Perhaps the tour is getting us ready for the approach to Switzerland. Today was our hilliest day yet.
Yesterday’s Gypsy Caravan was delightful, but very accidental. First, we got the EV6 route from a GPS track on their website – but it is wrong. We ended up going 20k out of our way, up the wrong river. Then, the Caravan was another 5k off of that route.
We knew this within a few kilometers after leaving the Loire a’Velo, when the route signs continued up the Loire, but our route did not. This also confirmed what we saw on a map we got on the placemat in St Brevin. But by this time we already had reservations, so we were committed to the detour.
So, this meant that this morning we went 24k over several hills, getting back over to the Loire valley. But along the way we did come across another Chateau. It was (very) rundown, but the cows let us see it for free. (Sorry, better photos will come later.)
Now that we knew not to trust our GPS route, we kept watch all the remaining day for any EV6 signs. So far we have found none. The GPS route deviated up another wrong river and then across more hills. This time, since it was Sunday, and large trucks and semis don’t run on Sundays in France – we took advantage of this, threw away the route, and just took the main highway to Bourbon-Lancy.
Unfortunately, while the main road was straight, and shortened our distance, it also did something else, that anyone who has ridden across Iowa knows only too well. The roads go up and down straight over the hills. You end up with short, but steep grades and a lot of climbing.
Along this stretch, on top of the hills we would see these large mansions overlooking the valley.
But evidence we are much stronger now, we still completed our ride by 3:00 and had time to walk through old town Bourbon-Lancy.
We also tried to get some time in the thermal baths, but found the spas were either closed for the day, or are more like museums of another era.
