Week 11 The prodigal gnome returns

MONDAY, 2 July 2018  Richelieu

‘Knock! Knock!’ on the door at an early hour.  Who could that be?  Nobody ever visits us.  Nobody knows we’re here.  Maybe it’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses?  Do they even have them in France?  Open the door and who should be standing there but

looking very smug and pleased with himself.  Too astonished to speak, I stood there staring at him. “Well, aren’t you going to ask me in?”, he snapped.  I picked him up and brought him in, and though he seemed a bit battered and bruised with broken and missing bits and pieces

 he was almost whole.  “OMG!  What? What happened?” I finally got managed to stammer, and then the whole story came out.  It seems that old Pumbeef had found him quite indigestible and after a couple of days Pierre found himself floating around in the Loire.  Realising the experience had not been quite as shattering as he first believed, he literally pulled himself together, and taking command of a passing branch, navigated himself down the Loire as far as Chinon where he struck out for shore, hitched a ride to Richelieu with a passing pantechnicon and here he was.  I felt him all over for broken bones but not being sure if there were any, took him to the ED at the local hospital for some precautionary x-rays.  They were somewhat reluctant at first giving me strange looks which I put down to communication difficulties,  but I pressed them and with that particular gallic shrug of indifference, they eventually agreed.  They showed  the results of the x-rays and Pierre was given the ‘all-clear’.  The doctor allowed me to keep this one which he said was of his head and showed that it was quite empty.

So we brought him back home and have patched him up as best we can with a plaster and a bit of leftover confetti from last Saturday's wedding.

Tuesday, 3 June 2018     Villandry to Tours

A 50 km drive to Villandry this morning to start our ride to Tours.  Today was the first time we have driven with the change to speed limits from July 1.  All 90kph limits on roads without a dividing barrier have now changed to 80kph.  That’s for the WHOLE country and over a million kilometres of roads.  And from our driving, at least 60 to 70% of the time the roads have a limit of 90kph.  All towns in France have a speed limit of 50 kph but in so many of them it is impossible to drive at that speed because the roads are too narrow or there are cars parked on them or you need to slow down or stop because of cars coming the other way.  Anywhere near a school or in very built-up areas, the speed limit is 30kph.

Having reached Villandry, Pierre was itching to go and insisted on riding shotgun.

                                                   (click on photos to enlarge)

Most of the ride was on cycle path along the banks of the beautiful river Cher.

This 370 km long river actually joins the Loire at Villandry so we were starting just up from the confluence.  

The path changed to little roads then back to path only then back to road, winding through woods

and more forested areas,

past acres and acres of ripened crops and ripening sweetcorn,

Pierre hoped he wasn't being too corny,

and we even came upon the ‘Great Mill’

which was having its bins filled with wheat from this truck.

This was the site of a 16^th century flour mill which once stood in the middle of the river but was shifted to its present location in the 1970s.

On we continued past old sheds

 and old houses fitted out as hotels

and a golf course with no-one on it at 11.30 am though we did see a few hackers out there on our return, and a lake and a large park until we  arrived in Tours.  This is the fourth time we’ve been to this city so we’re starting to feel like we’re getting to know it.  It is a very big place situated between the banks of the Cher

and the Loire rivers.

I hope you can tell the difference between them because we certainly can’t. The distance between the two rivers is about 2.5km and the city block is around 10 – 12 sq. km, completely built up and densely populated. 

After another average and over-priced lunch, so hard to pick a good restaurant from the huge number available, we rode back to where we started from and came home.

Wednesday, 4 July 2018                                Tours to Amboise

The official guide for the Loire à Velo cycle path divides it into 35 sections ranging from 15 to 30 km, with a few at only 12 km.  Most people riding in one direction will ride 2 or 3 sections a day.  Because we return to our starting point each day, we usually only ride one.  Today, however, as the first section we were planning to do was only 12 km we added on the next one of 15 km.  After driving to our starting point and readying ourselves to ride it’s usually after 10.00, then with a stop for coffee somewhere along the way if we’re lucky to find  a worthwhile place, pausing to look at anything that takes our interest, snapping away with the iphone (the camera, unfortunately, went into terminal decline a long time ago after one too many bangs on the ground), lunch at the half-way point before we re-trace our path and a wander around the place we’ve ridden to, it’s usually after 4 before we’re back at the car and then another hour’s drive home.  Tonight it was almost 6.00 before we got back to the car and 7.30 before we were home.

Some days the rides are more interesting than other days; more variety, more to see, more happening along the way, more interesting towns.  Today was one of those days as we set off from Tours to ride to Amboise.  It started off with a bit of a puzzle as we came across what looked like a giant upside-down mushroom.

There seemed to be an explanation as to its purpose along the top section but we were unable to decipher it.  

(Click on photos to enlarge)

We were cycling at this stage through a wooded area along the banks of the Loire and saw these strange clusters of pots at intervals along the path

Peering into them they all contained some kind of liquid which we doubted was for thirsty cyclists and as we were under attack pretty well constantly in this area by swarms of midgies we thought they may have been part of some experiment in insect control.  Maybe that’s what this sign says.

Yesterday we rode through acres and acres of crops and sweet corn.  Today it was nearly all grape vines and the occasional field of sunflowers.

Pictures

 Pierre sniffed the leaves and declared the area on track for a fine vintage.

Fields of sunflowers are noticeable now everywhere we drive.  In some, a lot, but not all, have started to flower.  This lone flower is an early bloomer.

In a few weeks they will all be flowering and the fields will be yellow. 

And how about this poor tree, stuck all by itself in the middle of a field. 

We thought it was a baobab but on closer inspection decided it wasn’t.

As we reached

 the end of the 12km section of our ride, and on our best behaviour as we were under video surveillance which meant no wheelies in the main street, no sneaking up on l'il old ladies and ringing the bell madly and yelling out 'BIKE', we came across this coffee shop;

 a most unusual sight.  Naturally we stopped and went in. 

 There was a spanking looking machine working away roasting the beans.  

We ordered two monstrously over-priced cappuccinos, I mean, come on, $7 for a small cup, though here it’s called ‘grand’, ‘small’ being reserved for the thimbles they use to serve espresso, but at least it tasted nice.

While there, Pierre decided he was hungry, and lucky for us, right alongside was a hole-in-the-wall pizza machine.

Just pop in your coins and out plops a pizza, though we needed to check first that the ‘zz’s weren’t meant to be ‘ss’s  Luckily, they had gnome-size serves for half-price so that saved us a few euro.

There were the usual cute-looking houses along the path

and someone had got rid of all their old teapots and what-nots cluttering the kitchen by putting them up on the wall

Picture

while one entrepreneurial couple were eking out a living flogging glasses of Perrier water to passing cyclists.

At the same place Faye joined in the fun but couldn’t decide which face suited her best.

Pictures

Personally, I thought the moustache was her best look.

Finally arriving at Amboise we had a win in the lunch lottery, finding a pleasant restaurant with a meal at a reasonable price.  Amboise is another very, very old town with a long history of involvement with French royalty and intrigue and politics, but what makes it hallowed ground is that it is the final resting place of Leonardo da Vinci. He came here at the invitation of the king

Francois I at the end of 1515, was here for just over three years, contracted an illness and died. We sat at lunch just across the road from this castle

 which contains the tomb where he is allegedly buried, walked through the town entrance

 and past houses

and along the same streets that he would have trodden. I can’t say, unfortunately, that I felt any spark of his genius striking me.  We ran out of time to explore his museum and the castle in Amboise and left hoping to find time to come back and explore this very interesting town some time in the next week.

Week 9 Leaving Nantes

MONDAY, 25 June 2018                Le Pellerin to Nantes

….and back again, a trip in which we saw a bit of just about everything, but started off with a giant headache as we needed to be at the green house

(Click on photos to enlarge)

 but were stuck on the other side. Luckily, a solution was at hand in the form of this ferry

  which spends all day crossing from one side to the other, taking cars and bikes and walk-ons free of charge.  Once over, it was follow the signs through small towns, not so nice industrial areas, dedicated cycle paths, under and over bridges, through the centre of Nantes, past a chateau (of course, this is France, after all) and through some fine, leafy and exclusive little housing enclaves.

We had hardly started when we came upon what looked like the tower in which Rapunzel had been imprisoned

but the reality was a lot less romantic…..a leaded tower built in the 1860s and used for the production of lead shot for hunting cartridges.

The town of this tower, Couëron, is also a well-known centre for penny-farthing bicycle manufacture and ownership, so we were not surprised to see bike racks for them

all along the river.

Further along we came across what was not the ‘Leaning Tower of Pisa’

 but certainly the leaning ‘House in the Loire’, an art installation that they paid good money to have built.  If they’d paid a bit more they could probably have had it built properly.

We went under this impressive bridge over the Loire

which we have seen a number of times from much further away where it looks far more fragile and delicate.

As we approached Nantes there were the remains of one of the ships that escaped whole from the Battle of Trafalgar.

There is currently debate here about bringing it back into service as these ones

are just too expensive to build and maintain, and nobody really knows how to operate them with so many buttons to push and flashing lights and secret codes and passwords to remember and how can people be expected to concentrate on those sorts of things when they need to be checking their iphones regularly and updating their status on facebook and posting selfies on Twitter, and with the wooden sailing ships you could easily find a plank to make recalcitrant recruits or pirates that you captured or migrant smugglers walk to teach them a lesson whereas on these modern vessels there’s not a plank to be had from bow to stern.

There was more artwork high up on a hill,

a bit stark for our tastes,

and still more on the other side of the Loire, 

a giant pendulum on the side of a disused cement factory, ticking away our time as we headed back with the wind behind us to complete our 45 km trip.

TUESDAY, 26 June 2018 Paimbeouf to Saint-Brevin-les-Pins

dISASTER with a capital D today with the demise of Pierre.  R.I.P.  So tragic.  We’re heartbroken.  Right up there with the Ozzieroos being kicked out of the World Actors’ Cup. This is what happened.  On our way back to Paimbeouf we spied a strange looking object emerging from the water

(click on photos to enlarge)

On closer inspection we could see it was a prehistoric monster, 

what looked to me very much like a pumbeefosauraus, and Pierre, being a bit of a dinosaur himself, insisted on going down to see it.  He was standing in front of it while I walked back to take a picture and as  he turned to look at me I saw the monster sliding towards him.  I shouted at him to watch out, but he is, or was, such a snob and now we are in France refuses to respond to English and for his folly was snaffled. 

 So shocked was he that he literally fell to pieces

and the last I saw of him he was disappearing down the brute’s outsides

…and not even so much as a “Good-bye.  Thanks for everything.”  We’ll certainly miss him as even though he had a limited range of facial expressions, we liked to listen to him chattering away in his gnomic language.  Quite ironic, too, as old pumbeef flourished in Europe in the Triassic era and for several million years after that and made his home in caves and his demise was mainly brought about, according to paleontologists, with the sudden explosion of gnomes into the world, also living in caves, digging for gold and back-filling as they went until pumbeef found himself with nowhere to hide  and unable to stand prolonged exposure to sunlight, withered and died.

Prior to this we were heading to Saint-Brevins-les-Pins, all the time with this amazing bridgein sight,

 Pont de Saint-Nazaire, which carries traffic from one side of the Loire to the port of Saint-Nazaire.  It’s 3.4 km in length and 60 metres high, built in 1975, but, unfortunately, does not have a separated section for pedestrians or cyclists.  All advice is against riding over the bridge.  A special bus carries bikes and cyclists across but reservations must be made 24 hours in advance.

Along the way we saw these little structures dotted along the shoreline,

or the remains of them.

They all had nets lifted clear from the mud flats below

which presumably could be lowered when the tide was in.  The approaches to most of them looked very rickety indeed.

All along the riverbank in the fields to our left we could see evidence of what the farmers had been doing while the sun was shining.

Sain-Brevin is the official start or end of the Loire a Velo cycle path and also a way point on a number of others, as the Publicity Officer for ‘Cycling France Tourisme’ was happy to point out….

or maybe she was pointing out the route of our next big cycling trip overseas, though after the winds of the last few days, we will be heading in the opposite direction.

The area around St Brevins is very much seaside and beach, similar to Rockingham/Safety Bay with lots of small beach cottages along the shoreside.  This one took our fancy.

There were lots of school groups out walking in the mud flats all looking like they were enjoying themselves in the sunshine 

and when fighting our way back, a number of other school groups on bicycles went whizzing past us in the opposite direction.  So strong was the wind going back that at one stage we had to get off and walk and as we were battling along a particularly savage gust blew this bale of hay into the canal 

right alongside us.

Eventually we made it back to Paimbouef and sought solace at the local bar to refresh ourselves and drown our sorrows.

WEDNESDAY, 27 June 2018         Saint Nazaire to La Baule

Our ride today was not an official Loire à Velo cycle path ride so there were no proper maps to follow.  We thought it would be signposted, though, in the usual efficient manner, but that wasn’t the case, either.  Luckily, Google Maps came to the rescue until we chanced upon some signage on our return 40 km journey from La Baule back to St Nazaire. 

La Baule is the starting town of day 4 of the T de F, but we were here two weeks too early.  We did see the posters advertising it, though, up all along the seafront.

                                                           (click on photos to enlarge)

The town before La Baule is called Pornichet and between the two and then further round the coast is solid hotel and apartment buildings all along the beachfront

I imagine this is what the Gold Coast in Queensland is like.

We did spot a few little gems among the concrete monsters

and also saw some startling results of the forces of nature at work along this coastline.  This building started life as your regular rectangular block

 but over the years the giant waves and gale-force winds that pound these shores in winter have worn away the front of the façade, so now it looks like this.

Coming back we passed this interesting looking structure, the Tumulus of Dissignac.

At a mere 6,000 plus years old, it pre-dates the Pyramids by a couple of thousand years.  Quite obviously, building techniques improved considerably in the intervening millennia.

We passed the first thatched house we believe we have seen here

and while having a refreshing beer at the end of the ride were able to get a closer look at the nets we saw suspended along the Loire yesterday.

  We watched as one was lowered and then raised with some fish in the bottom which were scooped out with a net.

Today was quite a muggy and oppressive day, the sort of day where you might be pleased to have a swimming pool at your accommodation.

But then some pools you don’t really want to swim in.  

 Up until now we have been very satisfied with the Air BnB accommodation we have had

but Rouans hasn’t turned out so well….though not disastrous.  This is the old building we are in

 and we have the section with  two windows on the left, one of them being open.  We didn’t realise until a bit later that it wasn’t actually the same rooms that were advertised.  The host must have thought, a couple of Aussies, they probably live in mud huts where they come from, they’ll never notice.  It’s like playing ‘Spot the difference’ if you see the two photos below.

Now, if you can’t tell that the patterns on the benchtops are completely different then I suggest a visit to an optician. 

 And what about these beds?

Covers completely different.

And this was just the start.  Faye, who has impossibly high standards of cleaning, spent 4 hours scrubbing and sweeping and dusting before she would even use a cup to have a coffee.  Among the other omissions were no TV (advertised), and when we asked about it we were brought a very small one with no aerial connection so it didn’t work, a washing machine (a selling point for us as we were here for 6 days) that didn’t work – very apologetic, will get it fixed, huh!, no kettle, no coffee pot, (compulsory in French households), no towels, all of which were supplied when requested.  Oh yes.  And two lamps and two overhead lights in the kitchen/living area and two globes…..which was ok because the light switches for the overhead lights didn’t work anyway, and the globe from one of them which I screwed into one of the lamps, only worked spasmodically.

And, no curtains on the bathroom window.  Faye was incensed by this, and rightly so and was concerned that if she took a shower after 11.00 pm, two hours after her normal bed-time when it had finally became dark and she would need the light on, anybody out there (view from bathroom window)

would be able to see in.  I thought perhaps the cows in the far distance with their night-vision goggles or maybe the guy I’ve noticed climbing up onto the roof of the orange-tiled house occasionally around midnight, but I didn’t see any point in saying anything.

And here is Claire, our host,

 pacing up and down in the front garden, no doubt worrying about what ratings we are going to give her and what our comments will be on the Air BnB website as they meticulously send a form after each stay.  I’d be worried, too, if I were her.

Thursday, June 28 2018 Nantes to Richelieu

Where there’s life there’s hope….and after arriving back in Richelieu about 5.00 pm, unpacking and dashing next door to the supermarket, we hurried off to the park, hoping to see mother swan and baby. Happily, mother was there, sitting on the nest, and then she stood and little baby was underneath her.  They walked around a bit

(click on pictures to enlarge)

then slid into the water and came over to greet us.  We watched them for ages as they swam around,

baby sticking so close to mother most of the time we were expecting him/her to climb on her back.

On the way through Nantes this morning, we stopped at an exposition called ‘Machines des Iles’, ‘Iles’ referring to the island in the middle of the Loire in Nantes where it is located  and ‘Machines’ referring to an array of animated animals, insects and birds worked by hydraulics, set in a sort of forest.  This giant spider, for example, was one of them,

and this guy gave an explanation

 to the 2 or 3 groups of schoolchildren and other visitors gathered around listening.  Very interesting it was, too, except we couldn’t understand a word, but we assumed it must have been as only about a third of the people nodded off while he was droning on. 

  After he had finished his lecture, the operators climbed aboard and it rose in the air,

 moved up and down the beam, waggled its legs around before coming down again.  It was the same deal with this giant heron,

 the ant

and several others.

The main attraction of the place, though, is the elephants....

well, elephant actually.

This spends all day walking around carrying people to different parts of the exposition, hence the sign warning people to watch out,

but today, unfortunately, it was undergoing maintenance.  

One further exhibit we noticed on the way back to the car was this.

 They appear to be some sort of ship made out of pinewood crates, and we can only assume, given the current debate raging in France about the cost of naval defence, that they are the latest addition to the fleet and the crew will be armed with water pistols and pea-shooters.

And in another addition to the many weird trees we have found over here, today we came across a new type,

called, for reasons we can't quite fathom, the basketball tree, as there was not a basketball in sight.

SATURDAY, 30 JUNE 2018            Richelieu

A couple of quiet days at home, recovering from our trip and undergoing a grieving process.  We’ve been offered psychological and counselling assistance to help us deal with our loss but will try to struggle through on our own.

We stepped out mid-morning to fetch a baguette and a couple of pain aux raisin at the bakery and immediately noticed the great throng of cars in the square.  This was the main cause of it

 with another vehicle close by to remind the happy hubbie what chores awaited him once the honeymoon was over.  
Either that or the bride had flown in on it.

The newlyweds were just emerging from the Town Hall and making their way to the church as we went by

as the parish priest greeted them

and stood them to the side 

as the procession of guests filed into the church for the blessing.  

This dude looked pretty cool in his pink shorts

while a sun-glassed reverend 

kept watch outside in case any back-sliders (maybe the husband?) tried to slip away before the completion of formalities.

While the church ceremony was going on, we made our way over to the  ‘Great Hall’ set up as a

Inside this was taking place.

There were exhibitions by a number of painters and sculptors, and as always when seeing such displays, we are amazed at the variety and creativity of ideas on show.  Seeing as we have trouble drawing a recognisable stick figure person, it is impossible to tell the quality of the works but they all looked very impressive.

By the time we emerged from this and sat down for a coffee at the bar opposite the church, the ceremony was over and the grand exit was on. 

The obligatory group snap was taken

and everyone drove away

with much honking of horns as we’ve now seen and heard on a couple of other wedding occasions, and before long all there was to show for this public display of love and commitment was the confetti that the cleaners were hurriedly sweeping up

before it blew all over town.

Meanwhile, next door at 'Les Halles', the official speeches had been made, honoured guests mentioned, and like such occasions everywhere, pretty soon it was into the free wine and nibbles on offer.

SUNDAY, 41 July 2018    Four Fayes Ride

We’ve had the ‘Four Dams Ride’ and the ‘Four Domes Ride’, now to add to this we have the ‘Four Fayes Ride’.  Today was the inaugural event and while there was a very modest turnout (2), hey, this is something that could become REALLY big over the next couple of years.  Distance is only 50 km but there’s a variety of terrain ranging from smooth to pot-holed bitumen, gravel and clay bush tracks, even cobblestones.  Not too much climbing, about 200m.  

The best time to run this event is right now so that the ride can be started in the park at Richelieu and a stop made to check on the progress of the swans.

 (click on photos to enlarge)

Little baby is gaining every day in confidence and whereas two days ago he/she stuck close by mother, today it was darting off by itself in all directions with mother keeping a wary eye on it and never letting it get too far away from her.

Back to the ride and through and out of the park and the first town conquered was

then on to

before the longest ride to finally reach

before the last town

then back to Richelieu.

There’s some conjecture as to why so many towns here have ‘Faye’ in their name.  Some people claim it means ‘fairy’ but more detailed etymological research points to a far stronger association with the meaning of ‘witch’.  Indeed, it has been suggested that these towns are the sites where witches were routinely brought to be burnt at the stake for a range of offences related to inappropriate use of their broomstick such as flying too fast, flying too slow, flying too high, flying too low, flying without a licence and so on.

After the outstanding success of this event, it was time to wind down for the evening with a taste of culture.  And what better way than to attend a performance of Mozart’s Requiem in our lovely church on the corner given by the massed choirs of Richelieu and Chinon.

I’m not sure that the acoustics of the church were quite up to 60 or 70 people belting their lungs out and after a number of hours on a bike seat, the wooden pews in the church proved particularly unforgiving, but we’re proud to support and encourage the arts of the local community, even to the extent, on top of the ticket price, of paying $10 for a program we were unable to understand.