Gennes to Angers 32 miles. Running total 762 miles

Todays route is here. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42318257

This time next week, all being well, we should be back in the UK. But for today, we have a comparatively short days cycling. We have pre-boooked a meal in tonight’s château as it is several miles north of Angers and well out of town. This arrangement was planned to allow us to have a rest day and a couple of comparatively short cycling days on either side before the longer hillier days that will take us to Caen and the ferry.

Chateau de la Boussinière was interesting this morning as we were offered breakfast in either the huge kitchen or the conservatory.  We opted for the conservatory with a fabulous view across the gardens and the Loire Valley. Our hostess was an avid collector of ‘brocante’ (antiques/junk), and wherever you looked, there were interesting items randomly displayed. There were clocks, copper pans, hats, ornaments, and even a metal peacock. Anywhere else, these things would look tacky, but here they were just right. She also had a small dog and nine cats roaming about. She explained she had them to replace her children who had grown up and left home.

We have good news this morning. The forecast predicts that it will be cloudy with sunny intervals, and Garmin predicts we will cycle downhill from the château onto the cycle route. For the first 5 miles, our route follows the Loire River, and the surface is smooth and flat. We cycle through really pretty river side villages and spot some interesting looking local boats called La Gabare darting about.

Along the way, there are a lot of large houses and chateau with fabulous views across the river. After a distance of 5 miles, we cross the river on a bridge into a busy small town full of cycle groups. After days when we have hardly seen any other cyclists, this is a novelty. We leave the river to weave our way through more villages and hamlets. These all seem to have traditional cultivated small holdings with the odd chicken, cow, goat, donkey, or pig in a small field alongside.

After lunch along a wide river flood plane, we ride into Angers, which we circumnavigate along the riverside and through parks. One of the enormous parks had various activities and watersports on a wide section called Lac de Maine. We got slightly disorientated, which we remembered doing in the same place on a previous trip. We came across the ice cream seller, bought ice creams, and sat in deckchairs to eat them. It was loverly in the sun until we tried to get out of the deckchairs. We had to resort to an ungainly roll out of the chair onto all fours. We hoped that no one had noticed us.

It is a Saturday, and we pass lots of marquees with events going on. At one point, we had to cycle through a large wedding party where the guests were sprawled across the riverside cycleway. This was like a sketch from Benny Hill, with cyclists trying to punt with one leg through the large crowd who were all dressed in their best frocks and hats. None of the guests wanted to move out of the way in case they lost their place in the photographs. Neither side was happy, but we made it through, relatively unscathed.

On this route, which seemed to circumnavigate the town to avoid roads, we had beautiful views of Angers city centre from all angles across the various rivers.

We then left the Loire and Maine rivers to travel north up the Mayenne river. The plan was to stop at a bar that Google had identified. The bar was on the opposite side of the river, with a small bridge to access it. The bridge turned out to be a very busy chain ferry, which was rammed with Saturday tourists. We decided to give this a miss and headed uphill to our Chateau accommodation where we will be staying for the next two days.

On arrival, our room was not ready, so we sat by the pool in our cycling gear with two beers just to lower the tone of the place.

Tomorrow is a day off for us, but not the blog!