Wobbling Winos: Day 66 - Sully-sur-Loire to Orleans.

Day 66. Sully-sur-Loire to Orleans. 54km, 3h35.

It was cloudy and drizzly when we left the farm where we spent the night. We enjoy these casual places to stay; I could give the bikes a good rinse off after the muddy day yesterday, and they are quite relaxed about heating our food and cooling the wine.

After meandering through farmlands of mostly vegetables, including asparagus, beans, and beet root, we were back on the berm alongside the Loire. The rain became harder, so we stopped in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire to thaw with a cup of hot chocolate. We sat under the awning of a pavement cafe amongst the village conspiracy of bronchitic smokers, all doing their bit to ensure that La France maintains its leading position for the incidence of lung and throat cancers.

The clouds lifted a bit for the rest of our cycle to Orleans, the route hugging the south bank and overlooking maize farms. There was a market in full swing at the bridge taking us over the Loire to Orleans, so we had excellent ham and goats cheese on our baguettes.

Gilly and Mitch arrived in Orleans from London at 1.30 to join us for a week's cycling. We arrived simultaneously at their bike rental shop - very exciting to see them again, and wonderful that they can join us. After loading their kit onto their bikes (very nice Trek tourers) we had a welcome beer in the Place du Martroi with its massive statue of Joan of Arc.

Orleans is an appealing city, with broad streets and interesting buildings. The Cathedral St. Croix dominates the skyline. It was modeled on and is the same size as the Notre Dame in Paris. The stonework of the buttresses, facades and columns is very intricate. Joan of Arc appears everywhere as she (with a bit of help from her friends) relieved the siege of Orleans from Plantagenets in 1429 during the Hundred Years' War.

We stayed in studio apartments close to city centre (Appart City Orleans) which are very well furnished and equipped. To be able to self-cater is a real plus. And there were decent pillows - I could write a whole blog posting on the various pillows that Europeans seem to like and we have endured on this trip. I could do the same for impossible door handles, taps that require extreme lateral thinking to operate, toilet design that needs serious ergonomic help and the challenge of finding the World Cup game on television (forget about Wimbledon - it was a non-event here).