R&R in a pretty town
Today is about rest and the only thing we really do – besides rest – is take a wander around town following the directions of a bolshie little cat (who we name Tinkerbell after a dearly departed little bolshie cat I/we used to share a house with). Her directions are at times a little hard to keep track of, and there are the dreaded shortcuts (Ikea anyone?) so she leads us on a merry dance around town.
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It’s a long way to fairyland
Today we have a bold plan. Today we will ride 100km!
It’s been done before, but not on this trip, and it isn’t the greatest way to spend a day, but sometimes you just need to hustle along to get from one place to another. Master navigator for this trip, Neil, who sits up late at night looking at maps and towns and drilling right down to see what restaurants there are in towns (because food is so important) has determined that our best course of action would be to ride straight through to Dole.
Normally we try to stick to around 60km in a day. That’s enough to keep us moving, allows time in the day to dawdle and say, “Oh, look at the lovely castle,” and arrive at the destination in time to chill, have a beer and a look around. 100km is just a bit of a stretch on loaded bikes.
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It all goes downhill today
It all goes downhill today as we travel along Canal du Centre from Montceau-les-Mines to Chalon-sur-Saône. So far on this trip we have travelled upstream on every waterway. The gradient has never really been noticeable, but today, when things turn around and we head downstream on Canal du Centre, it brings on a fun set of downhill locks. We go through about five where I don’t need to use my pedals much, just rolling downhill to the next lock, then down again. It’s enough to bring a smile to the face of a slightly weary traveller.
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Au revoir La Loire
It is such a fast start to the day. With our bikes cleaned and the chains oiled to perfection we zip along wide, well paved and smooth bike paths out of Bourbon Lancy – sometimes the bike infrastructure is just so very, very good in this country! It’s always good to make a lot of progress early up – it sets up the day and make us feel good about our progress.
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Spa day!
Everybody has a spa today, including the bikes and our clothes.
We start the day with our first hearty breakfast since leaving Melbourne. With a small cooktop and microwave in our apartment we can put together a typical “JoyMck” breakfast and eat it while listening to Raf on ABC radio (it feels a bit wrong to be listening to Raf’s Drive program in the morning).
Where east meets west
We’ve been slowly moving east on this trip, while our friends Michelle and Steve have been moving west on their first European cycling trip. We knew we would meet up at some point and today is the day.
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It’s not a day for getting things
Neil McKinnon June 2023
It’s Monday. Monday in France is a lot like Sunday in France. Many places are not open. It is hard to get things.
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A what?
We’re treating this today as a bit of a commute. It’s a 70+ km day and the EV6 route looks like it meanders around a bit early on so we decide to take the road for some of the day to cut a few kilometres off and get some distance done early.
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Be careful of rogues and snakes
Jean McKinnon, 2013, as we departed on a cycling trip to Eastern Europe
“Shit!”
(Apologies if the word offends, but I must report accurately.)
We are riding out of Orléans and having a lovely morning in a park reserve. It’s Saturday morning and the locals are out running, riding and enjoying themselves on a beautiful sunny day. After spending most of yesterday off the bikes we’re both feeling well and fit. The bike paths are great and we are making good time. Today is a good day.
I’m on it before I see it and I’m over it before I can stop.
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