St Satur to Nevers

I've arrived at Nevers and am either at the very end of the La Loire a Velo or am bloody close. There were little plaques on the path today counting down the kilometres. When it got to where I think 0 should have been there were a couple of deck chairs and a sign. I thought it was a nice touch. Unfortunately they were occupied.

This Loire valley bicycle route is amazing. I can think of only one better way to see France. I did less than half of it, but it would be well worth doing the lot.

The one better way would be to start where I am now and head downstream to the ocean in a canoe or kayak. The river flows at a fair rate and there are places to camp everywhere. Imagine floating past castles, detouring along canals, fishing for dinner. THAT would take the cake. I know I've got a few mates who'd be up for such an adventure and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Today I intended on leaving early but got stuck downloading a podcast to listen to, then chatting to people on facebook, so I didn't leave until almost 12.  The wind was still around but not nearly as bad as yesterday.

I headed along the river and stopped at La Charite dur Loire for lunch. It was a dreary place. For some reason hardly any shops were open, including the supermarket, but I spotted 4 glasses shops open. I've noticed that in a few places. They seem to always be open.

After lunch I decided I'd camp around Cuffy. But when I got there there wasn't a campsite. I hadn't actually checked if there was one, so it was my fault. I carried on to Nevers, which meant instead of cutting across the river at Givby I did a big loop around Nevers and got here from the south, which probably meant an extra 20km. They were nice km at least.

There was another canal bridge, this one with a few locks on either side. I watched some boats go across.

I missed a sign about a km before the campsite and ended up in a car park. A Czech truck driver came up to me and we mime talked for a while. He was from Prague. I hit him up for a lift and he said no problem. I was really tempted to take him up on the offer. He had room for the bike and I could have got him to drop me off before Prague. He said he has to do a loop around France first so I ended up wussing out.

I checked the trains and I think I'll get one from here to Basel tomorrow. At Gien they were complicated and expensive because all the trains headed to Paris and it involved a station change in Paris. From here it is a train to Dijon and change for a train to Basel. I don't know the cost but imagine it won't be too expensive.