Notre Tour de France #8 (S:41 mi / J:19 mi)

So Jwan and I had a little talk last night about what we each want out of this trip. Where I enjoy covering large distances on the bike and admiring the country as it goes whizzing by, Jwan would rather absorb the French culture on a more relaxed level. It's a difficult situation in that Jwan wouldn't be comfortable continuing the trip as it had been going, and I wouldn't want to change the trip from the cycling expedition it was originally intended to be.

But fear not! We have proposed a possible solution which we will try out over the next few days. Rather than moving to a new campsite each day, we can try staying at each for a couple of nights. This will allow me to explore a larger surrounding area on bike, where Jwan can investigate the local vicinity in more detail and on foot. At the end of the day we can move on a little further together, and repeat.

We endured another thunderstorm last night. The ferocity of them is more than a little unnerving when you're living in a tent. The flickers of lightening were that frequent, it was just like a flourescent tube in your kitchen that needs replacing. You're also lured into a false sense of security. Just as the rain starts to ease off and the delay between the lightening and thunder increases (5 seconds to a mile, if I remember correctly), KABLAM! There is a huge flash lighting the tent up like daylight, accompanied with an immediate, ear-splitting bang. Thankfully there are no more storms forecast for the next few days.

Today we had another leisurely start, not getting up until 08:00 when the rain finally stopped. After a few chores we ventured back in to Saumur, leaving the tent pitched and the trailer behind. We enjoyed our morning coffee at a café in the centre-ville (with Wifi of course). From here we had a nosey at the market and, well, just pottered around for most of the day. All in all it's been very enjoyable. We returned from Saumur and sat down outside our tent to cook some grub for dinner. Following this, I thought I'd unwind by... Going for a bike ride! So I went out for an hour while Jwan caught a shower and spent some intimate time with the Wifi ;-)

Tomorrow will be an early start again and we'll move over towards Cholet, unless we conjure up some different plans tomorrow morning.

Salut!