|
Tuesday 23rd August 2016 St Thibault to Gien Very hot today with clear blue skies, no wind or cloud and temperature in the 30s – the forecast is for 36° tomorrow. After a standard but nice enough French breakfast we got under way at about 10:00, Andrew not being one for an early start. We rode along sometimes by the Loire and sometimes by the side of one of the adjoining canals (generally called ‘canal latéral’). We intended to call in at ‘must-see’ Cosne-Cours sur Loire but missed the turn so just carried on. After about 15 miles we passed the Belleville nuclear power station and shortly afterwards came into Belleville sur Loire itself, where we stopped for an ice-cream and tea.
A few cyclists were just leaving the cafe as we arrived, being on the 3rd day of a ride from England to Rome. They were travelling light, with racing bikes and no panniers, and wore matching ‘Home to Rome’ shirts. The riders were accompanied by some sort of marshalls on large motor-bikes and presumably somewhere there must have been a van with luggage and supplies.
After a pleasant pause sitting in the shade we pressed on and eventually arrived at Briare, an attractive town with a marina and lots of flowers. We sat ourselves down at a table in the St Hubert restaurant (a café really) and waited about 20 minutes before getting to give our order. Andrew had to ask several times for milk for his tea but we weren’t in a hurry and it was as much amusing as it was annoying, the laid-back inefficiency of the staff. I had a small beer instead of tea and that went down well.
It had taken us a while even to get menus and at one point, mistaking her for a waitress, Andrew asked an old French lady returning from the toilets for a menu, much to her puzzlement. Then when the omelette au fromage did finally turn up it was distinctly fromage-less!
From Briare it was only another six or so miles to Gien, where we arrived, extremely hot, sweaty and no doubt smelly, at about 3.30. There was no problem finding somewhere to stay there and we ended up in the Hotel du Rivage (***) right next to the Loire – only €56 for the room plus 10 euros each for petit dejeuner.
After having a shower and doing a bit of laundry we walked into town, took pictures of the bridge and castle (the latter rebuilt after severe damage in World War II – the Battle of Gien, 1940) then had a coffee at a bar and bought some postcards.
In the evening we went out to find something vegetarian to eat – there was virtually nothing available. The Moroccan restaurant with its enticing vegetable couscous was closed and there were no Italian or Indian restaurants. Our last port of call was the Creperie so it was to be another eggy thing for us. We both had the vegetable galette – Andrew wolfed his down but I didn’t like mine and gave a quarter of it to him. I tried to compensate by having a dessert but there was no banana for the banana split, just three blobs of ice-cream and some chantilly froth – very disappointing. Still if you want to be a vegetarian in France you have to take what comes, and generally on the chin. Next to us at the Creperie were a middle-aged couple, the bloke being a bit of an artist. He had a sketch pad and a box of water colours and did several bits while he was there. The other clientele were all female: a birthday party of 10 for a young girl and a party of 12 girls / women. We paid up (€37) and found our way to the Anters Amis bar (or something like that) where we guzzled a couple of pints and played a round or two of crib. Orleans tomorrow. Average speed: 9.8 mph Miles today: 36 Total miles: 86.2 Gien elevation: 390 ft | ||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||
