Postcards from Provence and beyond

It’s already Day 3 of our bike ride across France, from Provence to Roscoff, and today we found ourselves pedalling through the grographical centre of France.

After yesterday’s long,  hot ride, leaving Clermont Ferrand later than we would have liked to, we started early today, aiming to get a few hours of cycling in, before the temperature really started to rise.

You can watch a little video from today’s ride, here

We woke, as the first rays of sunlight climbed slowly up the tent wall, with the sound of blackbirds and orioles acting as a perfectly natural alarm clock. By 7am, we had drunk a first coffee, packed down the tent, and loaded the bikes, ready to head off.

It proved to be the right choice, as we pedalled out into the stunning sunrise, enjoying the cool dawn air on our skin.

We started by freewheeling down a hill, through a forest, the road shaded by trees that would have been so welcome, yesterday afternoon, as we sweated our way up to the site. It was a peaceful, and beautiful start to, what proved to be another beautiful day’s ride through a really pretty part of France.

We knew we had 95km to ride today, and wanted to get the majority of it done by lunchtime, as after 1pm, the reflected heat off the road becomes almost intolerable, especially as today was predicted to be even hotter than yesterday.

The first part of the ride took us through rolling countryside, along peaceful roads and lanes. we passed stunning chateaux and houses, and simply enjoyed the views across the open farmland, with golden fields of wheat glowing in the low, morning sun.

After an hour, we stopped in the small town of Montmarault, where we found a small market setting up. We hadn’t had breakfast, so stopped and bought local yougurt and cherries, sitting in a shaded park to eat and enjoy the babble of voices around us.

The town was clearly at the heart of cattle farming country, and we sat next to statues of Charolais cows, as we munched our food.

From here, we headed on again towards the little village of Herisson, a stunning village in the Allier, with a ruined chateau and beautiful medieval buildings.

Over the winter, I have been looking for pretty places and walks around France and marking them on a map, with a croissant. This was one of the villages I had marked, and it was worth the visit.

As we pedalled towards the village, and the bridge over the river, we were stopped in our tracks by the sight of the ruined chateau, towering above the old houses. It brought to mind Corfe Castle in Dorset, although the village reminded us of Lacock in Wiltshire.

We sat by the river, on a shaded bench, enjoying a coffee, watching the herons and being entertained by the dragonflies and frog chorus…

before taking a walk through the village.

Its a peaceful, charming and characterful place, with lots of buildings still having the old painted ‘ghost signs’ and advertisements on them…

And a beautiful old bell tower too

Although the house decorated with animal skulls, as we pedalled out, came as a bit of a surprise.

It was a delightful place to visit, and we have no doubt that we will be back to cycle and walk around here again.

Pottering out of the village, we followed a shaded, pretty road alongside the river. It was the most stunning ride, and our day got even better, when we spotted a doe and her 2 fawns, in the heart of a wheat field, dotted with poppies. We stopped simply to watch them, and smiled as the bounded away through the golden stems, towards the wood beyond.

It’s moments like this that reinforce why we love exploring France by bike.

After that the road started to climb again, and we discovered that there is obviously a ‘cycling lore’ that says ‘in time of hot weather, the steeper the hill, the less shade there will be’ – as that was certainly the case today.

When I planned the route, we knew it would be a long day’s ride, of 95km, with 870m of climbing, but the roads just kept going up, although the beautiful views helped keep our legs turning.

We did manage to find a supermarket today, so bought provisions for lunch and pedalled on, until we found a picnic bench in a shade square, in the heart of a small village.

I lay back on the bench, put my feet up and stared up through the tree above, simply enjoying watching the leaves dance in the breeze, listening to the birdsong, which was so different to the songs we hear in Provence.

We devoured our lunch, which really didn’t touch the sides, on the way down, and before long we were back on the bikes and pedalling on again.

Then we passed a big marker, to show that we were at the geographical centre of France. It felt quite quite a significant moment, so we stopped to mark it.

We only had 20km to go, to reach tonight’s campsite, but like yesterday, in the heat, we felt every turn of the pedal. The cycling ‘no shade’ lore was true again, this afternoon, and we cycled from puddle of shade, to puddle of shade, ever more grateful for the large trees that were occasionally growing across the road. It amazed us just how much the temperature dropped, when we cycled under them

Komoot had lied, and by the time we cycled into the campsite at Chateaumeillant, we had climbed 960m, rather than the 870, I had expected.

So tonight, we are on a peaceful campsite by a lake, with the tent set up in the shade, and a bottle of wine chilling in a bag of ice.

Tomorrow, we have another 95km to ride, into the Brenne National Park, so we have decided to set an alarm for even earlier, to get underway by 6.15ish, so we can get as much pedalling as possible done in the cool of the early morning.

All I can hope is that Komoot hasn’t lied to me on the elevation, this time.

Tonight though, we’ll enjoy the calm of the camp site, and a much-deserved glass of wine, chatting about the rest of this trip and some future adventures too.