Bike Trip Loire - The Fourth Day - May 15

Finally a beautiful day – little wind, and often at our backs.  It’s amazing the effect a bit of wind has.  If it is 10km in your face and you are traveling at 15km, then you have an effective head wind of 25km – makes forward progress much, much harder.  A 10km wind at your back when one is traveling at 15km means an effective head wind of 5km – a HUGE difference. 

Again a scenic day, very level, paved trail much of the time, river, canals, châteaus.   We approached the city of Orléans about lunch time, and ate in a restaurant on the outskirts apparently catering to construction and repair workers.  We had a good, plain meal – steak frites again for me.

Bridges to Orléans, Cathedral in Center

We crossed the bridge into Orléans to see the cathedral – a huge ornate structure rivaling Notre Dame in Paris.  Lots of restoration work has been done as there had been damage done during the war.  Orléans also played a pivotal part in Jeanne d’Arc’s campaign to evict the English from France.  It was here that she won one of her greatest victories.  We bicycled away from the cathedral and down the Loire.

 Arriving at Meung-sur-Loire, we biked about a mile into the outskirts to the Gite – and no one home!  We rang the bell; Gerard phoned and left a message.  From a neighbor, we learned that the woman had gone to the doctor that afternoon.  Finally we went to a park to wait.  We had arrived relatively early in the afternoon, but after two hours, Gerard found a hotel about 10km away in Beaugency.  Gerard left another message on the answering machine at the Gite and we left.   We arrived at Beaugency, crossing an old stone bridge on the Loire.  We stayed in an old hotel in town and ate in a restaurant across the street.  Very satisfactory.

There is an amusing legend about the old stone bridge in Beaugency.  Many years ago, it seems the townspeople had difficulty crossing the river by boat but did not have the means to construct a bridge.  A well-dressed man appeared one day and offered to provide a bridge in one night, provided he got the soul of the first user of the bridge.  In desperation, the townspeople agreed.  The next morning, to their astonishment, they had their bridge!  Looking across, they could see a shadowy figure on the other side.  Resourcefully, they sent a cat across first.  Upon its arrival on the other side the Devil seized his prey and disappeared in a rage.

Beaugency Bridge

We had a really good breakfast in the hotel the next morning.  Distance about 70km.