France part 2

I'm starting to write this after breakfast on Tuesday, Tour de France day in St Amand. Yesterday, I decided to make use of the good weather to take another ride, this time up into the Foret Tronçais, to the east of the chateau. 

I headed down the hill, past the old canal water station and up through Urcay. Its an easy climb, but I have been finding climbs easier since I walked the Camino in Spain -  which is a great legacy from that trip. The route took me up to the edge of the forest, where I turned off onto a gravel trail leading to a campsite, and then turned right onto some great singletrack trails. 

The forest is criss-crossed with gravel trails with many intersections, strangely notated as roundabouts. I was heading toward Saint-Bonnet-Tronçais, where there is a lake shown on the map. As I got closer to the lake, the trail became one of those boardwalks that I've seen in many videos but have never ridden.This was great fun as it took me around the northern part of the lake, finally emerging at another campsite. I stopped for a drink and an energy bar, and the obligatory selfie for social media 😀

I rode into the village, where I noted an open cafe, despite having been told that everything would be closed on a Monday.

My route continued east and south toward Tronçais, where there is another lake, and then south-west. I got a little confused on the forest trails, but a kindly lady on an e-bike reorientated me. She was the only person I encountered in the forest! I eventually emerged into open countryside and began a fabulous downhill run into Meaulne-Vitray. These runs always pay back the effort involved in gaining height in the first place.

Through Meaulne-Vitry, I headed toward the southern section of the Berry Canal to head back to Igny. A nice flat ride on the towpath meant I was soon back at the chateau for a bit of a rest. A total distance of about 39km wasn't huge, but I had climbed more than 400m so I was happy with the activity.

Following a bit of a rest and reading by the pool, I decided to make use of the afternoon. I headed over to the Noirlac Abbaye, the other side of St Amand. This place has become a bit of a cultural centre,  where many concerts are performed and a number of artists have recorded albums to take advantage of the magnificent acoustics in some of the spaces. It's a lovely self-guided tour, lasting about an hour, with sounds playing in several locations. I can highly recommend it as great value at just €9 entry. There's also a lovely tea room to round off your visit.

Back at the chateau it was approaching dinner time, and unlike most of my previous visits there were a number of other guests. We all had a wonderful evening, finally retiring to our rooms around 10:30.

Today is yet another blue sky day (the sun shines on the righteous, as my dad used to say), Marcus is going to take me and some other guests into St Amand after lunch to see the TdF stage finish.

We got into St Amand with plenty of time before the caravan, let alone the peloton, was due to arrive. My  app showed the riders about 130km away averaging nearly 40km/h. On a day with temperatures approaching 30C that was astonishing to read. we walked around the commercial stalls that had been set up, along with food and drink, heading continually toward the finish line. A couple of us noted how the Gendarmes and soldiers all seemed very young, but impeccably turned out. They clearly have much self respect, and the uniforms seem much more stylish than British police!

Eventually a stream of police and camera motorcycles heralded the arrival of the caravan. This is a huge commercial carnival, populated by vehicles form all the sponsors, and goodies are thrown to the waiting crowds by the handsful. 

I collected a number of hats and other trinkets to take home as souvenirs. By this time the riders were just a few km away, and shortly they appeared. We've all seen these scenes on TV but to be there is something else. 

There were around 170 riders on the course, and most of them passed us within maybe 30 seconds. The thought of being in such a large and tightly packed group is terrifying to me!

And that was the end of my TdF experience. We headed back to the chateau, I went out for dinner, I came back and went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be another riding day, I had decided earlier, but that's for another blog post.