Arrondissement de Cholet

Today our cycle towards the Atlantic continued through some superb French villages and followed the banks of the Loire for some distance. By this time we have seen the Loire steadily grow to a very impressive and rapidly flowing river.
Up till now we have only seen small flat bottomed fishing boats but today we began to see the first signs that we are entering the realms of the working Loire. The river is getting deeper and we are starting to see bigger and bigger boats in use.

The scenery along the way is breathtaking, the houses and villages make us feel that we are part of a story book, the only things missing are people and cars. For kilometre after kilometre we ride along without seeing either cars or people and sometimes we begin to wonder just what has happened to everyone.

This morning we crossed the prime meridian and thus officially passed from the eastern hemisphere to the western hemisphere. We also had an impressive flyover by a low flying group of fighter aircraft. This was repeated several times during the day suggesting that there must be a air force base somewhere nearby. I suspected that they had heard that the Ghostriders were in the area and wanted to give us an impressive salute.

The weather has continued to be kind to us. So far we have only had one wet day and the conditions have been great for riding, although we have been regularly visited by a tenacious head wind. By now our riders are all getting stronger and it is easy to see the improvement in everyone's riding. We also had the streepest climb of the ride so far - probably a 10 to 12% gradient at least but most were able to ride up without getting off to walk.

We are now in a small town called MonJean Sur Loire. Compared to the large city of Angers where we spent last night this town is tiny and loacted right on the river. The hotel was not large enough to accommodate us all so some had to go to a nearby Gite (guesthouse) for the night.

After tonight we only have another 4 days of riding before we reach our final destination at Le Croisic on the Atlantic Coast. At that point our riders will disperse to continue their own adventures. Maggie and I wil be staying in France for another month to explore as much of the country as we can. If I can sort out some of my pictures I will post them soon.

One thing is certain and that is that everyone has had an absolute ball on this trip. The group has all got along famously and supported each other the whole way. For the life of me I could not understand why anyone would every consider travelling any other way. I reckon that once you have experienced this you could never face another tourist bus trip ever again. This has been the perfect way to combine travel, adventure, physical activity, good fun, fellowship, fresh air, surprises and breathtaking scenery into one.Les mer