Bike: Sancerre to Briare, 36 miles, 700 feet of climb
Accommodation: Chambre a Deux Pas du Canal (Airbnb); host Martine. Private room in townhouse, double bed, shared bath, kitchen, patio, no washer.
Dinner: Le Petit Saint Trope. Flank steak with Bearnaise sauce, salad, french fries, and chocolate tart; trout with lemon sauce, salad, french fries, and creme brulee. Excellent.
Another day on dedicated bike paths along canals and atop levies. About noon, we saw signs for restaurants in the village of Belleville-sur-Loire. We detoured into the village, rode down the main street, found a restaurant advertising fish and chips, and stopped. We sat outside, got served immediately, our food came quickly and was okay--not great, but hot and satisfying. When I went in to use the toilette, I passed two mannequins dressed up in kind of racy leather outfits. The dark, not-too-clean toilette had a sign on the door saying there was a five-minute limit to its use. I think we were at a kind of dodgy place. Good thing it was broad daylight and we ate outside!
As we entered Briare later in the afternoon, we passed the 19th-century canal aqueduct crossing the Loire River. The area was busy with people strolling on the aqueduct and taking photos from a small bridge. We took a few photos, then headed for the main square. On our way there, we passed a little train taking tourists around town, a field with huge buses pulling in and out, another big field where teams were putting up tents and marking off parking areas. Obviously, something was going on, but we couldn't find any signs announcing an event.
When we arrived in the main square, the church bells were ringing, and ringing, and ringing. A wedding was just beginning, and people were parking in the main square and streaming into the church in their dressiest clothes.
Quite a busy little city!
Our room for the night was the quintessential Airbnb experience. Martine, our host, is a widow about our age, and she rents out a room in her townhouse for the busy tourist season, from May to September. We were her last guests for this season, She helped us make reservations at one of her favorite restaurants for dinner, and invited us to join her for a glass of wine and chat before we went. She doesn't speak English and we don't speak French, but we used our conversation apps on our phones and had a really nice talk.
Dinner was excellent. Afterward, we walked back to the aqueduct because it is lined with streetlights that are supposed to be lit up at night and are not to be missed. The lights were dark. We have heard about a Europewide initiative to conserve energy (because of the oil crisis resulting from Russia's attacks on the Ukraine and the oil pipeline), and we suspect (but could not confirm) that the lights at historical monuments have been turned off as part of that. As we started back to the apartment, it began to rain. It was still a nice walk, and we didn't get too wet.
