Slept 10 hours last night and felt I could have slept longer, this cycle touring is good for my sleeping. Today we really need to get a map for the next leg of our journey. We also need a camping guide for France to take the stress out of finding somewhere to sleep each night. For these things we were to ride into Nantes which is quite a big city but we expect to be able to find somewhere to get maps and camping guides.
We got on our bikes and not 500m later we are met with the end of the canal path as the canal meets a river at a junction. No roads, no path so it back the way we came and find out way with the GPS and map to Nantes.
Once off the canal path we rode through little villages and even though the canal path could be considered cycling utopia it can get a bit boring riding perfectly flat, traffic free, unchanging beautiful scenery. We really enjoyed our venture off the path and made out way to Carquefou where we bought more food (we do alot of that). It's really amazing how many of the French go to the Patisserie each morning to buy their baguettes. The four patisseries we rode past today all had queues out onto the streets. It makes it easy to find them as you see people walking along the streets with baguettes in their shopping.
It was here on noticing that all the normal shops were shut (it is Sunday afterall) we thought that our chances of finding shops open in Nantes was slim and combined with Nantes being a big city and in large places you waste lots of time navigating your way around so we though we'd bypass it and try and get maps as we go up the river. That decision made we changed course to head straight for the Loire River via Thouare-Sur-Loire. When we got there apart from noticing many groups of cyclists out for their Sunday ride we saw a newsagent and they sold maps. The cycle touring gods were smiling upon us. They had the full selection of Michelin maps (considered the best) and not only that they had camping guides. So we armed ourselves and headed for the river. As we crossed to the southern side of the river we saw a campground sign. It was only lunch time but we needed showers and would like to sit and examine our new maps and camping guide and come up with a more structured plan than 'head East'. When we got to the campground they had the "The Complete Loire á Velo Trail Guide" which is exactly the path we wanted to travel to get us part of the way to Germany. Great news so not only did we cut the day short we booked a little bungalow so we could plan in comfort. We had long hot showers, ate lunch then had a look at the maps and guides. We put a load of washing on and relaxed. This is what cycle touring is about :) "Any more chocolate dear?"
We've found the river....now where?
We have a dilemma with the guide book. The campground owners have let us borrow it for the night and at first we wanted to buy it but it's heavy and we don't need to carry any more weight than we are ;) The book assures us that the route is well signposted so we're going to research as much as possible tonight taking as many notes as possible and risk it.
Luxury after rough camping for a few nights
Today we complete another leg of our journey, The Canal Du Brest á Nantes and tomorrow we start the Loire River and begin to head East toward Germany (in a round about way). The plan (at this stage as it changes frequently) is from the Loire to then ride along the Danube.
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