9th September (sunny and very hot!) 34 km

Mais non Quel une faux pas. Because we are back into life on the road and I can’t recall what day it is, I completely forgot Julia’s birthday yesterday, despite the fact that I had written the blog first thing and in doing so, put the date on it. First time ever and it will be the last.

Small chateaux were everywhere on today's ride.

Woke this morning, not so full of beans after a rough night with my ear. It’s something I’ve had for such a long time and it can keep me awake when it strikes. Last night as I was massaging down the side of my neck, in the wee small hours, I glanced a mole heading for the tent. As it was, he deviated towards Dad’s tent, but on not hearing any screams, I assumed he’d turned away from Dad’s as well. They’re funny little creatures, just not sure what their temperament is like.

The day dawned, once again without a cloud in the sky. Ju set off to the office to use the wifi, which is the only place you can get it. She was busy paying our wonderful staff their hours for the week. Meanwhile I shot around to the supermarche, which didn’t open until 9.30am, it being Sunday and all, so brekky was put on hold. Began taking the tents down with Dad and once again they were covered in dew and condensation. At 9.30am, back off on the bike to get supplies, for lunch as well.

Windless day meant mirror-like river

Julia had informed us that today would be cycle track alongside the river, but warned us she didn’t know the quality of the track, but hopefully it would be exactly like yesterday….fantastic…but, it was not to be. Went from our best day to our worst in 24hours. It all began at 11.25, a late start, but hey, cruisy riding, no problem. The first part of the ride was alongside the Cher river and as always, beautiful. The cameras were snapping away and all was good with the world, until, we took a wrong turn and changed to the far side of the river. Here, the cycle path changed to rugged farm track. Why didn’t we turn back early on……no, seriously, why didn’t we turn back? 

Peach stop

Azay sur Cher Chateau

Anyway we carried on and it just got worse. I was worried about dad as the rocks were bloody huge and he was having a hard time trying to keep the bike upright. All that effort had now left him very tired and mistakes were creeping in. Limped into a campsite just before Tours, La Ville Aux Dames and even that was a mission as there was no entry from the cycle path, only the road, which meant we had to push our bikes up a ruddy great bank.

Veretz (above and below)

After checking in, we bought four ice-creams (it was 2 for the price of 1, so who’s going to turn down a free extra ice-cream on a stinking hot day??) and sat outside the office in the shade, grateful for a reprieve from the heat.  Listened to an English woman bemoaning the look of this campground with all the washing hanging everywhere.  Seriously woman?  This is called “camping” and if you don’t like it, go and book a hotel I say.  We all resolved to dig out as many dirty clothes as possible and wash them, hanging them to dry in very indiscreet places. 

Wandered round the campground, looking for a flat spot in the shade with the added luxury of some grass and eventually settled upon a spot.  As we took the gear off the bikes, we got chatting to our new neighbours, Mike and Cathy (English), who were very nice.  Saw madam and hubby pull their campervan in a spot not too far from ours so as soon as the tent was up, we all did some washing and strung it up gaily round our tent before heading off for nice cold showers. Ate some bread and cheese as that was all we had. It was 31 degrees today and believe me, we felt every single one of them. The washing was drying nicely even though we hadn’t got it out until about 4.30pm. Julia and I were going to take a ride into Tours, but to be honest, it was too damn hot to ride any further than just a km, so we decided instead to go out and celebrate Ju’s birthday yesterday. There was a Mc Donalds just down the lane and that’s what we did. I know….I know…It’s that showing a girl a good time thing again. I just don’t know how to help myself. Happy Birthday Hon…..Ere… have a chicken burger, I’ll even throw in some fries and a coke……what….a large coke….come off it ….you think I’m made of money?

Pedalled back to camp, all satisfied with our birthday food and while Dad called it quits on a tough day for him, Ju and I went around to the reception area, where others were also trying to get wifi. Loaded and published the last two days and hopefully if we have time, we can do this one tomorrow, before taking off.