Gien

We left Alan's place at about 10:30, to continue heading south to the river la Loire which has a big Eurovelo route and everyone says is amazing. We stopped in the next village to have some more breakfast and get baguettes. The boulangeries are amazing! So many delicious pastries breads and cakes! We sat by a nice river and made quick friends with the local ducks. After about 20km we found the river! Not really any need for a map now for the next few days I think as it is all fully sign posted. There are many more tourers here although we are along the few going the other direction, most people are heading to Nantes, the beach.

This bike path is amazing, almost always flat, almost always bike only. You see the river, the farms, adorable cottages, small forests. It's really nice!

We saw a beautiful cattle in sully sur Loire. Beautiful! And i had a raspberry gelato, delicious!

I contacted another warm shower host which we hoped to meet at 80km but she was unavailable. So we kept going to a campsite, but not in the village we were in, so again we pushed on to reach 108km and a really nice camp site! The last 20km were tough. I'm getting sick of riding (for the day) my right elbow is sore (I broke it when I was 7, so any weight makes it hurt) mostly my muscles at the back of my heels hurt. I'm going to try adjusting my seat and handle bars, maybe Google riding posture or something. My neck was also stiff! So of course after studying tropical medicine I have meningitis. Or more likely just from being in the same position all day. I never would have foreseen these problems, the furtherst i have cycled before was 24km. The joy of being novices.Read more