Day 4 19th August ’91 Monday Ambriere to Sablé

Slept well until 7am when radio woke me up. Dozed for an hour. Feeling stiff in the legs. Got up, made some tea and looked at bikes. Dan adjusted the bikes. A few squeaks and noises were ironed out. Packed up. Left at 1130am. 

Weather warm. Cloudless sky. Very bright. Wore sun hat for first time (but still face burnt). Cycled into Mayenne (twinned with Devizes!) Downhill into the town. Pretty down on river. Bought two ‘pain raisin’ and bread. No supermarkets but were told of a market up the road. Bought some caramelised praline off a stall. Cost 30Fr. Think we were ripped off. Bought nectarines, bananas and salami. Went to another stall for cucumber but got talking to the man on the stall (who spoke English) about the Sahara and Niger. Bought green pepper, tomatoes and he gave us some free strawberries all for 5Fr. Chuffed. 

Left town and stopped for lunch 5kms out. Bliss sitting by  the side of a lane eating lunch in the shade. Very hot in sun. Slept for a bit. Noticed ants the size of a finger nail! Left at 3pm-ish towards Sablé, 50km away. Countryside and atmosphere more typically French. Very rural areas. Still lots of attention from passers-by. Drinking 3 or 4 water bottles per day - peeing very little. Knee hurting. 

Stopped in Viages to buy some supper. Funny looks off the locals. Drank a pint of fresh milk each. Yum. Headed on for last 50km to Sablé. Firemen putting out stubble fires. Dan’s knee was hurting for a while. We had been pushing out the kilometres today. Must not overdo it. At last, came into Sablé in Hippodrome camp site. Very smart. Had an ice lolly. Routinely put up tent and got cooking. Had delicious supper of pasta tubes, tinned salmon and mushrooms a la grecque. and herbes provencale. Pudding of gateau au semoule. Tea. Enjoying it more now. Feeling less homesick if at all but missing Penny like mad. 

Just heard on BBC World Service that Gorbachev has been overthrown by Boris Yeltsin. Hope this is not going to affect the trip!

DST 78.8kms AVS 8.1kmh Total distance 361kms Time today 7hrs 44mins