Nearly at the end

Wed 10th  (65km)  Lire’ to Nantes (Apologies - this blog has been waiting for when I have internet access)

Woke at 8am after a good deep sleep, packed, breakfasted & off pedalling toward Lire'. A relativly easy day cycling panned. We passed along the river enjoying the forest by ways & recreation areas councils have provided.

Took photos as we passed by Ancenis particularly of a statue of Joachim (someone famous) & the flood level guage. Noted that lighting wee picnic fires in the forests is also popular in this part of France. We had a bit of a mix up at Oudon as the track on the north side of the Loire, which runs between the river & the main rail line was under repair but the notification of that was right at the barrier rather than being in town where cyclists could make the choice of route! Grrrr! Had to back track into Oudon & cross another long bridge to Champtoceaux - had become wary of the bridges on this day the wind off the Loire had increased, catching my bike in a way that made me somewhat unstable.

Once on the right route we passed through forest in which small communitiesa are located. Saw a number of horses and riding schools plus an accommodation place which offered yurt stays - looked very inviting. Also passed a flash golf course -L’Ille d’or - only the second we had seen on our travels. It was close to La Varenne we we vieed yeat another chateau and photographed an impressive wooden sculpture of a medieval soldier.

Not long after we found ourselves in a large scale faming area  - leeks, onions mainly -  with large tractors preparring the soil and workers attending to the weeds in the rows already established. Quite sandy soils - not easy to cycle on. Across the river we saw a strange edifice in the cliff caves on opposite bank, like a temple built into the front of the caves. Couldn't find out anything about them.

Lunch was eaten on a bench just passed Mauves-sur-Loire overlooking Loire with a number of recreational cyclists passing us by. As we continued on, more and more recreational areas were obvious alongside a Loire promenade along which groups of runners/joggers passed us by. As we got closer to Nantes we saw a large permanent mobile homes encampment created to house the Roma; they didn't look pleasant place despite some of the homes looking tidy & decorated as there was lots of rubbish semi-burnt on the banks for the river just outside the encampment. [We've seen a few of such sites on the outskirts of French cities and similar in Porto]

And then it was into Nantes following great dual-way bike paths right into the heart of the city. Stopped for refreshments at a wee organic café next to John Doe Escape activity centre where we got a map & directions to the cycleway we needed to take to get to where we were to stay out at La Chapelle Erdre (Moulin). Made it out to Laurence's house after a couple of wrong turns - the university area had so many bike signs it became confusing - on a separated cycleway. A pretty good cycle infrastructure in Nantes, which prides itself on being a green city.

On arrival in Nantes we had completed 1355km on our EV6 adventure from Freiburg over 26 days with 21 of those days being actual cycling.

[No photos presently of this stage]