Sandra and Noel to the Rescue!

Hi Everyone, thanks for the comments on the blog and also related texts and e-mails they are searched for and viewed with pleasure and affection and really appreciated. We are aware of lack of photos but we have worked out that we do not have the technology to put them on yet - sorry about that. Will sort this before we head off to New Zealand. We composed our last posting from a pretty good campsite in Ancenis - we stayed two nights here - where we were befriended by a friendly scouser on a voyage of discovery after being made redundant. He was clearly capably of moving more swiftly than us so we hid in our tent the next morning as he packed up and left. The weather at nights particularly is cooling off and for the past few days it has been overcast and a bit wet so this has dimmed our waning enthusiasm for camping further and also boosted our interest in moving south to warmer climes (more of this later). So quickly in bullet points here are the latest highlights.

Big cycle after Ancennis. More brilliant paths. We stopped off at a little snack shack in the middle of nowhere and were served by a really charming and friendly couple; Caroline being the fruit bat that she is spotted a couple of punnets of peaches and pointed enthusiastically at them; the guys face momentarily fell as he explained that they were his own shopping...but let us buy some anyway. The shack had only one other customer who had locked his moped to a bench and sat next to it...did he know something that we didn't?!

After this we found charming Chambre D'Hote in Montjean run by Irina and Serge called the Cedres; fantastic place - we had our own lounge, and kitchen. There were even two muts for Caroline to feed crisps to. We stayed two nights coz it was so good...but had to leave before Mark did anymore damage to their furnishings!

Unexpectedly after this we had our biggest ride yet. We reckon it was over 60km which fully loaded was quite hard even on the flat. We had intended to go shorter but having so easily found and got into the Cedres we were lulled into believing that Chambre D'Hotes would be ten a penny and not very busy - we were wrong. We tried several with no luck before we got to the Ste-Gemmes area just south of Angers. It was 8.00ish and getting dark. We found a deserted campsite which Caroline thought was charming because of the smell of woodsmoke.....except that woodsmoke does not usually come from cigar like objects. We decided to try our luck at the train station which we hoped would take us into Saumur. After 30 mins of waiting a train approached..Mark jumped up with a heart full of hope only for it tear through the station tooting as it went nearly taking Marks wig with it. We then decided that we might have to night cycle to Saumur. By this time it was dark and wet but we were so pleased that we had decided not to camp that our spirits were high (or was it the woodsmoke?) and we sped off into the night avoiding the deer that periodically lept across our paths. We got to a place called Thoreiul where in the distance we spotted a premises that was beautifully lit and looked like a hotel - it was infact a restaurant which was so quiet that all the staff were having a drink on the terrace. Using our best french we tried to ask about anywhere where we could stay. John Claude was summoned and sprang into action - he phoned the local Chambre D'Hote and then leapt into his little red van and told us to follow him (at least that's what we thought he said!). His staff were most amused and advised him to get on his bike and give us the car (jean claude was quite portly). Anyway he took off like a bat out of hell with Mark in hot pursuit shouting pidgeon french and obscenties between desparate gulps of air; Caroline was left in the distance in a fit of giggles. To be fair John Claude did eventually slow down on quite a steep hill and rather than taking us to the local police station he had actually taken us to a brilliant Chambre d hote owned by a charming couple. She ran the local twinning committee (Thoreiul twinned with Wincanton) and was pleased for the chance to practice her english (which was better than ours!). They fed us and gave us wine and beer - fab. We cycled on through Saumur- looking at the trog dwellings in the cliffs -  and had a relatively uneventful two night stay at the Blue Balcony in Tuquant. The highlight here was finding 101 ways of spending 5 euros on food (turned out to be spuds and eggs) because we could not face cycling 18km to the nearest bank. Next stop was Chinon birth place of Rabelais.  

From there we cycled to Tour St Gelin where Sandra, Caroline's God mother and husband Noel live. This bit of cycling showed how spoiled we have been on the Loire path. We cycled into a strong headwind and the roads are much more rolling - we were reminded of the need to tackle harder terrain in preparation for NZ. Its been fab staying here - they could not have been more welcoming or kind - we have been regenerated by the stay and will look for a chance to return the kindness. We are about to tackle a wine tasting mission (someone has to do it) and tomorrow we are going to try and get the train to the south of France/spanish border, but its harder than you might think to book a ticket with bikes.

Next time we post we will hope to be basking in the sunshine somewhere in southern spain - don't worry Marks Spanish is excellent (not!) until then Buenos Dias much love to all our readers. xxx C&M