Day 6 21 Aug ’91 Wed Saumur to Chatellraut

Saumur camp site was not very good. Hard ground, full of other campers and expensive. Cold showers too. Got up at 8.00 ish and left at 0930 after giving our French neighbours some tea. They were not impressed but the French are not great tea connoisseurs? 

Left after picking up Dan’s passport then headed to boulangerie for breakfast. Today was split into two. Flat boring roads leading up to Chinon where we had lunch after 30kms. It was very hot about 33 degrees C at one point so we slept under a tree for a couple of hours. 

Then, part two of the day was spent cycling into some very rural areas including Richlieu (remember Cardinal Richlieu of the Three Musketeers?). After a short break and two bottles of water and pop we entered into an area of ‘swear-prayer’ roads e.g. “Oh, Hell!” when you get to the bottom of a hill and “Oh, God!” when you get to the top of the hill and see the next hill ahead. 

We carried on until Chatelleraut. We were going to stop for the day but it’s not a nice place. Campsite has TGV trains on one side, an aerodrome on the other and mosquitoes all over. However, we did see a tame otter swimming up and down a small creek near us. Have just eaten pasta with salami, tomato and melted cheese on top. Two yoghurts each, an apple, tea and biscuits. Drank less water today but quite tired. Missing Penny.

Distance 89.9kms Average speed 9.1kmh Time 9 hrs 42