Day six 6th June 2013

Stage 6 Loches To Availles Limonouzine

We left the George Sands Hotel after breakfasting on freshly brewed tea, hot chocolate and lots of porridge with honey and raisins (especially made by Chef Baker in the room). Peter was the ‘Ride Captain’ for the day. He has the responsibility of ensuring that the route is correct, scheduling meeting up with Steve for the rest and foods stops and generally keep moral up by telling jokes.

The weather forecast for the region was rain later on in the day but we set off in glorious sunshine. It quickly became apparent that the day would be a warm one and by 9.30am it was 21 degrees and rising.

We pedalled on and stopped for our first photo by some field in the middle of nowhere about 5 miles along the route with some French speaking cows.

We took some video of us cycling along and you can see how busy and twisty turny the roads are.

We arrived at Preuilly st Claise and took  the opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing. The temperature had now risen to 27 degrees and with nil wind it was getting uncomfortably hot so we pondered the ride ahead.

Setting off again we headed for our first rest stop where greeted by Steve on the town’s bridge and he directed to a quiet back street  to a lovely spot by the Notre Dame church (no, in Le Roche Posay, not the one in Paris!). We sat under the shade of the trees just outside the church eating our sandwiches and drinking lots and lots of water. Inside the church was amazingly cool and we pretended to be interested in the stained glass windows, which were very nice, and architecture, which was old, to get out of the heat, which was now 31 degrees.

We then girded up our loins and set off looking forward to our next stop. The ride was a lot slower pace than it had been on previous days due to the energy sapping heat. We made a conscious decision not to expend energy unnecessarily and the strategy seemed to work well. We also found it advantageous to keep moving at about 15 mph to keep a constant airflow to keep us cool, ish.

We arrived by the lake at Verrieres were Steve had parked the van in the shade of some big trees. Once again a photo shoot ensued and we were joined by an interloper (see if you can spot her in the picture).

The interloper was a very cute, young cat who came out of the undergrowth and immediately rubbed itself around our legs.

We then set off again and cycling through some very pretty countryside we thought we’d take pictures of what we saw to show you what you are missing!

We arrived at the hotel at Availles Limouzine were Steve was waiting for us with ice cold beers and an Origina for Matt. It was another great days cycling for a great cause.

83.81  Miles covered
6 hours ride time

Max Temp 33 degrees

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