Day 6 – Loire valley and finally enough to eat!

We were both lacking energy and enthusiasm this morning. Jackie hadn’t slept well due to the cold and we were both worn out from our long ride yesterday. After behaving fairly well yesterday my knee was now very painful and I was limping quite badly. I was also dehydrated, my own fault for drinking too little water during yesterday’s ride.

Yesterday we had the foresight to order pain au chocolate and a baguette to collect from the camp shop this morning. Picked them up and sat next to the outdoor pool where we could plug in and charge our phones and power packs. We both dealt with some work emails. We could complain about not being able to completely switch off from work because we’re self-employed, but that’s exactly what enables us to embark on long adventures like this so it would be churlish to moan.

Still feeling underfed from yesterday. Ate the pain au choc, then some bread and cheese, a pack of mixed nuts and raisins followed by an almond Magnum each. A good breakfast.

We had draped most of our clean washing over the poolside seats and our socks on a hedge and now almost all of it was dry. The few bigger items that were still damp went into a mesh bag that we tie on to the back of Jackie’s bike and it dries very quickly as we cycle.

We finally left camp at 13:00 after much faff and generally being slow, worn out and just mildly fed up. We had a relatively short 24 miles planned for today.

Arrived in a small village beginning with G. This is the place I checked out earlier that may have a restaurant open and if not it has two supermarkets. Great, let’s get some food inside us. Couldn’t see anything anywhere, other than yet another route barré. Checked Google Maps again and couldn’t understand why I could no longer find any restaurants and shops. Decided we’d have to just push on all the way to our next campsite in Saumur, 18 miles away. Lunch was going to be very late again today! Six miles later we found another town beginning with G. This was the place I’d been looking at for lunch! I’d got my G towns mixed up. Bought lovely bread type things, mine was full of lardons and emmental, and made use of the seats outside a closed restaurant. Then went back to the boulangerie for coffee and yummy desserts.

Headed off for the remaining 12 miles. Lovely smooth roads through open countryside and then later alongside the Loire. Good riding, great scenery and lots of sun. Arrived in Saumur and found our campsite on an island. Walked into reception to find a huge argument between a customer and the four staff. Waited patiently for it to finish then asked for a pitch with my fingers firmly crossed as the sign in the window said the site was full. They keep a few small pitches unreserved just for drop-in cyclists like us and had one spare. Hurrah!! Otherwise it would have been a night on a verge.

Great campsite. Pitched the tent and I sorted a few work things while Jackie had a swim. Cycled back into the middle of town for dinner. We both had gnocchi; Jackie’s was with mushrooms and truffle, mine with beef bolognese (which is my answer to the question ‘if you could only eat one thing for rest of your life, what would you choose?’) with a pleasant glass of wine and an extremely rich chocolate orange mousse for dessert. At last we both felt properly fed.

Back to camp. Went to the open-air communal kitchen and made hot drinks. A fluffy white cat jumped up and sat beside Jackie. Wrote this blog entry and then off to bed in our cosy tent. Another raucous frog chorus tonight this time from the inhabitants of the Loire river which we are sleeping right next to.

A small fly has just zoomed up my right nostril. Good night.

Miles today: 27

Total miles: 231

Good things today: