September 19, 2023
Day 7: EuroVelo 6 across France
Bourbon-Lancy to Nevers
A big day today! We’ll hit the 600 km mark after seven days of cycling (if we make it to our destination later today). We’ve got 85 km to cover.
The day began with another early start, and Michel, our host, provided a filling breakfast. Over breakfast, Brett described today’s ride using Mike Wells' book The Loire Cycle Route, which will be our guide for the rest of the journey. It outlines the highlights of the Loire Valley - attractions, must-sees, and the countryside we’ll pass through. Brett read aloud that today would be a generally flat ride. Hooray!
However, the first 20 km was a series of rolling hill climbs and descents ... incessant ... and quite a few of them steep. At one stage, we thought about taking Brett’s book, having him bend over, and placing it (gently yet firmly) somewhere it would never be found! Later, we discovered that the book did mention the climbs, but Brett thought it best if we didn’t know.
The views through the rolling hills were beautiful. A series of old farmhouses, barns, and stables dotted the countryside, most having been in place for many, many decades. We passed places like Les Garnots, La Grande Borne, Chez Gueunaud, and Chez Cartier - Chez meaning “the house of” - all small farms owned by proud French families, with landholdings going back centuries.
We saw our first variety of ground crops today, besides corn and sunflowers: beets and grapes. We’re starting to enter the wine-growing areas of France. Sancerre, here we come! Once again, cattle dotted the landscape, and the fertile fields provided plenty of fodder for them. We saw acres of wrapped bales of fodder, freshly harvested and about to be stored for winter, lying in the paddocks. We also saw mounds of manure stored beside the road - sometimes covered for fermentation, sometimes not - and, surprisingly, there was no odour (that we could detect!). Traditional farming methods using natural fertilisers still prevail. It must be healthier for the land.
We stopped for coffee in a small village before heading to our lunchtime destination of Decize. We were on track to reach Nevers by 4:00 pm, as our Airbnb host could only receive us before then or after 8:00 pm. We enjoyed another day of great bike paths and canal riding.
Decize stands on an island in the middle of the Loire River. As we’ve experienced for much of the trip, few cafes are open before noon, so we looked for a boulangerie. I saw Col venturing out from a "casino" and thought, “Why not?” Only when I walked in did I realise it was a supermarket chain. So, pickings from the salad bar it was!
We had expected a headwind of up to 20 km per hour today, but fortunately, it never materialised, and we had a swift run into Nevers. We all agreed it was the best we’d felt after a day of riding … until we huffed, puffed, and groaned as we tried to get off our bikes upon arrival at our home for the next two days. Helene, our host, showed us around her home (now ours), which was built in the late 1800s. While we were eager to shower and get to the nearest bar, Helene had other ideas - taking us through each and every detail of her house, of which she was obviously enormously proud. After about an hour of touring a small apartment, Helene finally bids us farewell until we returned the keys in two days. Her place was so perfect that we decided not to touch anything and sleep on the floor. Actually, Col did - on a mattress in the kitchen. His selflessness allowed the rest of us to have a room each, rather than another twin-share arrangement. We half-expected him to have a Michelin-star breakfast ready by morning.
Finally, we found a bar nearby. The patrons seemed like a tough bunch who stared at us when we walked in. To show them we wouldn’t be intimidated, Col and Brett ordered the largest, strongest beers the establishment had, David ordered the local Sancerre wine, and I ordered a strawberry milkshake.
Today's ride: 85 km (53 miles)
Total: 550 km (342 miles)
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