Had a good meal in Briare last night: Perch en papillote with a good bottle of local Pouilly-Fumé. As expected, today’s cycle from Briare to Vézelay was hot and hilly. By early afternoon it was in the low 30’s and, with no clouds, was somewhat testing. Thirsty work. Our navigational app. (maps.me) had done well so far but for the last 20 miles of today’s route it took us on an extraordinary course. Up 20% climbs, across fields, through remote farmstead...

Left Pithiviers at 8 a.m. and cycled through mixed countryside (agricultural and woodland) and reached the Loire valley, at Chateauneuf-sur-Loire, by late morning. Good weather. Not much wind. Heated up fast in the afternoon, reaching around 29C by the time we reached Briare. Briare’s a town on the Loire. One that neither of us had ever heard of. It’s a very attractive town, with lots of flower displays, and is centred around the two canals/marinas (rather...

20 Aug Clocked up good mileage, but this was a very boring route. Yesterday’s stage was through such nice countryside that today’s came as a bit of a disappointment. For most of the 140km the terrain was flat as a pancake through endless cornfields. It could not be more boring. Even the villages were featureless. None of them even having a bar or restaurant. At half-distance, the scenery was interrupted by the city of Chartres. We both took time to reacqua...

19 Aug Good weather for the first full day’s cycling in a South Easterly direction from Caen. Sticking to small country lanes and passing through rolling countryside, cider-apple orchards and forests, the route was most pleasant. Did around 150km, via Pegasus Bridge (first thing)and Lisieux (for coffee) and, towards the end of the afternoon, found a nice Château (Château Puisaye) in which to stay, just south of Verneuil-sur-Avre. Had a swim in the pool befo...

Sat 18 Aug Breakfast at CJ’s. Where else. On to Temple Meads where hashers we’re waiting to board a train for this year’s Magical Mystery Tour. Nice train trip down to Portsmouth. Talking to an interesting guy, who’d lost an eye and a hand in Afghanistan. He was going on a week’s sailing course. A very upbeat guy, despite his injuries, whose missing left hand he’d had replaced with a metal hook. On the ferry, met up with another group of blokes wh...