Nantes - Ancenis: No time for Nantes - Brittany - Loire Valley - Burgundy

June 19, 2010

Nantes - Ancenis: No time for Nantes

Even with my windbreaker, jeans and longjohns on, I wasn't warm enough during the night. I didn't sleep too well. We won't leave Nantes before I find a warmer sleeping bag.

The morning is grey and cool. Yesterday Janos hung his laundry out to dry but it seems it got wetter during the night. I remember seeing a laudromat near the campground entrance. It's open early and while Janos's clothes take a tumble, we find a café for our morning cup of café au lait. As Janos packs away his dry shorts and jersey, it begins to rain.

We follow the tram tracks down the hill into town. Since we had coffee but haven't eaten anything yet, we stop at the first bakery we see. This wouldn't be worth mentioning if we hadn't found very best bakery of the whole trip. In the shop window is a newspaper clipping telling us that the baker, from Angola, makes the best baguettes in Paris, which must also mean in the world. The croissants are also excellent.

The best French bread is allegedly baked by an Angolese.

It rains on and off while we make a cursory visit to some of Nantes' sights. Of course, we could have and should have spent more time looking around but we don't feel like it. It's as simple as that.

However, I do feel like finding a sleeping bag and we are directed to Go Sport, a large sports goods store. And I am successful. It is not too heavy, not too expensive and hopefully warm enough. Can't wait to go to bed tonight.

The only problem is that I now have two sleeping bags with me. We decide sending it home will be more expensive than it's worth. We have been noticing groups of mostly young men - certainly unemployed, probably homeless, maybe junkies, many accompanied by a dog - hanging around on street corners in larger towns and cities. On the impulse of the moment, Janos offers the sleeping bag to one of them and in his best French and explains that we don't need it. The young man is at first startled when we approach him, and then thanks us, still looking a bit bewildered.

Although I read that Time magazine described Nantes as "the most liveable city in Europe", in the rain Nantes isn't inviting.

It's around noon when we finally set out. Riding out of Nantes is no problem as a bicycle lane has been provided, and we then follow a path through a kind of park along the bank of the Loire. After a while it stops raining but the chilling headwind doesn't let up.

Are we in for some surprises? I never figured out why the entire Loire bike path was labeled "provisional route".

No swimming allowed - as if we felt tempted.

Most of the day we have a pretty unpaved path between river and railroad. However, it's narrow and I'm glad that there are hardly any other cyclists out. I can imagine traffic jams here in August.

Later in the afternoon the sun comes out. We are still close to the train tracks

Today I'm saddle sore and happy when we reach Ancenis. We head straight for the campground, set up the tent and shower and then ride into town for dinner. Ancenis has a nice historic castle and an old quarter with medieval houses. Although warmed by a fine meal, a bottle of wine and crepes for dessert, we notice it is very cold on our way to the tent. Build up - will my new sleeping bag be warm enough?

Medieval and Rennaissance castle of Ancenis

Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 630 km (391 miles)

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