Winging it
We slobbed out. No alarm until 7:30. Breakfast at a decadent 8:30. Departure at a hedonistic 9:30. Heady times. Not only that, but I looked at the route this morning and decided that spending the entire day cycling along a river bank might get a bit 'samey'. So, with derring do, I plunged boldly into areas of technology that I had hitherto only dreamed of, and cooked up another route. I blue toothed it. I downloaded it. I saved it offline. I pinned it. I transferred it to another device. Techy Steve, they call me. (Or they jolly well should do after that lot)
So we set off on a gloriously sunny morning, stopping after just 15 minutes to apply sun cream, and took the brand new route which offered little roads passing through pretty villages. True, it also offered far more hills than a riverside ride but then no strangers to hills, are we.
We arrived at Chateau Gontier for the statutory coffee and at this point decided that it would be fun to do some riverside riding after all, so switched back to plan A.
Time to join the multitude of holiday cyclists again. It seems to be essential that you ride a contraption which is strange in some way, on these paths. Riding a tandem puts us about half way down the league, I reckon.
The river in question is the Mayenne. It runs straight into Laval, which is where we were headed but meanders rather a lot in the process. By the time we arrived in Laval, we felt we had done quite enough meandering for one day.
I discovered something about Kate which I had never known before, despite very nearly 40 years of tandemming. She closes her eyes quite a lot. It turns out there are two main reasons. Either she doesn't like the look of the hill in front of us, so tries blanking it from her mind, or she just fancies a snooze. I'm not sure what to think about that but she must choose her snoozes carefully as I have obviously been unaware. She does keep pedalling. Rather like one of those birds that sleeps whilst on the wing.
Laval eventually arrived. It is a curious mix. Very ancient in places but with a vibe of young people and modern times. There is a very significant mix of ethnicities here. If there was ever a white middle class vibe, dominated by men with jumpers slung over their shoulders and women in white linen trouser suits watching over expensive looking children, it has gone. I'm not saying that's good or bad, just that it's the case here.
We arrived in Laval at 2:10pm . I know I've mentioned changing times above but the French protocol still very much dominates. Food is served at all restaurants and eateries of any description until 2pm. That was it. Nowhere to eat. Caught out by the curious customs of France again! It was a limp baguette for me and a salad for Kate from the local carrefour. We found a shady spot near the war memorial and ate. Kate had also bought me a slice of tarte citron in the hope that it would cheer me up. It did.
We were early for our night's accommodation so after sitting around in a park by the river, we thought we'd at least seek it out. We had to cycle up the steepest hill of the whole trip. It went right through the ancient part of the town and was so steep that the hill also involved a series of shallow steps. We cycled up without stopping much to the amusement of passing pedestrians. We found the place we were staying at on another very steep hill snd we're just wondering what to do when an earnest looking young man leapt up to us with one of those furry microphones that they use when outside and asked if he could record our tandem. I was a little non-plussed. I explained that it didn't make much noise. (Unless you included the groans, sighs and grunts of the riders in physical travail as they mounted the last hill). No, I want to hear the tick tick tick, he explained. The free wheel, I guess. So we rode passed him. Then he wanted us to do it again. Then again. Three times, we rode up this torturous hill to satisfy his longing for the sound of a tandem freewheel. I asked him why, and he said he was making a film. I can't imagine it will be a Disney blockbuster but I suppose stranger things have happened.
Like us ending up staying the night in a 15th century castle. It's absolutely amazing. We climb an ancient wooden spiral staircase to get to our room and look out over Laval. It's stunning. This evening we have had a gallette and a crepe in what we reckon was the nicest restaurant in the town. Everybody else obviously thought so too. We were lucky to get a table.
We are now back in our tower, bolts drawn and ready for a night's sleep. Today was a mere 40 miles, so seemed like a rest day but I think the itinerary is catching up on us....
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