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!

Notre Tour de France #7 (67 mi)

Flash! Crash! The storm began at 03:00 and seemed loud enough to make my teeth chatter. It went on for a good portion of the early morning with a flash of lightening every 5 seconds or so. As of 07:00 (the alarm was set wrong; we should have been up at 06:00) the rain is still coming down. Call us wimps, but we're going to hang tight and see if it eases off in the next couple of hours. We see no point in making the day miserable if we can help it. So for now I'm going back to sleep!

That's better. We awoke at 08:00 just as the rain ceased to fall. Have I ranted about French coffee yet? My grandad mentioned that they don't really have an equivalent to our Americano. However, I did see a "grande café" on the menu and thought this would be exactly what I was looking for. I'm not sure if my understanding of the word "grand" is off, but it seems to mean bloody small (see the picture below)!

We also seem to be eating through the cash we brought out with us and so we've set ourselves a daily budget of around €25. This is the first day aiming for this amount and we've already exceeded it. Camping so far has cost around €8 - €14 per night. Once meals have been added to this and a few cold drinks along the way we're already over budget. A bit of a rethink is required methinks.

Places that we visited today that are worthy of note are Montsoreau and Saumur, though we didn't see too much of the latter as we passed straight through. I think it's about time to say how much of a trooper Jwan has been so far on this trip. I've been doing nothing but cycle since I bought my bike last year, and particular in the last few months since the end of the academic year I have been sleeping, eating and cycling. As a result I'd say I've acclimatised well to this trip and the distances we're covering. For Jwan this trip, I'd say, is like jumping in at the deep end. It'd be unfair to expect from Jwan what I expect of myself. At the end of the day it is a holiday for us both to enjoy, and to do this we need to strike a good balance between cycling and sight-seeing / time off the bikes.

Anyway, this evening we've pitched on a campsite just a few miles outside of Saumur, and we did so in record time. As I sit here at a table outside, the Loire next to the campsite and the sun slowly dissolving away, Jwan is sitting beside me putting together an itinerary for tomorrow. That's it for today :-) Over and out.