It's an easy ride out of Angers this morning, through well-maintained parklands and wide bike and pedestrian paths. There we a lot of people out walking or running, as well as cycling.
We pass waterways that resemble mill ponds - very smooth with not a ripple from wind or water flow, in fact, we passed a rowing club that seemed to be the perfect venue for such a sport.
As we do every day, we see a few multi-day touring cyclists. They have full rear panniers and sometimes front panniers as well. You can easily tell they aren't cycling for just one or two days. This is a fraternity, and a wave or nod is reciprocated by the same. When travelling on my own last year I would have stopped, chatted, and swapped stories of our journeys ... the route, the destination, and any tips about the road ahead. Travelling in a group makes this more challenging as you don't want to hold the team up, or want to chase the pack to catch up.
Being a Sunday we see lots of families out cycling ... perhaps this is where the French get the love of cycling from. They start at such a young age. We travel with small family groups at times ... I'm sure the kids are in awe of long-distance travellers going through their towns ... or that old people can still ride bicycles.
The wind is being kind again this morning although we do find some hills that kept the blood pumping. We stopped at a small town market to buy some lunch. It can be difficult to find shops open on Sundays.
Suddenly we found ourselves on the same route as a local triathlon. After being abused by a local official for the second time for riding a bike among running competitors, I tried to convince one official that I was actually a competitor and I had finished my running leg and was now on the bike leg. He noted that I had panniers. I was disqualified.
We did go on an off-route sojourn to Église Notre-Dame de Béhuard and found that we had visited on the same day as a special mass for the blessing of the local town of Savennières. The mass had to be held outdoors due to its popularity. There were hundreds of people attending, and about the same number as the amount of altar boys. We saw a Bishop attending so it must have been important.
After finally disentangling ourselves from the triathlon, Stewart became our rabbit. Each day someone tends to get in the zone where they hit the pedals hard, clocking up mid to high 20 km per hour, and the rest of us chase them down. Stewart is very very bike-fit. I died trying to catch him. He's not allowed to be a rabbit again.
We finally stopped for our morning ritual coffee at a restaurant/bar. With only a few days left on the trip, I soak up these moments with the group.
I remain in awe of David and Stewart whose friendship has endured decades. I hope that I'm as fit and adventurous at their ages (73 and 69 respectively). Also hanging out with old people is a community service!
We pulled in for lunch at L'lle Ragot near a motor home park. Why oh why anyone would stay here for a holiday is beyond me. The Loire River looks to be in a drought here, with large sand bars being the main feature. Someone has put beach umbrellas in the sand for people to sit under. Seriously! These people need to visit Bondi Beach! Motorhome and caravan parks here are generally far below what is offered in Australia. I love many things in France however camping grounds is not one of them.
A few kilometres down the road, after 2 uneventful bike maintenance days, my front tyre blew and I nearly caused a collision with the bikes behind me. Brett, our industrious mechanic is onto it quickly, supported by Stewart. We make temporary repairs and hope the tyre lasts 2 more days of riding!
With about 20 km to go to Ancenis, we detour into Saint Florent-le-Vieil to see Eglise Abbatiale Saint-Florent du Mont-Glonne and Notre Dame du Marillais, are both within a kilometre of each other. The Abbey has placed some modern art in front of a 6th-century church ... I don't think it works!
Finally, we arrived at the hotel, had a beer and shower (in that order) and headed off for what was possibly our best meal in France (and they've all been great!). Restaurant La Table du Pêcheur à Ancenis, take a bow!
Ancenis is a small quiet town which makes a nice stopover. Like so many towns in the Loire Valley, they have a healthy tourism industry. Tomorrow we head to Nantes, 36kms away, on our penultimate riding day.
Au revoir.
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