DAY 5 - Moulins Sud to Chateauneuf les Bains

Moulins Sud to Chateauneuf les Bains.
57 miles, 11.9 mph average, 1080 m climb, 3000 kcal used

Well it tipped down overnight, so it is just as well this ended up being a night in a hotel - though we hope you aren't envisaging us lying in luxury, as this F1 place is at the budget end of budget! 

Trust me, the entrance is the fanciest bit of this place!

We left the motel at 9 and hopped through the puddles straight into the nearby Boulangerie / Epicerie for boutiques supplies, then off. The route started off on quiet roads across the Allier flood plains past fields of ready to harvest maize, dotted with giant irrigation structures that made us feel tiny. We crossed the river and had our first climb of the day, short and sharp up to Chantel de Neuvre where we were afforded an excellent view from the church. 

Action shot - blogging support will be asking stiff
questions about risk assessments!

Carrying on along the ridge for a while, we continued to have good views until plunging back down to the river again. A closed bridge forced a diversion along a promising-looking cycle route, but the sting in the tale was a short, brutal 15% climb (think Hovis add), before descending to St Pourcain. Climbing again, we set out across an agricultural, rolling landscape. We stopped at a great spot; a shelter with seat and view across to the Chateau at Chareil Cintrat (this was more of a fortified enclosure). 

A shelter, a seat, somewhere to lean the bike and a view -
what more could cyclists ask for?!

We consumed a large part of the food we had procured earlier, steeply up and down to Chantelle before Jeremy realised he had left his iPad behind. Dumping bags he headed off on a 12 mile successful retrieval sprint. Moving on we passed on to to Bellenaves for our first major climb of the trip, brutal at first before more gently rising to 622 m. Then steep up and down until a final spectacular decent into the 'gorgeous' Gorge de la Sioule. Spectacular scenery with, at one point, a view enlivened with ducking and weaving ?martins. Passing the old bridge at Pont de Menat we ended up at our second Chateauneuf of the trip (this one les bains) at about 6 pm. 

The hobbits followed Strider to Weathertop

Pont de Menat - we didn't cross it, so no need to brave
the cobbles on a bike.

Campsite was quiet with no proprietor in site so we pitched tents and headed into the village. Enquiring of some locals we found all the eating places are closed on Thursday afternoons, so back to the tents to cook our emergency meal!

Very cold night followed - 6 degrees - so we're lying in our tents wearing all our clothes.

Best bits

Rowan - view over the Allier from the church viewpoint
John - watching the ?Martins dog-fighting over the Gorge de la Sioule
Roy - getting to the top of the first big climb
Jeremy - finding my iPad still there (following closely on from worst bit - leaving iPad behind at lunch spot and having to cycle back 6 miles to retrieve it)

Worst joke
Gorgeous cycling! (When cycling along the gorge......)