DAY 3 - Chateauneuf sur Loire to Sancerre

Chateauneuf sur Loire to Sancerre (next to)
61 miles, 301 m of climb, 2653 kcal, 12.5 mph average speed
Weather: ridiculously hot. I mean, seriously ludicrously hot. We saw a roadside thermometer at 40 deg and John's cycle computer was reading over 36 most of the afternoon.

Today we definitely earned our crust - this was a hard day, and I say that as a seasoned cycle tourer, so please remember to get your sponsorship in! There are links in the sidebar of this page. What made it so hard was the temperature, as alluded to above. Today's ride was challenging, but in theory not as hard as yesterday's; shorter and less climbing. But we found ourselves really struggling at about 50 miles and had to stop and rest for a while to recuperate - as well as eat and drink almost all of our remaining supplies. Anyway, it worked, we made the last 10 miles, albeit a bit later that we would have liked. But we arrived unusually exhausted and frazzled.

The day started with a brew of porridge before packing up and then off into town to pick up supplies for the day. We had identified potential shops on the previous night's walk and were disappointed that the artesan boulangerie we had identified were on holiday, but pleased to find another open just down the road. Again, great quiches and apple tarts (the latter were a lifesaver at our emergency stop at 50 miles). Fruit veg and cheese were also stowed and we rolled away to follow the Loire for the day not long after 10 am.

Much of the day we spent following our pre-planned route intermixed with opportune sections of the EV6 cycle route.

Opportune section of EV6, (or so I'm told)

The problem we had with the latter (a problem that stopped us using it throughout the day) is a common problem with cycle routes; the surface is often gravelly which is not good for touring cycling with our heavy loads and tyres thinner than the typical mountain bike. So we chose selectively, mostly with good outcomes. On one occasion we did have to turn round as the cycle route set off as an undulating dirt track through a small wood! Much of the day was spent on roads and tracks running along either the bank or levee of the Loire. A broad river with a lazy flow and tree topped islands to begin with, it gradually narrowed and flowed with more purpose as we went through the day. We went past two nuclear power plants, numerous chateaus and many picturesque villages on the way. We initially found that our tendency to follow roads that directly lined up with the sun had been inherited from the previous day.

The Chateau at Gien - great for lovers of pointy bits in architecture

The Chateaus at Sully and Gien were definite highlights; the latter seen across the river, the former in fully moated glory (the colour of the water suggests the moat might be a biohazard as well as a water one). It was also at Sully that we finally tracked down a bike shop for Roy to get some new brake blocks; he will be needing them soon!

The team posing by the moat at Sully Chateau

We made a minor diversion away from the river to go past a small village chateau and take in the river views from further away. On the way down from this we picked up a delightful stretch of the EV6; quiet, well surfaced and shady, it cut through the green fields for a few miles of cooler progress.
A definite exemplar of a good cycle track, It brought us out next to the Pont Canal de Briare, a spectacular cast iron canal aqueduct that goes over the Loire. Well worth the diversion.

That bridge is really an enormous aqueduct!

Detail from the end plinth of the aqueduct - llama-monster ship?

We again found a sheltered spot with benches for lunch; this time next to the flower-fringed village pond at St Gondon. A measuring pole with all of the worst floods makes showed that all of us would have been under water in June 1856.

Possibly the nicest lunch stop so far, lovely view - even had benches.

Proof stop would have been less lovely (and a lot wetter) in 1856

Spot the nuclear plant cooling tower in the background!

As reported above, the build up of heat during the afternoon (John recorded the maximum temp of 36.3 at around 4 pm) turned it into a bit of an ordeal and we were all very pleased to arrive at a very nice camp site in St Satur next to Sancerre. Running a bit late, we only just managed to get to the nearest restaurant in time, but were then able to have a delicious and sizeable (hooray) meal washed down with the local speciality drink (?)...

Best moments:
Rowan - spectacular Chateau at Sully
Roy - finding bike shop to get replacement brake blocks (also in Sully).
John - mid afternoon refreshing pomegranate along with 2 ice creams in the mid afternoon heat.
Jeremy - Pont Canal de Briare

Random thought of the day: cycling is very good for having random thoughts.