May 24th

May 24^th  Bracieux (Chombard) to Sancerre  118 kms

Eager to make up some time and perhaps eager also to get away from the camper vans and the other cyclists in the Loire valley I decided to take a cross country route and pick up the Loire again nearer Nevers. The decision was an excellent one and I enjoyed a spectacular day’s riding, almost totally alone through the carefully managed mixed woodlands of the Departments of Cher and Loire et Cher.

The 118 kms route, almost entirely on secondary roads, most of them very little used,took me through the wonderfully-named villages of Neung sur  Beuvron, St Viatre, Nouran le Fuzilier, Pierrefitte (our favourite),  Aubigny sur Nere, Vailly sur Sauldre and down to Cosne sur Loire.  Each carefully looked-after village with its one-storey, brick-edged houses, sometimes with intricate little blue patterns, clustered around its solid church, was a delight. But even more impressive perhaps were the woodlands: vast expanses of deciduous and coniferous forest with tantalizing tracks disappearing from the road, tempting me to put back on my VTT tyres and explore. Presumably at the end of these tracks are beautiful houses, where the owners of these “domains” live what must surely be a very isolated existence.The long straight roads, sometimes five or six kilometres without a corner, were eerily empty. And then dotted all over the forests are tarns and ponds, probably teeming with wildlife.

The only drawback from a cycling point of view perhaps is that the roads are so straight. On the other hand, this allows for a very peaceful, almost effortless, pedalling rhythm, highly conducive to positive creative thinking, the more so as the hills, such as they were, came only towards the end of the day as I approached the Loire.

We met few people today although there might have had to have  been a long conversation with the chap in Neung who, popping in to the boulangerie, failed to leave his ancient Renault 5 in gear. Just as the old jalopy began rolling towards us and the café where we were enjoying a coffee he noticed his moving vehicle, rushed out of the shop and dived into the driving seat. From his cheerful grins I suspect that this wasn’t the first time this had happened. It seemed strange, though, to have to think of the damage that would have been caused on such a pleasant morning had he not been looking out of the boulangerie window at the just the right moment. At least there would have been work for the garage owner at nearby La Ferte-Beauharnais who couldn’t have been more pleasant, insisting on inflating my bicycle tyres for me as I changed from VTT to slicks, and then giving the old Cannondale a good oiling. People like that just make my day.

A very good day’s cycling which gained me an entire day on my schedule. After all, the objective is not necessarily to cycle the entire Loire valley, but rather to get all the way to the Black Sea. The weather was gorgeous, even though that insistent east wind is still with us (or rather not with us but against us). 

Longest day yet at 118 kms 

Total since Galway 1196 kms.