 30 minutes. We didn’t get underway until 2. The tricky part was getting back on the trail. We got into Angers on a spur from the southwest of town and were trying to head southeast on another spur to catch the trail east of town. It was pretty well marked, except for one problem. When we got to small suburb south of town, the road was blocked for a music festival. No one allowed to pass, even bicycles while the concert was on. We talked to the attendants at the barricade and they helped us find a detour. I honestly had no idea if we would actually ever get back to the trail. At one point we were riding on a grass covered levee, which was marked as a bike path, but it was rough. I also lost the magnet pick up from my crank for my cadence somewhere along there. We really need to find a bike shop.

We finally got back to the EuroVelo 6. At this point I was about done. We set a goal to get to the next town that looked big enough on the map. When we got into Saint-Mathurin-sur-Loire, our first order of business was to find the Bureau de Tourisme. They closed at 6 and it was almost 5. We got there in time and they found us a room in a B&B just down the road. Neat old country French home overlooking the Loire. One question I forgot to ask: they don’t take cards and we were about 20€ short in cash. Yikes! When we went back into town for dinner, we looked around for an ATM. Google did a barely passable job of helping us. But, we got the cash and headed to dinner. It was ok, but we’ve had better food for less. We did have our first local wine. A nice red from the Château across the river.

Today was only 20 miles, but with all the hassles and not feeling my best it seemed like more. The 3rd day of a tour seems to usually be my worst. Tomorrow we plan to get to Chinon. That’s supposed to be a good base for seeing several castles, so we think we may stay there 2 nights. If we’re really lucky, we’ll find a laundry! I’m tired of washing things in shampoo 🙂