We had a terrible start to the day when the chain on Kris’s bike broke about 300m from our start. We asked a couple of people where to find a bike repair shop and they both suggested Declathon – about 4km away. So off we went – Kris pushing his bike along with one foot! We got there and got sorted out more quickly than I expected. Once again we had good customer service from Declathon – they repaired the chain without charge. This set our day back about an hour.

We passed a large chateau (all closed up) at Meung-sur-Loire and bought some quiche to supplement the usual baguette and jam French breakfast we had eaten. The route from here went through lovely wooded roads next to the river and was well used (including some school groups).

Beaugency has a special bridge and some amazing old stone buildings – the most impressive for me was a huge stone tower.

In the early afternoon Kris’s bike broke a spoke – which he repaired successfully. This was really not a good day for bicycle maintenance – it made the day very long.

We took a detour from the river at St-Dye-Sur-Loire to go to Chambord – this is the largest Chateau in the Loire valley and is truly massive.  It is situated in the middle of nowhere –  surrounded by a 31 000 acre park, one of the biggest nature parks in Europe. We rode around part of the park to see different views of the chateau.

From here we progressed through several small towns to Blois, also on the Loire river and reached by crossing a stone bridge. I was thrilled to see a wild otter in the river just as we approached the city. Blois is the home of a royal chateau (Louis XII), which is at the top of a hill – hard work on bicycles.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in a suburb back across the bridge. We bought a picnic meal at the supermarket on our way which we later ate in the bed and breakfast garden.

In all we did 102km – including the 8km to Declathon and back in the morning.

The following morning we were treated to the best breakfast we have had in France. This lady really likes fine food. We had home baked banana cake with organic ingredients, warm rolls, cheeses, jam, small custards made with real vanilla pod, nectarines, juice and coffee. This was so good we didn’t feel the need to stop for our usual mid morning snack break!!