Bike: Nevers to La Charite-sur-Loire, 29 miles, 600 feet of climb
Accommodation: Le petit paradis de la loire (Airbnb); host Jean. One-bedroom apartment on Loire River, river views, kitchen, wifi, no washer. Right on national highway, loud road noise, overpowering smell of stale cigarette smoke, moldy shower. We do not recommend this apartment.
Dinner: Auberge de la Poule Noir. Roasted salmon with shrimp cream sauce and basmati rice, pan-seared scallops with butter-and-garlic-pureed potatoes. Excellent.
Another beautiful day. We started out with tights, long-fingered gloves, fleece jackets, wind jackets, and ear bands. We unzipped and shed the wind jackets and long-fingered gloves after an hour or so, but even with the sun, the breeze remained cool.
After we left Nevers, we spent the entire day cycling on dedicated cycle paths along the canal and the Loire River. The miles flew by.
We stopped in Cuffy, which is the official start of the Velo a Loire. A park bench near the medieval church there served as the perfect picnic bench. Before long, we were back on the bikes, heading down the Loire. In five days, we will reach Orleans, where we started this cycle adventure in July with Konur. And in seven days, we will be back in Paris, where the three of us met up with Meghan to begin our combination cycle/train journey.
Our apartment was disappointing, but La Charite-sur-Loire is an interesting city built around the ruins of an abbey and church that date from 1095. The abbey was a satellite of the Cluny Abbey, reaching its peak in the 15th-16th centuries, being shut down when the government banned monasteries in 1790, suffering a huge fire and other disasters along the way. The mix of religious and community architecture, shops, homes, alleyways, and streets spanning over 1,000 years of history has created an interesting jumble. We spent a couple hours wandering and exploring, bought some groceries, and had an excellent dinner.
