Day 3 – La Fleche to Loches - 80 miles

Fleche to Loches

Prepping the bikes in the morning prior to the briefing. Checking tyres, bit of chain oil, selecting clothes based on the temperature, the guessed future temperature and, of course, the possibility of rain.

Rob and Nigel, two of our guides conferring.

First brew stop!

Tea is always welcome.

...and Isabelle, guide number 3, is the most welcoming of all!

A queue for the tea.

A day of 'Gormengast' chateaus.

Mark, our most senior rider. He allowed me to give his age, 72. He is a super strong rider and was usually at the front, always steady at the helm. Nicknamed 'Skipper' later on!

We cycled away from Basse Normandie into the region known as Pays de la Loire.

Although a Salon de Thé, the French 'black tea' tends to be Liptons. Kathy brought her own PG Tips.

However, the beer was fine!

Lunch - non veggie section.

Veggie section - I always felt well catered for, especially by Peak Tours, but also by many hotels and restaurants.

Crossing the Loire.

Wild aquilegia were abundant roadside flowers.

The colour palette is fab

They are self-seeding and will proliferate in the right conditions

Another genus - which one?

• Fine foods -  Beurre Blanc sauce, cheeses (Port Salut, Saint Paulin and Curé Nantaise), Petit Beurre pure butter biscuits, Muscadet wine from Nantes, Macaroons with lemon, violet or rose, "Prytanéens", chocolate-flavoured nougat with crushed praline, "Fiches" small piles of dark chocolate, chocolate orange and finely crushed nougat and Jasnières, the regional wine.
• England conquered Normandy in the 15^th century. We cycled through Sillé-le-Guillaume where the lord of the manor at was Sir John Fastolf of Caister of Norfolk (1380-1459).
• The lord of La Flèche gave a hamlet, Villaines s/s Malicorne, to a soldier named Simon, who built it in heart-shaped in honour of his beloved.
• 
  

• La Flèche was the home to philosophers René Descartes and David Hume.
• Most importantly, La Flèche is twinned with Chippenham!

The Loire at dusk