We wake up to a storm, with thunder & lightening-it has already wreaked havoc with the garden furniture.
Some of the riders are making the long haul back to Calais in one go today, & with the wind & rain and an early 7.30 set off, what would have been a hard ride is looking like it will be even harder.
Beki loading her bike
With the weather as it is, it is hard to get up enthusiasm to get ready,but eventually I am packed and fully waterproofed up & ready to go.
The rain is intermittent and to be honest its not so bad when you’ve started off with your waterproofs on.
Once again my route is planned to take in as many green routes as possible,although if the weather gets bad I’m set to change to the fastest route to my hotel booked in South Rouen.
A beautiful town on the side of the Loire, but unfortunately i can’t remember its name!
Although I plan my route on the computer and upload it to my GPS ,a Zumo 550,sometimes it does try to take you up unsuitable roads.
When I get to Sandlion,it tells me to turn left, but when I reach the river, the road to the left is a cycle route only, but it is a beautiful spot, and has the rain has stopped, I decide to take a cigarette break.
I look down to the river and notice some birds. I’m not sure what they are,but they look very similar to herons, which as some of you know have a special meaning for me.
It is a poignant moment, as not much earlier whilst riding “Comfortably Numb” had played and I had a sad moment thinking how much Steve would have enjoyed this trip… then here I am standing looking at these birds and it all seems ok.
The weather suddenly gets bad and huge raindrops start falling
Once again Loppy gets wet
Luckily the rain is short lived, and the rest of my ride is dry
Modern day windmills
The yellow sign indicates a ‘Bis’ road - an alternative route avoiding the main roads, and generally with less lorry traffic. Bis, in French, means second (as in the prefix bi-).
The "Bison futé" (in English the cunning bison) is the motorist who does not follow the crowd, but seeks out less crowded easier routes, the "routes bis", thus the "bis-on", being a cunning bison is often well worth it, unless you love sitting in traffic jams.
Oh yes,another Route Baree, luckily this one only means a very short deviation from the route.
One of the things you notice when travelling around France is that so many of the villages have different styles of street lights. I seem to be turning into the street light equivalent of a trainspotter!
The old-fashioned type of windmill
The sun has now come out in force-not something I expected to see this morning-so I decide its apt to stop and photograph this beautiful field of sunflowers
I stop in Chartres to take off all my layers as it is now VERY hot.
You can see the Cathedral from miles- it is very impressive. But when I get up close it is not possible to get a decent photograph-especially as there is scaffolding up where they are cleaning the stonework.
How beautiful is this blue sky?
I have booked into a Campanille hotel for the night. The room is a reasonable price,but more importantly it has a restaurant attached which is open every day, as in France many places close on a Monday.
As I go down to the restaurant another biker arrives. I say Hello and introduce myself as the owner of the Speed Triple. The biker is Alan who is Dutch. He asks if he can join me for dinner and of course I agree-it will be nice to have some company.
Alan
We have a very enjoyable meal, chatting about all sort of stuff -bikes, jobs, religion, our families. Alan is heading down to the Pyrenees. He has only just got a bike again after a 15 year break.
I haven’t posted any food piccies in a while,so here’s our dinner-lamb chops & frites,with a tasty creamy sauce served in glass!
Dessert was a help-yourself buffet-so i went for ille flottante chocolate mousse & a chocolate cream dish Yum Yum :o)
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