The first 10 km of the day out from Montceau-les-Mines was all about hills ... big ones and bigger ones. Not necessarily the Swiss Alps, but more than we have in Brisbane. One had a grade of 18 degrees. A one stage I ducked in behind Brett to benefit from drafting ... until I was told it isn't that effective uphill doing 5 km per hour. This was to be a 90 km day and already my energy was being exhausted at, well, an exhausting rate.
I began cursing the French, then came around a corner to see an angry French farmer with a gun strapped over his back. I thought about loudly cursing Macron ... I've been told he's not a crowd favourite with the farmers, however, I opted for the old "Je suis Australien et j'aime votre beau pays", colloquially known as "I am Australian and I love your beautiful country". It worked. He didn't shoot me. We gestured to each other to communicate ... it was beautiful. Then I worked out that he was off to hunt some wild ducks for dinner.
The views down into the valley were fantastic (almost worth the grief of the climbing ... almost!). The plateau at the top was rich soiled farmland, with mainly cattle.
We passed Saint-Vallier, a beautiful town, with not a cafe or anything open. We didn't even see people and it was well after 9:00am.
We eventually needed to stop for a coffee. Brett found one - just 4 km to go. Unfortunately, the map was upside down, we'd already been through Palings, 4 km ago. We didn't see anything when we rode through anyway. Onward another 20 km to Palay-le-Monial.
Palay-le-Monial (known locally as Palay), was a very tidy town with very little open on a Monday. We've seen very few shops open anywhere yesterday or today. Why is this so? The reason lies in France's enshrined labour code, the Code du Travail, which was first published in 1910. Under the code, it was illegal for anyone to
work more than six days a week and workers should have 35
consecutive hours of rest. So, people who worked on Saturdays, which mostly included
those working in shops and services like banking and postal workers, had
to take off Sunday and at least Monday morning, with many getting the
whole day off. France led the way in enshrining labour laws such as the 38-hour week, then the 35-hour, and now the 4-day week.
We passed the Chateau de Digeone along the cycle path ... very impressive. Apparently, it's privately owned however there is public access to the gardens which are some sort of national treasure. It was closed ... we rode on.
While taking a rest break, I checked my email for anything needing attention. A survey from Virgin Airlines noted that I've been chosen to offer feedback on critical issues. I was hoping for something meaty like CEO remuneration, airline pricing, or on-time service. I would have even settled for in-flight dining options. Apparently, they'd like my views on none of these ... but rather the topic - what are my thoughts on visible tattoos of staff. I rode on.
As we came to Digeon, we almost stumbled upon the famous Pont Canal. A canal that goes across the Loire River. Weird yet cool! It took 4 years to build and was completed in 1838.
We were now on the last leg to our overnight stop at Bourbon-Lancy, a famous walled, medieval city from around 1495. It still had many of its grand buildings and fortifications in place. Col set a cracking pace for the last run ... he was selfless in getting others to follow in his draft which certainly helped me. Thanks Col.
We were warmly welcomed at our hotel - Le Port de la Loire just out of town. Very gracious hosts and wonderful French hospitality. We haven't had too many accommodation fails yet ... give us time!
After dropping our gear off, we headed in to explore Bourbon-Lancy proper, until someone had another tyre blow out! Moi! Fortunately, our resident mechanic had it fixed in no time with little help from me ... having known me for 40 years he knows how mechanically inept I am. Thanks Brett.
We finished the day with some dinner shopping at Aldi. We were dining in tonight at our humble abode. A nice way to finish another great day.
Au Revoir.
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