Wednesday 2nd July, Saint Satur to Gien

We awoke to a symphony of birds in the trees overhead at 5:40am. We had breakfast and packed up ready for our second full day of cycling, leaving the campground around 8am.

The day started a little chilly so we cycled for a couple of km with our jackets on before we warmed up enough to take them off. About half of the route was on separated cycle track and of the other half 95% was on roads with very little traffic. The roads were signposted to give cyclists 1.5m clearance but most of the cars gave well more than that.

We stopped for lunch in Briare which was our scheduled overnight spot. It has a canal bridge over the Loire which is 660m long and 118 years old.

A head wind picked up in the afternoon which was very draining so when we stopped for afternoon tea at Gien we decided we would try to get accommodation at the campground and check out the town. 

So at 4:30 we set up the tent showered and headed up to see the huge Joan of Arc church and the castle of Anne de Beaujeu. When we entered the church someone was playing the huge pipe organ so we stayed to listen, they were very good. It was to late to visit inside the castle so we walked around it and set off to find some dinner. We ended up at a restaurant close the the campground and had a lovely meal before heading back and writing up our journal/blog. Still light but going to bed exhausted at 10pm.