| Day 1 - Basel -> Vichy | Day 2 - Vichy | Day 3 - Thiézac | Day 4 - Sarlat-la-Canéda | Day 5 - La Grande Côte (Coast) |
| Day 6 - Rigny-Ussé | Day 7 - Cosne-Cours-s/Loire | Day 8 - Cosne-Cours-s/Loire | Day 9 - Riel-les-Eaux | Day 10 - Montbéliard |
Thursday
La Grande Côte -> Rigny-Ussé
Map Link
It had been a terrible night, but it was also a learning experience: watch the angle of the ground under the tent, bring an eye mask, and find some insect repellent.
The morning got a little better when we walked to the campground store to pick up our pre-ordered breakfast pastries. They were surprisingly good! It was a much better way to start the day. We didn’t rush and casually packed up the camping gear and got ready to hit the road. Dan had found an “amazing campsite” right on the Loire River, near the town of Rigny-Ussé. Reviews raved about how it was practically in the front yard of a fancy chateau, and I was looking forward to sitting in my camp chair with my book and watching the Loire waters flow by.
Coastal waters
The morning was uneventful, with ok roads and ok scenery to go along with it.
The town of Saint-Savinien (Charente-Maritime) broke up the morning and we took an extended break there. We left the bikes by the Charente River and walked up to the church, enjoying the view across the river and the surrounding roof tops.
Saint-Savinien
Leaving the river behind, we continued across the French landscape. It was getting hot, so I was glad when we descended through the forests to the Loire River valley and our campground for the night.
Entering the town of Rigny-Ussé, we were suddenly surrounded by bicycles. The bicycle parking racks were full of heavily laden touring bicycles, families with trailers, and slim road bikes. They were gathered at a corner restaurant, the Les Terrasses d’Ussé, and many people were checking out the view of Château d’Usse across the street. On the other side of town was the campground, set back from the road in a nicely treed setting.
Riding through Rigny-Ussé
It was a municipal campground, which meant that it had minimal amenities. The facilities were clean and functioning, but I would have liked to have not been surprised that toilet paper was not provided. But the grounds were in good shape and not too busy. The chateau? It was a kilometer down the road – not exactly “in the front yard”. The town of Rigny-Ussé boasted a church, a hotel, and the busy restaurant across the street from the chateau. But today was a holiday, which meant that any other shops, even as small and few as they were, were closed for the day.
Rigny-Ussé
The hardest camping surface I’ve ever experienced
And the river? It was 1.5 kilometers away, more than half an hour walk along the main road. And once we did reach the river, there was no direct access to it. We walked back to the campsite via a different route (through farmer tracks in the fields), but it was hot and the sun baked us. It was not a pleasant walk at all. The only bright point was seeing a pheasant poke its head out from the long grass.
Château d’Ussé
That night the campground’s lights ruined the night sky from our tent, but a 5 minute walk to a nearby field showed a sky full of glistening points of light, and even a whisper of the Milky Way. I slept much better that night, despite the ground being hard as a rock. Maybe I was just too tired to care.