| 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 |
Friday
Rigny-Ussé -> Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire
Map Link
I was only too glad to leave this area. We’ve visited the Loire River area before and I knew that it was a beautiful place, but somehow this area was missing something. Maybe…a river?
It was a clear, hot day, with the bike eventually showing a high of 29°C later that day. The roads were straight but not unpleasant. I am fascinated at how the French can make ruler-straight roads that cut through the forest like a cake knife. There are often intersections that show up on my GPS like a pie chart, with little forest roads darting off at perfect 60° angles.
Poppies!
I love how the greenery is essentially shaved from the edge of the road
Not enough solar panels in France
I picked tonight’s campground (Camping de l’Île) and I must say, I did a stellar job of it. We were right on the Loire River (visible from our tent space!), the ground was soft, there was a restaurant nearby (and others across the river) – and there was toilet paper in the stalls! I’m glad that it was a good campground, because we planned to spend two nights here.
Yes please!
I forgot that I had put these stickers on the bottoms of my panniers; that’s a good sign, I’d say!
We had been on the road for a number of days now and it was a good opportunity to do a little house keeping. The first order of business was laundry. The tubs provided by the campground didn’t have a way of plugging the drain, so I filled up one of my panniers and we used that as our clothes washer. Once we had washed and rinsed what we wanted to, we then hung the clothes from a long security cable I carry in my top case, strung between the two motorcycles. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective!
The afternoon was warm, but sitting in our camp chairs (following the movement of the shade of the trees) was comfortable. We watched new campers come in and circle around as they picked what they decided was The Best Spot and set up their tent or caravan. It was impressive just how many bicycle tourers we saw in the last couple of days, but we also saw camper vans and trailers, but no other motorcycles. Eventually we went for a walk in the forest around the campground, and then went to look over the river and the town of Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire on the other side.
Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire
A navy anchor, forged in 1861 by the Forges de la Chaussade
Looking back across the Loire River at the campground
To say that we were disappointed when we found out that the nearby restaurant wasn’t going to serve food for another two hours, and then warn us that there was a music festival that night, would be an understatement. We were once again thwarted in our search for a nice, hot, meal. I volunteered to hop on the motorcycle and ride over to a large grocery store 20 minutes away and see what I could pick up for a campsite meal. When I returned, we enjoyed our usual fare of baguette, ham, cheese and assorted tasty treats and relaxed in our chairs with our books.
No dinner, but we did get a drink
