It sound like a cliche perhaps, but we are finding the convent to be a very calming place. The surroundings and gardens are beautiful, it is very quiet and without the distractions of Internet or TV, we really relax. Breakfast was very good (included with your room) - endless coffee drunk from large bowls, fruit, cheese, baguettes, etc. it was an interesting collection of people: pilgrims planning their route for the day, cyclists like us, elderly people visiting for spiritual reasons, etc. We are enjoying the day reading and looking at maps and planning the next stages of our ride. Good news! We went to the train station and bought tickets for the 11:30 train tomorrow to Dijon. It looks good for our bike to fit on the train. It blows our minds that in 2 hours we will travel 300 km - on our bike, we would be riding for 4 or 5 days. We explored on foot a few sights in Nevers. The St Cyr cathedral is outstanding historically and architecturally (unique with 2 choirs: Roman and Gothic). But we found it most notable for the recent installation of a modern style of stained glass. The colourful glow created by these artists was magical. We feel lucky that the Pétanque Tournament displaced us from camping as we have enjoyed staying in the centre of town in such an interesting place of accommodation.
The purple map book is excellent,but only available in French. The green Velo Loire map book is in English but not as detailed.The six Eurovelo 6-Loire Valley maps are excellent and are available at most tourist offices on the route- 2 euros each. The maps cover the route from Nantes to Basel,Switzerland.
6 months ago