Postcards from Provence and beyond

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but today has been even hotter than yesterday, but we had another stunning day’s ride, even if it started rather earlier than we had planned.

We spent yesterday evening on a delightful and incredibly peaceful campsite, by a lake in the small town of Chateaumeillant.

It was a gentle place to pass the evening, after another long and hot day of riding, through the literal Centre of France. Even though we had set off at 7am, we still hadn’t arrived until 3, which was far too late with the current heat.

Today, we decided to leave even earlier, as we wanted to have all the riding done before 1, when the heat radiating off the roads and the lack of shade makes pedalling really tough. You can Watch a little video from today’s ride here

We woke with the dawn chorus, and before the sun had started to peek above the horizon, quickly and silently packing down the tent and beds, and loading the bikes up for the day ahead. We even set aside the idea of making a coffee, before heading off. We could make one, after a few hours of riding.

We pedalled out of the site, just after 6, with the fresh morning air feeling like a balm, after the sticky night. We pedalled through Chateaumeillant, with the scent of fresh bread at the boulangerie making our stomachs growl, and pottered out of town.

Within a few minutes, we had turned onto back lanes, and apart from a couple of kilometres on busier roads, we spent the day cycling along ribbon-smooth country lanes, passing through beautiful villages, and enjoying the views across the farmland.

We spotted our first deer of the day, as we said hello to the cows, and soon crossed into the Indre Department, where we found exquisite and beautifully kept villages…

The riding was different to yesterday, in that there were lots of short climbs, rather than longer ones, but even in the cool of the morning, our legs felt sapped of energy. We had nearly 100km to ride, and starting the day with leaden legs, wasn’t the best of starts.

The countryside though was stunning, with vast fields of golden wheat and barley

We were riding along roads that were so quiet, that at times we felt we were on cycle paths.

We passed the stunning Chateau de Sarzay, a 14th century stronghold that domintaes the view.

It wasn’t open (it was only just past 7am), but we stopped to stare through the gates, to get a sense of its history, and spot the resident peacocks.

We noticed that there were lots of signs highlighting events linked to George Sand, the celebrated French romanticist, who based some of her works at the Chateau too, so we have added it to the ever-growing list of places that we’d really like to revisit

Before long, we reached a small town, where we spotted a little epicerie, and popped in to buy supplies for breakfast, sitting in the central square guzzling fruit juice, and eating granola with yogurt. It filled the hole in our stomachs and gave us a much needed boost too.

When we set off again, we couldn’t feel the tiredness in our legs any more – perhaps they just needed a sugar boost?

From then the hills seemed easier, the villages prettier and the views even more expansive, with a few early sunflowers showing their golden faces among the leaves.

We stopped to make coffee under the shade of a scented Lime Tree, alive with bees, and suddenly realised that we would have to buy supplies for this evening, as there was no supermarket, or epicerie within a few miles of the site, we had chosen to stay on. I even called the village Mairie to check.

But we were in the perfect place and diverted our route to pedal to a nearby town, where we would be able to stock up on food for lunch and supper, taking the opportunity to fill our water bottles again and have a much needed ‘full-fat’ coke too.

That would get us through the next 18km to tonight’s stop, at Rosnay in the heart of the Brenne National park.

Even with the detour, we achieved our goal of finishing our ride for the day, before 1pm, which was perfect, as we were already starting to really feel the heat building, and had stopped in a few cooler shaded spots for a bit of a respite.

As we rode into Rosnay, we passed the bar in the centre of the village, which had a shaded terrace at the front, with couples eating lunch, and it smelt rather good. So even though we had bought supplies for lunch (just a baguette and a bit of cheese), we stopped, found a table in the shade and enjoyed the Menu du Jour ….

It slipped down without touching the sides, a plate of charcuterie, cheese, eggs and other nibbly bits, with a dish of chips, followed by a peach melba…. Cycling food of the gods!

The owner kept bringing bottles of ice cold water too, which helped us cool down and recover a bit from the ride.

Feeling comfortably full, we pedalled the last few hundred metres to tonight’s camp site, where we have found a perfect spot under trees, and have enjoyed a quiet afternoon sitting in the shade, watching the occasional red squirrels, and listening to the growing rumbles of thunder, which seem to be heading our way.

It’s hard to believe that it’s only Thursday and that we will be riding into the Vienne tomorrow, on our way to Saumur, where we have booked a couple of nights in an apartment overlooking the Loire, and will be able to enjoy a much-needed day off.

In the last 4 days, we have cycled 379.2km, which doesn’t seem possible at all, especially carrying all the weight on the bikes.

A shorter day tomorrow, although we’re still planning a really early start, as today worked so well.

We’ll now just wait to see if one of the big thunderstorms that are rattling around us brings a bit of cooler air with it. We can hope.