We made good time today on a long ride to Nevers, where we plan to have a rest day tomorrow.

Our itinerary took in the towns of Villefrance de Allier, Cosne de Allier, Le Vilhain, Cerilly, Cauleure, Lurcy-Levis, Neure, Mars-sur-Allier, Sancarze, Gimoullie and then the canal to Nevers.

We mostly had gently rolling countryside or flat wide open farmland to ride through. Again lots of silage, maize, wheat and some cows and sheep.

The navigation all went according to plan and we had a big breakfast, so there were few stops. We had a coffee at Sancarze.

The ride into Nevers is the best we have had for a city, as we were able to follow the Loire canal all the way in. The bike path next to the canal was excellent and we hope this is indicative of the conditions we will find on the rest of the Loire velo route.

We identified a hotel (with the help of tourist info) on the side of the city closest to the Declathon sports store. We went to the store after checking into the hotel (a few kilometers away).

Kris was relieved when the bicycle manager agreed to fix the defect on his pedal bearing (ie replace it) immediately. We hung around the mall looking at the shops for about an hour while it was fixed. Good customer service from Declathon.

Altogether we did 129km, including around 10km sorting out the bike.

By our reckoning we are now in the middle of France!