Day 10-Le Mans to Saumur- 127 kms

After a great sleep we awoke to a beautiful day in Le Mans at about 7.00am and the youth hostel had a lovely self serve breakfast where we loaded up on baguettes for the day ahead

Our plan was to get out of the city to go to the Le Mans 24 hour race track to say we had been there and send a note to a few of our “petrol head “ mates

Getting to the track was really easy and although we could not get in as the track was closed, we managed a photo of the entrance courtesy of a chap from the UK who was doing a similar thing as us.... he was traveling back home on his motorcycle after traveling through France 

After visiting the race track it would be fair to say that the exit out of Le Mans became a little challenging so we made for a baloungari to settle our nerves and recalibrate our travels 

This was a wise investment of time and only goes to prove our routine of taking at least an hour to get out of major cities 

From Le Mans we made reasonable progress to Le Flèche which is a pretty city on the banks of the Loire. Lunch consisted of a baguette sandwich a rhubarb cake and a drink of fruit juice on the banks of the river.... very pleasant 

After lunch we made our way to the bike path along a disused railway track and although it was pretty the surface made for slow travel compared to the road

The 50 km ride to Saumur was punctuated by several stops to look at some very impressive houses and to refresh ourselves with water.... I managed 3 refills of my bottle during the day despite the temperature being in the mid 20’s 

We arrived at our hotel in Saumur close on 7.00pm and had a quick shower before heading in to town for dinner 

The most efficient way to travel was on bike... a lot lighter without our bags

Along the way the route we took reminded me of the trip Ric  Hallgren and I made a few years ago with Bikestyle Tours when we stayed in Saumur 

Chris and I managed to get through a plate of pasta each,half a pizza and a bowl of ice cream ( 2 boules) .... we were hungry!!!

It is now 10.20pm

As I do this blog and the sun is setting after a another wonderful day of riding in pretty country 

At the Le Mans race track 

On the Loire river in Le Flèche at lunch

Another view of the Loire at Le Flèche 

A lovely building in Le Flèche 

A canal off the

Loire 

..... Drinks at last with 10 kms to go!!!

Chris and I thought we might buy this house????

Home for the night in Saumur