clairedavieswriter

At dinner last night, my attempt to introduce a veggie main course into the set menu caused the waiter such consternation (think Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda, thankfully without the chopsticks up his nose) that I gave up and chose what he called ‘une grande assiette végétarienne’, spreading his arms wide like a fisherman talking up his catch. I think perhaps he was referring to the crockery, and not the contents, but it was tasty and attractively presented, if not especially filling.

I really couldn’t complain about the view from my room, but I was relieved that the bells were quiet overnight: when they rang at 7am they were louder than my phone alarm.

On checking the route yesterday I’d spotted that a big chunk was on one of Guillaume’s suspiciously straight (for which, read ‘main’) roads. I’m sure he was just trying to save me some miles, but given it wasn’t a hilly day I thanked him prettily and rerouted onto EuroVélo 6, which made my ride about 15k longer but considerably more relaxing.

We started beside the Canal du Centre, which links the Saône to the Loire:

And ended beside the Canal du Nivernais, which links the Loire to the Seine:

I gave Hugo most of the day off, because generally the EV6 signposts were easier to follow than his somewhat perplexing instructions: ‘In six and six thousand, one hundred and fifty kilometres, turn right’. Guillaume was relegated to milometer duties. I trust he won’t sulk.

Canal paths are brilliant for a while, if they coincide with your route, but constant pedalling makes them tiring (no climbing uphill means no freewheeling downhill!) and they can be a bit dull, as there’s not much to look at. So I enjoyed the long spell in between them rather more.

There were some familiar voie verte views:

Quite a bit of time on quiet roads in the middle of nowhere:

Including for my lunch stop du jour – no table, but views in all directions. It was the geographical high point of the ride.

And some time riding beside an old friend:

Speaking of friends, my amis de route today were Georges (« comme le futur roi d’Angleterre ») and Françoise from Belgium – here they are overtaking a walker with a dog on the Canal Pont at Digoin: not a manoeuvre for the faint-hearted, let me tell you.

What you can’t see from the photos is that the wind was blowing in our faces all day, which was particularly hard work on the dead straight sections of the Canal du Centre, so we formed a little three person peloton for a while, taking it in turns to go in front. It was a huge help to me to be able to tuck in behind them while Georges towed us along at 25-30kph.

We saw some friendly and relatable street art:

I’ve no idea what this was, although I did see quite a few real life storks in the fields…

And a stoically patient swan carrying three argumentative youngsters along the canal:

No risk of church bells in the morning, as I’ve swapped the view of a Basilica for one of a pleasure boat basin.

Meanwhile, Bernard is making friends in a purpose-built bike storage room: we are firmly back on the beaten track. Somewhat incredibly, it’s our last full day of riding tomorrow.