A magnificent morning's riding. We had traffic free canal paths made of hotmix bitumen, gorgeous scenery and we had a yummy morning tea. OK the morning tea thing happens every morning :)
That bridge raised vertically, I was impressed.
We saw lots of 'Camping' and Gîtes in the first two hours riding so we were happy that there would be somewhere to stay. We rode past lots of fancy canal boats and initially thought that we'd like to do that [hire a canal boat] but then realised that we'd have to seriously curb our eating as sitting on the 'poop deck' sipping tea and eating biscuits and croissants may cause some waistline expansion.
Most people are content to bring their bicycles??? And it was British flagged, does that mean they crossed the channel in it???
As we rode we lost our traffic free sanctuary and had to ride on the road albeit a very quiet one. The wind changed to be in our faces and the towns became a little urban. By the time we had lunch we hadn't seen a 'Camping' sign for awhile and a Gîte sign had become an endangered species. Four hours into our ride we had had enough and we seriously starting to look for somewhere to pitch our tent or lay our head and there was nothing on the trail. We headed West slightly off the canal into Montchanin hoping to see a tourist information centre but alas this was an industrial town and there was nothing. Sandy went into a Post Office to ask where the Information centre was but the town didnt have one and they didnt know of any Gîtes. I resorted to using the search facility on the GPS to find 'Lodging' and it came up with a Novotel. We were tired, hungry and prepared to pay for a flash hotel so we did. 2.5km later we wheeled into your typical Novotel. Once inside we could be in any Novotel in the World, apart from the obvious use of the French language. We were a little miffed at having to spend so much on a nights sleep but that was set aside once we realised we could get a hamburger and chips from room service and have a Gin & Tonic at the bar. We had been riding for five days straight and we were tired.
Sandy and I (over a G&T) discussed some of the downsides of cycle touring. The two big ones for us are: you dont really get a choice where you stay, at the end of the day you take what you can get or keep riding and sometimes you just cant keep riding. The other thing is even though it is a cheap way to travel the pace is very slow and this can sometimes get just a little frustrating.
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