Free Day in Nevers

Since Nevers is the place where we finish the Prologue Ride and begin the Main Ride, it is also the only place on our entire ride where we have three nights in the same location. Our first free day in Nevers began with a ride to the Gare de Nevers to say goodbye to Mark Madler Edwards (aka Mark 3). Mark now begins the long journey back to Australia, while the rest of us continue for another 1000 km or so to the Atlantic.
After leaving the railway station we walked to the Best Western Hotel de Dianne. That was where we stayed when we last here in 2019 and we remembered the placxe with some fondness. It was then down to the banks of the Loire and a short walk to the famous Ducal Palace. Parts of this place date back to the 1400s, and it gave some sort of foretaste of the grand castles that we will be seeing further along the Loire.
By this time we were looking for somewhere to stop for a "light lunch". Since dinner had already been arranged at the Comptoir de St Sebastien, we just needed something light and easy to tide us never. Well, that was the theory. We spied a likely looking eatery and sat down to order, not knowing that it was, in fact, a kebab cafe. We have already experienced just what gargantuan servings these places prepare, and this one turned out to be no different. I would defy a whole African village of hungry children to eat the contents of my plate, although I did my best, failing just short of about half a plateful.
Then it was back to the hotel for the compulsory afternoon siesta, before the new 6 members of the Group arrived. Somewhere around 4 pm they staggered in the door, hot and tired after their walk from the station. With the addition of Paul and Catriona Wansbrough, John and Jenny Blain and David and Libby Ellis, our group has now swollen to 9 riders. It was great to be able to swap stories as we welcomed the new additions.
In the evening we walked to the Comptoir de St Sebastien restaurant, a very impressive establishment set over two floors. We were ushered up the grand staircase to our table. It turned out that we had the entire upstairs room to ourselves, so we did not have to be circumspect about the amount of noise we made. In a word, the food was sensational.Read more