Thursday 24th July, Nantes to Paris

Had a relaxing start to the morning and headed over to the train station.

We had things much better sorted for this trip, waiting till we got to our carriage before folding the bikes. Not much luggage room on the TGV but the conductor helped us sort it out. We tracked a bit of the trip using google maps. Amazing to see how fast we were traveling through the countryside. We had lunch at a cafe down the road from Montparnase station where we arrived and headed off to cycle to the Eiffel Tower. Traffic was a bit crazy but nothing compared to Sydney!

Had the obligatory photo in front to the tower then headed off back to Antony to Olivier and Isabelle's. Isabelle had their baby daughter Paola on the 10th of July so we also met the new member of the family. A gorgeous little thing who is very good and sleeps through most of the night.

We had a picnic dinner in the local park, Parc de Sceaux with some of Isabelle's colleagues. It was another very hot day and the picnic in the park lovely.

Wednesday 23rd July, le Migron to Nantes

Great last night camping it didn't rain so we were able to pack up a dry tent. Much nicer return journey back to Nantes than the trip out. Firstly along the canal, probably due to the fact we had no wind and it was not hot. We stopped at Coueron to buy some lunch and stopped in a park by the Loire to eat it. 

Many other cyclists and locals had the same idea. We passed many other couples on the way as well as families. Today we saw a family cycling, the Dad had a trailer with the family dog two sons on their own bikes close by and the Mum had another son on a tag a long behind her bike. ( tag alongs are an attachment for a regular child's bike to be used like a tandem with an adults bike)

As we got closer to Nantes we had to cycle through the industrial area and it was getting warmer. Not very pleasant but you have to put the industry somewhere, reminded us a bit like cycling around Port Kembla and Cringila. 

We made it into Nantes in the early afternoon and had a look around the old docklands which they converted in 2007 to a cultural area with a huge 3 story carousel.

And a giant mechanical elephant that can actually walk.

We then checked into our hotel opposite the train station and headed out to look around Nantes on foot. We came across the cathedral of St Peter and St Paul and visited the crypts where they have a display set up of the cathedral over its lifetime and pictures one of which was it burning and in ruins in 1944. This is it today.

With the tomb of Francois the II and Anne the duchesse of Brittany

We had dinner at an Irish pub and luckily escaped a downpour before heading back to the hotel via the Dukes Chateau that has recently been rebuilt.

Tuesday 22nd July, St Brevin les Pins to Le Migron

Had breakfast in the tent then packed up and headed off down the coast along the Velocéan route as far as le Menhir then turned left and headed along a back road to St Père en Retz. The day started hazy, reminding us of the har in Scotland but it soon burnt off. We were glad to be in the countryside once more and happy we had the GPS as we are now doing this sans (without) guide. We came across a memorial to what looks like an American plane crash from WWII.

This was in the middle of a small group of houses surrounded by fields. We rode on to St Père en Retz and as we entered the tow came across a Lavoir - an outdoor laundry built in 1871. We stopped in to have a look then went into town to have another huge 11.50€ 4 course lunch. After lunch we headed back to the Lavoir to have a rest before continuing on to our overnight campground.

We reached the campground by 3pm, set up the tent, had showers and relaxed. David cleaned the bikes, which had become pretty dirty over the last couple of weeks, in preparation for our journey home. We knew this campground had a fridge so had bought a bottle of Saumur sparkling before we left St Brevin les Pins and were able to have it chilled before dinner.

The day ended up being quite warm and Catriona was able to wash clothes and have them dry before dinner. Another great day. 28km cycled today.

Monday 21st July, St Brevin-les-Pins

Had a lovely sleep in this morning didn't get up till 9am! Woke to a beautiful sunny day. We set off for a walk to the point, not far from where we had lunch yesterday, where we found another art installation. Note the size of the children standing near the serpents head to get a perspective of how big it is.

We then headed into the town about a 2kms. Stopped at a Brasserie for a beer/ coffee in town and browsed through some shops before continuing our walk along the promenade. We also saw the Belgian couple with their son again while we were having our drinks. We walked way out along the beach to reach the water for a photo standing in the Atlantic. 

We also had a look at one of the fishing structures that feature in this part of the coastline.

Here is David taking a photo of one. We also enjoyed a picnic lunch before continuing our walk along the promenade to the end of St Breven les Pins. By the time we made it back to the campground it was 5pm. David went to the supermarket for food and wine and Catriona stayed back at the tent to read o book on her iPhone. After dinner we watched Notting Hill. A great way to spend a relaxing day.

Sunday 20th July, le Migron to Saint Brevin les Pins

Woke this morning to the sound of rain coming down hard on the tent. A lovely sound, but not one you want to hear when you have a tent to pack and 25km to ride. We were both feeling tired and thought it might be time for a rest day but as there was nothing at our campground we decided to ride the 2km in to Frossay hoping there would be a shop open to buy some food. We found a basic shop and bought some food as all shops shut at 12 noon on a Sunday. On the return journey we decided to pack up and ride to the end of the Loire a Velo trail. It was tough going riding into a headwind. After 11km the rain started to come down heavy just as we made it to another sculpture at Paimbœuf. Luckily this sculpture had some shelter.

When the rain eased we set off again zig zagging our way along the light traffic backroads. As we got closer to the end the weather started to improve. We stopped to take a picture of the bridge over to St Nazaire which is where the guide book says you need to get the train from but there is no way to get over by bike. Luckily we have our return train ticket back to Paris from Nantes.

We were both so happy when we made it to the end and there was a seafood restaurant nearby where we celebrated our accomplishment with a lovely fish mornay dish and a glass of white wine/beer.

We managed to find a campground with a tent pitch close to the water where we have the sound of the Ocean and a lovely breeze to dry our washing. 😄 we booked for 2 nights and are going to enjoy the long awaited rest day.

Saturday 19th July, La Varenne to le Migron

We had a very late start to the day as watching the movie last night kept us up late. It poured down overnight and there was a huge thunderstorm with thunder that seemed to roll on forever. We chatted to a couple from Newcastle, NSW, Australia. They only started out yesterday and are heading in the opposite direction from us. We chatted with Chris and Bernie as Chris was cooking quesidia for dinner as we spoke. We set off after 10am and it was a fairly ordinary ride. We didn't stop for morning tea today but rode directly to Nantes. We were both feeling very tired! Maybe because of riding for almost 3 weeks with only one non riding day or maybe due to the 2 bottles of red wine and a large bottle of beer we drank yesterday.

When we first arrived in Nantes we noticed it looked very modern, totally different from all the other cities we have visited along the Loire. We looked for the train station we would be leaving from next week. And then had a look at the hotels in the area and booked one for the night before we leave. 

We had pad Thai for lunch at a Thai restaurant then headed off towards the coast. The route took us past the industrial area, not very pleasant riding. We also passed another squalid gypsy camp in the middle of the industrial area.( we passed one on the way in to Nantes with burnt out cars lining the way!). Once we left Nantes the scenery improved and we were cycling along the Loire again. We came across this house that seemed to have been built in the wrong place, however there was a sign that had something to do with an art trail and we were not quite sure.

We stopped at the Carrefour supermarket in Coueron to buy supplies for dinner before heading for the ferry to take us to the other side of the Loire.

We then had a 14km ride along the old Canal Maritime de la Basse Loire. At the first lock there was another art instillation that made us think that the house we saw was just art and not an actual house. A full sized yacht arching over the end of the lock!

The ride along the canal was peaceful with minimal traffic however we were riding into a headwind and our legs started to feel heavy. We were glad once we made it to the campground and even happier after setting up the tent and having a shower. We cycled 55km today and are now only 22km away from the end/beginning of the Loire a velo trail.😄

Friday 18th July, Ingrandes to La Varenne

After finishing last night we walked down across the sandbank to have our first paddle in the Loire.

Before retiring for the night.

Had a hobbit start to the day. Breakfast of an apricot and a nectarine as we broke camp. Then 9km down the road we stopped for 2nd breakfast at St Florent le Veil.

This town was the centre of the war in Vendée in the 1700's. Still a fishing port we saw a few fishermen  both on the shore and in their boats. We set off again down the Loire and noticed the agriculture had changed from mostly crops of wheat, corn and sunflowers to cattle. We could also smell the difference. We stopped another 10km on for morning tea at Liré which was a detour off the Loire a velo trail up a steep hill. Well worth the effort for the view and the cheap coffee/hot chocolate only 2.80€ for both plus €1.50 for David's chocolate eclair. The lady serving in the patisserie asked where we were from she was very surprised when  I told her Australia and just as surprised when we said we were doing the whole Loire a Velo route. She was Japanese and only spoke a little English but we managed to communicate O.K.

We rode on to what was supposed to be our overnight stop at Oudon and had another great value 11€ 4 course lunch with wine and skipping the coffee. This time we knew the entree buffet was the entree so didn't eat too much. The main we had steak and frites with salad followed by cheese and a desert Buffett. David had 2 serves! We rode up to see the 14th century tower and had a rest under its walls before heading over the river and up 1km to Champtoceaux with its magnificent view over the Loire. 

We had a walk through the town which was a walled medieval city and has a few of its watch towers still in place.

Excellent free wheel back down to river level and through more grazing lad and on towards where we were expecting to stay at St Simon. We ended up passing the point on our map where the campground in both St Simon and Mauves sur Loire were supposed to be so ended up doing a 20km round trip back to one we had passed in La Varenne. Put the ten up, had dinner and wrote up the blog before retiring to watch Evil Roy Slade.