Two days in the saddle

Early Tuesday we left cloudy, busy Paris and headed south by train to the Loire Region. En route we picked up our rental bikes. They are heavy e-bikes but they run pretty well on the flat and have lots of battery life - we just have to avoid making any sudden moves or all will be lost!
We headed by a special “bike train” to Nantes - which is in the far West of the Loire area on a large estuary off of the Atlantic. [We’ve learned from experience that, if possible, it is best to bike from the West and head East - prevailing winds and all that.]

I think we were all very impressed with Nantes and glad we made the effort to head that far to start. It was once the largest port in France and has a dubious history of being responsible for most of the 18th century French Atlantic slave trade. It also has an impressive ship building history but one that has since shut down like so many others in the world. The French author Jules Verne came from Nantes and at Helen’s urging we visited this interesting but kind of weird gallery called Les Machines where enormous mechanical animals have been created. The most impressive and must see animal is the Great Elephant that is 39 feet high and moves like an actual elephant as it goes for walks. Hard to describe but pretty cool. We had a fabulous brasserie dinner in an old art nouveau building.
So we’ve knocked off about 150 kms in the past 2 days. Mike has been hard at work tightening mirrors, phone holders, making sure panniers are secure etc. We simply couldn’t do these self- guided trips without Mike, our roadie. We had a “ shake out ride” yesterday - quite literally- coming out of the old city centre of Nantes over kms of teeth-shattering cobbles. If we were going to lose anything, including our fillings, it was going to happen on those streets.

Unfortunately, Mike is suffering from refractory jet lag this trip which no amount of “ bière pression” seems to help.

For 2 days we’ve followed the Loire River fairly closely on well signed, and mostly paved, paths. There are loads of cyclists and you wonder if getting shares in Ortlieb panniers wouldn’t be a great investment. People along the way are very friendly with lots of waves and “ bonjour monsieur, dames.”

Today we stopped for our morning break (coffee, BR and Voltaren Cream) at a cafe and the proprietor came out and exclaimed that we were his first customers - no, literally his very first customers as he had just picked up his business license 1/2 hour before. I think he was tickled that his first customers were from Canada. Our roadie Mike helped him sort out how to raise his brand new umbrella. There was lots of hand- shakes and photos before we set off again and I heard someone singing “ On the Road Again” as we rode away and I thought , for just a minute, that my dear brother-in- law, Jiggs, had joined us as that old Willie Nelson hit is Jigg’s favourite song.

We have been blessed so far with Goldilocks weather- not too hot and not too cold. The mornings are cool enough for a jacket but by afternoon it’s tee shirt weather.
Tonight we are in beautiful, historic Saumur. Tomorrow our chateau spotting begins in earnest. There is a big chateau here and another good one where we are headed in Chinon.
Accommodations have been superb but I sure do miss those always available and clean Japanese toilets from last year. Alas, we will have to make up for it with good wine.
That’s it for now. Hope everyone is well back home.
Love Heather ( Mom/ Grandma)Read more