South to Saumur

Seemed like a long old day today. Especially when you roll back into the hotel at something past eleven, half cut, and try to remember what the bloody hell happened!

I recall eating an extremely modest breakfast at Craon (toast & jam, followed by more toast & jam) before being on the road for 9.00 and heading south towards the sun.......🤔

It was a gillet & arm warmers morning and began with the sort of undulating (hilly) terrain with which we'd become too familiar. Perfect 'squirrel' country! 

 

The plan(ish) was to do about 23 miles and stop in a little town called

This didn't happen of course, as their solitary horse has bolted, so we ended up doing about 30 miles before managing to find a suitable watering hole in Becon Les Granits. 

Paninis all round, apart from Kev, who had the tart.........citron avec mirangue. How appropriate!

The cafe scored 21 points. Harsh I thought, despite the average fodder. 

We continued on our run to the sun - we have seen it on occasion - and an hour or so later arrived at Chalonnes on the Loire river. Still very swollen, with evidence of recent flood damage everywhere. 

 

It was then east, following the river south of Angers, through Rochefort to Juigne sur Loire. Grey but bright skies, rolling terrain & vineyards aplenty. Nice cycling. 

We took a punt on an uninviting sort of a place for a more substantial lunch stop. Le Cheval Blanc. 

 

The helpful host, fabulous buffet & top puddings, proved the saying; You can't judge a book...etc, etc. 54 points!

With the weather increasingly threatening, we were keen to get there dry and subsequently rode at a tidy pace, following the south bank of the river, through St Remy la Varenne and then southeast toward Saumur. 

 

We'd about 3 miles to go when the rain hit us. Torrential doesn't describe it. It stopped us in our tracks on the outskirts of the city, where we sought refuge in a bus shelter for 20 mins while the worst of it passed over. Watching passing traffic negotiate flooded roads would have proved quite entertaining had we not been so cold. 

Then we had a few fraught moments trying to locate the hotel. The myriad of cycle ways would have been navigable without our electronic friends. 

Fortunately, the Ibis Styles near Le Gare turned out to be ideal. 

What better way to spend an evening than sitting sipping Chimay whilst waiting for your kit to dry in the adjacent launderette!

 

Nice city though: