16th September (sunny mild morning, sunny, hot afternoon) 36 km

We were expecting the wedding guests to make a racket when they came back to camp, but really they weren’t too bad.  For starters, they didn’t get back until 5am by which time Jimmy had been in bed nine hours and we’d been asleep for seven.  In reality, at home, I’d probably have just got up.  Unfortunately, their glamping tents were right by Jimmy and for some unknown reason, they decided they needed to park their car right in between Jimmy’s tent and their glamping teepee.  Then when they got out, they slammed all of their doors, but I have to admit, there was no talking, laughing or general drunken behaviour – they all just went straight to sleep.

Having been woken up, we were all aware of just how cold it was tonight, so donned some extra layers and Pete and I managed to sleep through until nearly 8am.

Pete here: Once up, Julia got the wages paid back in NZ and I rode the bike into town to pick up supplies for the day, as they close at 12.30pm today. Must admit, it’s foreign to us now, not to be able to just pop out to the supermarket to get what we want at any time. One thing that is very noticeable in France however, is how Sunday seems to be a family day. People taking picnics and getting a large gathering together, to play with the kids or just spend time chatting.

At 11am we rolled out of camp, the wedding party still finishing off the breakfast that the camp had provided. The riding once again was pleasant and not strenuous on Dad, which with only two days left, is what we want. Took our first stop at a nice little rest area, although it did have a stagnant pond. Again, there were large family gatherings and it reminded us when the kids were the same age. Sad that we won’t see that again, unless there are grandkids.

Queer eye for the saint guy......"Grey bricks or white Jean Pierre? "
"Oooh, let's just do both!"  A triumph I'd say, very striking.

Looks pleasant, but that's a stagnant pond behind us.

At the end of our stop, we’d just taken the bikes over to the loos, when I struck up a conversation with a woman who was cycle touring with her husband. Found out that Sheri and Jim were from the States and spend their time travelling the world, under different modes of transport, this time, it’s by bike. They have been on the go this time for four years (hope I got that right if you’re reading this guys) and have been all over.  Ju and I eyed up their bikes enviously….Surly frames with fat tyres, Jones handlebars and Brooks saddles.  

Jim with his awesome looking bike.

Makes me drool just thinking about those bikes now.  It was great to talk to them about some of their adventures, this one is taking them to Istanbul.  

They have spent many years travelling the planet and Jim suggested just before we said goodbye, that the next trip could be sailing around the world. Left them feeling quite awe-struck about what some people are out there doing – these two truly are world travellers.

Julia again: The well-signposted, well surfaced Loire-a-velo continued to Ancenis where we stopped to have a break and a little walk around the town.  

Ancenis Chateau

Like a lot of French towns in the early afternoon, it appeared to be quite deserted and there was not much there to keep us interested – although we did eye up the local kebab shop, but seeing as we’d only just had lunch, we didn’t go in.

Some beautiful riding today - but our gear was pretty dusty by the end of it.

On we rode to Oudon where a football match was in progress.  We had been hoping to find an ice-cream to purchase but no luck, so we all grabbed out our nectarines and stood munching these while watching the football.  We were rewarded with a very well-taken goal, right in front of us.  Cycled through town to the campground and the gate was down so we cycled around it as often camp offices are closed during the middle part of the day.  A woman met us on the driveway and said “Ferme” which means closed…….as in closed for the season!  This meant we had to cycle on to the next campground about 10km away and hope they too weren’t closed.

We arrived at La Varenne to find a very empty campground with a football match having just finished and the camp facilities being used by the football players. Uh –oh, it did not look good.  Just then, another couple of cycle tourers pedalled up and luckily could read French so could read the signage by the gate and told us the campground was open, you just had to pay at the town hall in the morning.  So we all cycled in, gratefully pitched our tents and got showers.

A delicious Beef Bourginon followed with an accompaniment of green beans (all from cans but still delicious!) along with coffee and biscuits.  Pete announced he’d like to go for a walk into the township so being the good wife I am, I thought I’d better accompany him.  I almost immediately regretted this decision as the road turned the corner and went uphill, very steeply. Turned another corner and on it went, up and up.  It hadn’t been that hot today but perhaps it was quite humid, as my energy just felt totally gone so I didn’t enjoy that little walk at all – and probably made it so Pete didn’t enjoy it either!

Camp for the night

The sun set as we walked – it is setting about 8pm nowadays – and what promised to be an amazing sunset at the start, amounted to nothing much at all as the hint of colour died out to a dull gray.  Jimmy was already in bed when we got back and by the time we’d brushed our teeth we heard him snoring happily – his tent several metres away from ours.