'Entre Deux Mers'-Day 3
Thursday September 5th
We allowed ourselves the luxury of a
slightly later breakfast and start. Serge's friend, a journalist with the
local daily paper took a picture of us in full kit and interviewed us, in
French, about the purpose of our mission. A daunting task!
The mornings ride was quite blissful, cycling through pretty villages in
warm sunshine on long, quiet roads. Just the occasional tractor working in
the distance. The countryside was east Anglian, but the warmth was
definitely mid France!
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Windmills of the traditional kind. This one seems to be
missing some essential bits, though. |
We approached Poitiers with over 220 miles on our trip computers since
leaving St. Malo. Our city approach was always the same, avoiding major
roads as much as possible, the advantage of two wheels being that one can
penetrate where cars cannot. we tied up our transport to a railing and
entered a fairly up market Italian restaurant/pizzeria.
The be-suited manager greeted these two hot and sweaty cyclists and showed us
to a table by the window, where, he pointed out, we could keep an eye on
our bikes! |
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An elegant Hotel de Ville, (town hall) near Poitiers. |
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Onward we progressed, steeply up out of Poitiers, spending the rest of the
afternoon on largely level and endlessly straight roads. There was one
amusing detour that went slightly wrong. We were following a marked cycle
track that diverged from the road at one point. It didn't feel right as we
descended through a forest with no sign of anything or anyone. Then,
suddenly we heard squeals of delight from some ball game or other from behind a line of trees. There
was a notice fastened to a tree. 'Maison du nature'. Could it be... |
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The sunflowers were looking a little past their best, no
longer turning to follow the sun. The village of Gencay, about halfway from our lunch stop
in Poitiers and Confolens. |
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Confolens was our stop that evening in a gorgeous old three story house
overlooking a superb view. There was even a pool in the garden. |
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The pool looked tempting, but our first priority was to refuel
and sleep. |
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Confolens sits on the River Vienne, which also gives it's
name to the Département. |
Mine host
showed us our room, and then invited us to join him in an aperitif. How
could he have known that Pastis was my favorite drink! Two pastis on an
empty stomach later, Richard and I headed for the bright lights of town.
It was a familiar formula by now: Big meal, some wine, big sleep. |
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Day 3: 85 miles cycled in 7 hours
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