2022.05.28 – Nevers ==> Decize (37 kms | Total: 1670 kms)

We learned the previous evening that we had actually completed the official Loire River bicycle route when we took a turn towards the city of Nevers. The Loire river is France’s longest river at 1,006 kms long. According to one of our photo taken outside of Saint Nazaire, we cycled more or less 840kms along the Loire River bicycle route. This morning we started to follow the signage for EuroVelo(EV) Route 6 which started just outside our hotel. We cycled once again along a canal for most of our day. Along the way, we stopped at a small bakery for some snack and coffee. Although cycling along such a canal was by far not strenuous, we agreed that the scenery after a while got a bit monotonous. We cycled into the town Decize earlier than anticipated due to the shorter canal route. We managed to check-in to our hotel by 1:00pm. While waiting for our room to be cleaned, we had two small lemonade bottles at our hotel’s restaurant for a whopping 8€ ($10cdn). Jenny later found a similar large bottle of lemonade at a grocery store for 1.5€. Needless to say, we went to a nearby grocery store and bought both food for our evening meal as well as for tomorrow’s breakfast. We enjoyed dining in our room on delicious roast chicken and salad.

2022.05.29 – Decize ==> Bourbon-Lancy (49 kms | Total: 1719 kms)

After our breakfast, we rejoined the EV Route 6 just outside our hotel. We cycled along another canal for 10kms or so. After which, we rode on winding countryside roads. We encountered many more rolling hills along the way, but we did not mind the extra effort as the scenery was more entertaining. Being on Sunday we were not sure that we would find a bakery opened along the way, but we did. Once again we arrived at our destination by 1:30pm. Unfortunately, the hotel reception door was locked with a sign indicating that they would open only at 3:00pm. We attempted to get some grocery supplies, but all the stores were closed. We managed to take refuge and relax in cafe until 2:45pm. Our hotel host suggested that we should have called her upon our arrival to get access to our room. Every hotel seemed to have their own policies regarding early check-in – some could be reached earlier while others could not at all. We opted for some pizza for our evening meal as most restaurants nearby were pizzerias.

2022.05.30 – Bourbon-Lancy ==> Paray-le-Monial (51 kms | Total: 1770 kms)

After a good and plentiful hotel breakfast, we left the quaint town of Bourbon-Lancy and rejoined the EV Route 6. We cycled once again along the lateral Loire canal until our destination. Along the way, we stopped in the town of Digoin – some 15 kms before our hotel. We were disappointed by the fact that bakeries, cafes and most stores were all closed as it was Monday. We had been relying on Google maps extensively to determine the business hours of the various establishments (e.g. restaurants, grocery stores, etc), but sometimes we were still confronted to closed establishment doors. Upon cycling into the town of Paray-le-Monial, we stopped at a grocery store to buy some breakfast staples and snacks as our hotel was unfortunately some 3 kms further outside of town. We struggled to find restaurant options for our evening meal as our hotel’s restaurant was fully booked, while others were out of our price range or closed. We managed to eat at a taco fast food restaurant. We walked over 8kms in order to fill our tummies this evening. Upon returning at our hotel, we pro-actively booked our next morning breakfast and evening meal.

2022.05.31 – Paray-le-Monial ==> Paray-le-Monial (6 kms | Total: 1777 kms)

We started our day of rest with the hotel’s breakfast offering. With our arrival yesterday in Parray-le-Monial, it marked two meaningful events, the first one was that we reached the furthest southerly location of our journey through France and the second one was that we finally bid farewell to the Loire river as its headwaters turned southerly while our EV Route 6 continued east (and north/east). After spending some time in our room on our itinerary planning, we continued to rest until early afternoon. Later, we cycled, without our panniers, back to town and did some quick sightseeing while taking a few photos. Before returning to our hotel, we stopped at an optometrist clinic/store to get Jenny’s sunglasses repaired. We finished our evening at our hotel’s restaurant for a nice table d’hôte (three course meal) offering.

2022.06.01 – Paray-le-Monial ==> Montchanin (67 kms | Total: 1843 kms)

After our final hotel breakfast in town, we rejoined our cycling route just across the road from our hotel. After cycling just a few kms along the Center canal, our route turned inland and took us through a number of countryside roads with rolling hills. Along the way, we met Andy, a touring cyclist from Germany, who started cycling from Porto (Portugal) in early April. We cycled over 30kms with Andy while exchanging various cycling and traveling experiences along the way. It was a very enjoyable encounter on the road. We checked-in at 2pm into our very low-budget hotel – the only one with room availability in the area. Later, we cycled into the town center for some lunch snacks at a grocery store. Thankfully, we were able to enjoy a good evening meal at a restaurant near our hotel.

2022.06.02 – Montchanin ==> Chalon-sur-Saone (49 kms | Total: 1893 kms)

Jenny was eager to leave our modest accommodation as early as possible. We skipped breakfast and hoped we would come across a bakery along the way. We continued cycling along the Central canal throughout the day. We kept on seeing black clouds in our rear view mirrors. We were very lucky as we finished buying some pastries and coffees at a bakery in the town of Saint-Léger-sur-Dheune when the rain started falling heavily. We managed to enjoy our bakery snacks at one of their sidewalk tables covered by an awning. Once the rain tapered down, we were ready to continue our route along the canal. We enjoyed riding along the canal today as it was not boring since every new bend in the canal brought a different scenery. We managed to check-in into our hotel shortly after 12:00pm. Later, we purchased some snacks at a local grocery store. In the evening, we had some good grill chicken at a nearby restaurant.

2022.06.03 – Chalon-sur-Saone ==> Labergement-lès-Seurre (54 kms | Total: 1947 kms)

After a relaxing hotel breakfast, we reloaded the tandem and cycled through the town. We were once again thankful that the rain forecast cleared up in time for our cycling day. The first part of journey was pleasant as it followed the Saône river. The later part was more monotonous as we crossed open fields under a strong sun and some head wind. We stopped in the town of Seurre, 4 kms before our B&B accommodation, in order to buy food for our evening meal. Our B&B host greeted us briefly and quickly retreated to her house. We communicated via SMS throughout our stay. On a positive note, Jenny was grateful to our host as she agreed to wash, for a fee, a load of our clothes in her machine. Our clothes quickly dried on the clothes lines . Later in the evening, we witnessed a short, but intense hail storm. As the remoteness of B&B did not have any wifi connectivity, we relied heavily on our giffgaff SIMs from the UK to stay connected.

2022.06.04 – Labergement-lès-Seurre ==> Dole (53 kms | Total: 2000 kms)

In the morning, our B&B host pointed out to us some of the property damages caused by last night’s hail storm. After having our modest B&B breakfast, we cycled back to the town of Seurre in order to rejoin our EV Route 6. The cycling was much more enjoyable than yesterday. Being on Saturday, we saw once again an abundant number of fishermen along the river and canals. On the later part of our day, we began cycling along the Canal du Rhône au Rhin – an important canal connecting the Rhine to the Saône and the Rhône and thereby the North Sea and the Mediterranean. We briefly stopped at a bakery for some pastry snacks a few kms before our hotel. We managed to check-in to our room by 1:30pm. Later we bought some light lunch snack at a nearby grocery store in order to keep us going until our evening meal. Since our Asian buffet experience in Blois – some 700 kms earlier, we had been looking forward to the opportunity to binge on another buffet offering. We further justified our evening buffet meal as a celebration for reaching 2,000kms on the road.