Biking Day 16

• Length ridden: 40 km
• Ascent: 100 meters
• Rating: 8.0 out of 10 - very short, but very nice!
• Highlights: My lady host in the castle and her son
• Lowlight: The inedible food for lunch
• Map of the day

In the morning, I woke up around 6:30, soon, Simon and family were up as well. They had a doctor's appointment that morning, to see the sex of the baby - Amy was few months pregnant...as I found out on a subsequent WhatsApp call - spoiler alert - Alix will be a big sister of a baby boy!

I got breakfast and Simon and family left before me, as I had to still load my bike. I took my time and it was only around 9 am that I jumped onto the saddle...

...however, I did not get all too far. There was a grand-opening of an ALDI that very morning in the town and I had to do shopping anyways. As this was the first day of the store, they were offering a lot of treats for free from a food truck, coffee, yoghurt, pain au chocolats, orange juice - so I had a second breakfast that day and also bought some other food items. Just next to the grocery store, was a car wash, which, like a number of other places in France, also offer a laundromat service. The level of my fresh clothes was reaching a critical level, plus my tent was damp - and it was a pleasant sunshine...So I threw in all the things I had (except for what I was wearing) into the machine, pitched my tent for it to dry, hung my sleeping bag - a way of resurrection for a road biker!

Yup, I had a short day prior to this one, started late this morning, spent time getting treats at ALDI and now I was doing my laundry...it was clear I would not be beating any distance records that day either...

It was only at 11:30 that I was done and set off in the usual NW direction, with the aim of the coast, which was still about 350 kilometers away. I got to small village Saint-Privé with a large church - which, alas, was closed. Opposite the church was a bar and asked if by any chance they had the key. Actually, they did have it, so I was handed a large-sized medieval key to the church. In I went and was impressed by the wonderful church, which was all for me and myself.

As you can see from the time-stamp, it was noon and the bar was empty, except for a couple. The lady barkeeper opened up a glass of champagne for the others and while I do not drink a lot of alcohol, especially not during biking, I had the urge for a sip of this fluid. It cost me only €3, which is rather fair price and as far as I could tell, it was of really good quality.

Here I spotted the very scenic Briare Canal, which is one of the oldest canals in France, from the beginning of the 17th century. I decided to ride next to the canal, which was now in a westwardly direction. At times, it felt as if riding in the Netherlands.

I got to Ouzouer-sur-Trézée following the sign to a restaurant called Trez Cafe next to a lake, the area looked so romantic and I was so very much behind my non-existent, imaginary schedule, that I thought it would not hurt having a lunch. There was a big group of bikers just having finished their lunch, so this looked like a good place to hang out for an hour or so. The three-course lunch menu for €15 was quite a deal, but the foodl, ladies and gentlemen, now that was not a good deal at all. While the three ladies were very friendly, their cooking was outright awful. The starter was OK, it was a cucumber salad with yoghurt, but the "steak" was almost inedible, the French fries pale and the crème brûlée was made of powder and prepared like three days ago and then left forgotten in the fridge. Seriously, I hoped I would not get food poisoning from the undercooked meat. Oh well, another example of me not enjoying French cuisine.

The small village again contained a proud church, where a small white cat greeted me.

It was almost 4 pm and I had only 40 kilometers behind me. As it gets dark at 10 pm, I had a grand plan to ride 60 kilometers in the remaining part of the day - that plan lasted but a few minutes. You see, in a place called I spotted a chateau next to the road, it had a wonderful green lawn, pretty trees and even a swimming pool. I felt like a bit of a trespasser, was expecting to be shouted at, as I entered and took some photos. No-one shouted at me, as it was quite empty, but when leaving, I did spot someone in a shed opposite the entrance. He was a bit older, unshaved and had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I asked him what this place was, he told me it was actually a "gite", i.e. it offered accommodation. I thought, somewhat jealous, it must be for rich weirdos, when he heard me saying this, he laughed and said it was super expensive indeed - then told me to follow him. We entered the chateau and he started talking to a friendly old lady in Frech. It turned out he was her son and they told me I could stay there for €50 that night, breakfast included. Her birthday was just the day before, the entire bottom floor was full of flowers she had received as gifts. So came my grand plan to an abrupt end, at just 4 in the afternoon.

The castle is called apparently La Chesnaye, without a website, and apparently, it is just the guard house that is normally for rent. The lady told me, provided I understood her correctly, that even Napoleon III had stayed in this castle - or at least there was some connection to him.

I dropped my bags off and went to discover the surroundings - as this was not the only castle in the settlement of 800 souls called La Bussière. (Mind you, when writing this story, I saw three other castles in the vicinity...). The main chateau is called Château de La Bussière, from the 16th century. While I was to sleep in a (small) castle, I decided to visit this other (large) castle - it was indeed imposant and had a huge garden, the full walk in the park was quoted with two (!) hours.

I only did a half an hour walk around the castle and even thought of going for a boat ride (rowing on my own), but it was now near to the closing hour, so I rode a bit around in town.

There was a hotel with a restaurant, but they were not yet open, so I rode back to "my" castle, had dinner in the wonderful garden of my own food and walked a bit around - and went for an early sleep, hoping to ride more than 40 kilometers the following day.

* So, if the previous day was 14.5, now it would be just 15...so I had two half days after the other...