Reaching Nantes

Today we woke to leaden skies and a howling wind. Some of our more fearful souls thought that we were going to be in for a very long, hard day in the saddle. I went outside and did my "cloud whisperer" act and was very relieved (but not surprised) that the wind quickly abated and soon we saw small patches of blue appearing. My late mother used to describe such cloud conditions as "just enough blue to make a sailor suit" so we spent some time discussing just how many sailors could be suited up with the available blue skies. As the morning progressed we soon had enough blue to equip a whole navy of sailors (and probably the admiral as well).

We rode along on quiet bike paths and back roads for the entire morning until we reached the outskirts of Nance. With almost 1 million inhabitants, Nance is the sixth largest city of France and it took some amount of navigating and a degree of nerve to get through the busy city streets to our hotel. Nantes is also known as being the home of the great writer Jules Verne.

Orleans now seems a long way away, both in time and distance. The Loire River now has a real seaside feel to it and tomorrow we will finally see it emptying into the Ocean. We then follow the wild Atlantic Coastline for another day until our ride terminates at Le Croisic.

It has been another wonderful adventure that I am sure that none of our riders will ever forget.Read more