August 31, 2021
Blois rest day
Feeling grateful that our transit changes went smoothly yesterday, that we had a jet-lag induced wonderful ten hours of sleep last night and that we are up and ready to explore Blois today.
Our first morning in France. We celebrated with three coffees and a chocolatine each as we marvelled that we were actually here. That and reorganizing the panniers was a good way to spend the morning relaxing next to the Loire River after our big day yesterday.
We decided to stay a second night here so that we could see the sights of Blois. We cycled back the 3kms and over the beautiful 1724 built pont Jacques-Gabriel and rode into Blois.
Our first-ever cycle tour in 2005 also started in Blois and it is a treat to start here again this trip. For nostalgia we went to the Pavilion Anne de Bretagne in the former royal gardens of the Blois castle, where we came to rent bicycles for our first cycle tour. In preparation for that trip Steve had sent elaborate emails to ensure that the bikes would be just right for our ten-day trip. You can imagine our surprise then when we came into the bike shop and were met (barely acknowledged) by a lovely young woman in a black pencil skirt and heels with a cigarette hanging from her fingers . She looked in her pile of emails, found ours and with a flick of her wrist told us to chose one of the bikes over there. It was clear she knew little about bicycles and with no sign of a handy mechanic Steve got busy selecting and adjusting the most road worthy rides! It was a good lesson to never assume things will be as expected when travelling.
Exploring gave us an appetite so we settled into another thing that we love about France: a terrasse lunch with a glass of local wine.
Our next to-do item was to get a French phone data plan. With the bistro’s wifi we scouted out a store and downloaded a map and headed off. Once there, we were informed that that section of the store was closed as the owner was away on holidays! Gotta love France! In thinking that we might not have any luck on our first attempt, steve had a second store lined up so we rode 20 minutes back across the river. Success! We each have a data plan, one for 8.99 Euros with 90 Gigabytes and one for 19.99 Euros for 150 Gigabytes! Ann’s recent Canadian plan was 10 Gigabytes for $90. You gotta love France!
So here we are plugged in and writing our blog, checking emails and the news. All is well!
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Today's ride: 20 km (12 miles)
Total: 30 km (19 miles)
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