To - Orleans
Distance - 79km
Time - 6.5 hours
Total Distance - 485km
Well we had a nice night at Blois and a good breakfast made by our hosts. Surprisingly it rained a little in the morning but the weather generally improved through the day.
Our first decision was whether we should leave the route to go to Chambord Chateau. As you will see from the photos we decided to look at the chateau and straight away we were confronted by a flooded path. As another rugby song says 'we couldn't go over it and we couldn't go round it so we went straight through it'. However, we aren't stupid, we took our shoes and socks off first. A photo will show David putting his socks back on.
Chambord Chateau is grand indeed and probably worth a full excursion but we can't afford to pay to visit all the chateau we pass and we carried on back towards the Loire. Now it appears that France is closed on a Monday as well as a Sunday because we got to Beaugency and were pounced upon by an older English lady who wanted to give us her life story. She lived in the town and told us that there were unlikely to be any restaurants open on a Monday except a very expensive one near the bridge that her husband won't let her use. She was actually very friendly and a little bit posh. Se was right about the restaurants but we searched for a boulangerie, eventually finding one and managing to boost the calorie intake. David had been having a tyre problem at this time. I thought he had just had too much for breakfast but it turned out to be a slow puncture. He changed the inner tube and we were back on the road.
We made good progress and headed straight to the hostel we had booked south of Orleans. I could tell from the maps that it was next to a sports ground but we were surprised to find that the hostel is actually within the main stand of Orleans Football Club. Sadly, there is no football match tonight. We have a room for 4 people and so far it seems that we have it to ourselves. The beds are bunks but have both bagsied the bottom bunks. You may be pleased to know that I have had a clothes washing session so that people don't run away as I approach.
As we came straight to the hostel we haven't been able to look around Orleans city centre. Where we are is about 8km from the city centre but we plan to have a look tomorrow before David catches a train back to Nantes. I have succeeded in booking my next nights accommodation at a chambre d'hote at Sully sur Loire. The lady on the phone didn't speak English so I just managed in French. I will need to get used to this as my interpreter will not be available. In many ways the adventure truly begins tomorrow!
For those of you who are still concerned about my black finger that was injured on the first day. It is getting a bit better but I'm expecting the nail will fall off when it's good and ready.
David doesn't know about the photo of him snoozing at 6pm. It must be too much for him. I think I will send him home tomorrow!!
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