12th August
With Chris and Mathilde's flat just round the corner from the station, it was no trouble getting there early for the Orleans to Nantes train to make sure of a place for our bikes. Imagine our delight when we found a WHOLE van dedicated to bikes. No struggling up the steps, no taking off all our luggage and drink bottles, no desperate "hold your mouth right and get the twist right" to get the wheel into a rack while the bike is vertical. Just wheeling the bike up a little ramp into the hands of a railway employee whose job was to stack it in the rack. Since we were going the whole journey, he put them right at the end so that we could access our bags if needed. Luxury indeed!
Nantes Castles is a stunner, though we didn't go inside, wanting to get on our way, and needing to come back this way anyway. We contented ourselves with a coffee from a bar outside, next to the Tourist office.
As usual, getting out of town proved frustrating. Although we knew where WE were, with Googlemaps locating us accurately, the maps indicating the bike paths, in the map from the tourist office, on Googlemaps and in reality are all different. We are particularly grateful to two Khazakstani students of robotics who offered to lead us to the track some kilometres back. There are heaps of cycle paths but no indication of which one would lead us to the Veloroute 1, which is what we needed.
Once out of town and on the right track we decided to call it a day and with no camping grounds for miles settled on a B&B Hotel, a brand we hadn't tried. For 45 euros we were well pleased. We had a ground floor room, slightly larger than normal, with room for the bikes inside. Great bed and bedding, TV, 3 power points, free wifi, large bathroom with loads of hot water and a set of tables outside where we could eat our meal, bought at the local Geant, 5 minutes ride down the road. Buying supermarket food considerably offsets the room cost! We can treat ourselves ( for example, salmon with celeriac in a fromage frais sauce, among other items, including a half bottle of white from Chateau Noble from Entre deux Mers, which we had passed near in the Gironde) for less than half what it would normally cost to eat out in a fairly ordinary place. We wouldn't cook in a hotel room but being able to eat outside in the evening sun was a bonus.
With Chris and Mathilde's flat just round the corner from the station, it was no trouble getting there early for the Orleans to Nantes train to make sure of a place for our bikes. Imagine our delight when we found a WHOLE van dedicated to bikes. No struggling up the steps, no taking off all our luggage and drink bottles, no desperate "hold your mouth right and get the twist right" to get the wheel into a rack while the bike is vertical. Just wheeling the bike up a little ramp into the hands of a railway employee whose job was to stack it in the rack. Since we were going the whole journey, he put them right at the end so that we could access our bags if needed. Luxury indeed!
The train was pretty much express, stopping at about 6 stations only and taking less than 3 hours to get there. The trip along the Loire is pretty, travelling along the river at times and across cultivated river plain at others. Before the river banks were worked on and levees built, the river could be 15 km or more wide in times of flood, so the plains are quite wide.
As usual, getting out of town proved frustrating. Although we knew where WE were, with Googlemaps locating us accurately, the maps indicating the bike paths, in the map from the tourist office, on Googlemaps and in reality are all different. We are particularly grateful to two Khazakstani students of robotics who offered to lead us to the track some kilometres back. There are heaps of cycle paths but no indication of which one would lead us to the Veloroute 1, which is what we needed.
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