Le dorat

In all cycle tours you have these days. After over two weeks of hot weather and close to no rain, the time had come for the weather gods to dish it out.

We knew it was coming. We had looked at the weather rain radar multiple times hoping that the awful weather crossing France from the Atlantic Ocean had either miraculously disappeared or changed course.

Around 2 am we listened to the huge thunderstorms, lightening and thunder.

When we awoke, it was overcast but not raining. We’d take that.

After bidding our host farewell (another English family that have settled in France, formerly from the Isle of Wight) we set off.

Within 4 km the raincoats went on. So the day would continue with constant stops taking gilet off, coat on, coat off, gilet on and so on.

We had a day of climbing. Our Hammerhead Karoo (bike computer) had 24 rated climbs, plus there were other lesser climbs.

This is our climbing graph for 140 km. Over 1800 metres climbing with that distance, with loaded bikes is a big effort. We have similar tomorrow. Not because we want to do such distances with lots of climbing but more out of necessity.

We are heading east and you have to ride to towns that have decent accomodation plus somewhere to eat. Such towns are less plentiful compared to say the tourist hot spots in the Loire Valley. We carry only snacks with us (replenishing those at supermaches).

That means you sometimes have tougher days.

The camera did not come out as often today. It comes out when it is not raining. Here are photos that we did take en route. The photos are in order from the start.

After turning off major arterial roads, we were generally on local and agricultural roads

Our route took us through many villages, some just a few homes, others larger. At times, you just see the edge of other villages, often noting the church spire.

That is me coming up to finish a climb. There were 24 rated climbs today.

Rain gear still in, checking out a village arch, probably an old village entrance from the Middle Ages when most towns had fortified walls.

We upset these two dogs, as we chose to take raincoats off here.

The big promise…blue sky. It amounted to nothing.

My favourite picture today. The growth in the river are white flowers in full bloom. It is quite pretty.

Raincoat on, just about to hop off my bike and take the coat off.

Village church and war memorial. Note the rooster on top.It is quite gruesome as it has slain an eagle.

We arrived in Montlucon by a nice descent down a major arterial road, bit of city shuffling, arriving at the river Cher. Locating our accomodation, we showered, washed our clothes and headed into the old city quarters.

The chateau, fee paying, closed when we arrived.

Most of the houses in the old quarter are circa 1500’s

This is where we ate our dinner. Our view. The city was nice and quiet with most tourists having departed.

A few more views before we headed back so I could write this blog and sleep.

I have a thing for gargoyles. I like their whimsical nature

That’s it for today. Tomorrow is not dissimilar to today. Climbing and length. We are hopeful the weather will hold out for us.

Thanks for reading, stay safe and smile on 😊

Great view out our bedroom window overlooking our hosts and her neighbours rear yards. Ours is the one with the pool, and our bikes are in the garage at the rear.

This is our apartment, very spacious indeed. I highly recommend staying at Maison le trefle.

Breakfast included bacon, mini sausages and black pudding cooked up by Frank.

Ready to roll, saying goodbye to Niamh, who very kindly gave me an Irish three leaf clover magnet to take home.

The first 30 km was a bit of a battle with very strong headwinds. Only 4.5 km in we donned our rain jackets, sweltered and took them off as the big drips of rain disappeared. After 30 km the wind disappeared too.

We were conscious today of the weather forecast. Thunderstorms were forecast at our destination later afternoon, but as the day went on, the weather improved and just kept getting hotter and muggier.

Niamh had warned us that most shops would be shut by midday so when we saw this boulangerie we stopped for a coffee and snack. It was to be the first and last place open until our destination so a good call in hindsight.

The first part of the day was dotted with wind turbines.

Lots of hills today with the first part of the day being a series of gentle 2-3 percenters. the afternoon featured steeper and longer climbs.

Another typical village view. Today we went through many little villages, mostly very quiet and no noise anywhere.

Descending out of one village there are typical high stone walls.

A nice little creek system including a lock, in what we think was someone’s private backyard.

A cute church scene.

A renovators delight on the left.

Whilst we were on some busy arterial roads (D roads) we were always relieved to turn off onto the quieter local roads servicing villages and farms.

As we approached Saint Martin l’Ars we saw this lovely old chateau. Not sure of the history but it does look like it needs some work.

This made us smile. We presume that Romain and Audrey were married yesterday.

Another old church, no history plaque obvious, but it does look like there was a former large door in the bricked in arch on the left.

My favourite photo of the day is of the Viaduct de l’isle Jourdain. quite an impressive structure.

Water was running low, no shops open, so we resorted to public toilet sinks as there was no ‘non potable’ sign. Time to put more sunscreen on too.

After 100 km we arrived in Le Dorat, a town of around 1500 people. We were too early to go direct to our accomodation so we did a cycle around the town scouring for dinner options. We found a bar open, run by an English couple. We ordered some cold drinks and sat and chilled.

The village has some interesting buildings and a link to Australia. during WWII the Germans occupied the local Dunlop factory keen for intel re tyre making. As a result the Allies bombed the village.

War time resistance heroine Nancy Wake had a resistance stronghold here, and after her death her cremated remains were spread in a local forest.

Some views around the village.

Many shop windows had painted images of sheep pertaining to their business. I quite liked them. Here are a couple of samples.

We headed off to find that church spire.

Voila! La Collegiale Saint Pierre. It appears from my translation that there was a pre existing church here around 940 AD. Something happened in 1080….but construction of the current church started around 1110 with the crypt and transept. There were major fortification additions in the 1500’s.

Much of the outside of the church is covered with scaffolding as they try to replace old timbers and the damaging effects of water. There is a fundraising campaign for more than 2 million euro to support the renovations.

I am always amazed in these old churches at how high the domes and arches are. The engineering all those years ago was brilliant. The amount of men over many years involved in the construction would have been significant.

Leaving the church we wound our way back up into the centre of the village via this pretty laneway.

In the 1500’s there were four gates to enter the fortified walled town. Today only remains, Porte Bergere.

This little electric car caught our eye. We watched lady hop in, with her child and drive away. The child was deposited behind the drivers seat.

Another day done, 14 completed now. We rode 100 km today and it is getting hillier at a bit under 1000 metres climbing. I zoomed our route out to show where we are relatively within France.

The next two days are a bit more arduous again. Thunderstorms are predicted shortly. We are hoping the weather blows over before we start.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe, smile on 😊