Day 13 - Poitiers to Niort- 84 kms

Today was officially classified as a “short ride “ day as only had a ride of about 80 kms as opposed to the previous few days before our rest day of over 100kms per day

We started riding a little later at 8.30 am and Chris was in charge of navigation for the day

Well it seems Chris had the navigation out of Poitiers well and truly sorted out as we took about half an hour to get out of the town rather than the more normal hour!

I thought today I would take a few photos of the typical roads we have traveled over in our trip through France....so I called today a “ Road day”

Comparing the roads we are traveling on here with those last year on the LEJOG ride both Chris and I think the roads here are better to ride on and once out of town (our nemisis so far except today ) the navigation seems to be easier than in the UK

You will see from the photos we travel on gravel roads ..... generally in short distances between surfaced roads. We then travel on country lanes in either open country of hedge rows. The next level of roads are the minor roads generally connecting smaller towns and villages. Finally for us the next level is the major roads connecting major cities where the traffic includes cars and trucks..... generally we traveled very little on these roads. Beyond this of course you have the major motorways which we have not travelled on and hopefully will not do so on our bikes!!!!

Enough on roads..... today really was sensational for riding with a breeze behind us most of the way and we were generally heading down hill although there were a few bigger pinches to climb to keep us on our toes 

At various times we were traveling quite easily at speeds of 40 KPH for long stretches 

Our stop for coffee was in a small town called Sanxay where we were able to converse with the publican for a coffee and juice ( for Chris) ....there was little else going on in the town although one of the locals invited us up to see his home. Unfortunately we were unable to find him after our coffee... pity really as it might have been interesting to see what lies beyond the walls of the homes we see as we ride through the towns

Anyway as we were making good time it seemed best to push on and see if we could make Niort before lunch. We stopped several times to look at the views to take photos of the roads mainly and to organise accommodation in Niort.... we had several offers out on Warm Showers accomodation but the responses we were getting were not favourable.

Our executive decision was to sort out a cheap hotel which we did at about 1.00 pm!!!

We tried to have a lunch at a very posh restaurant in Sainte Maxient but they were closed for lunch. The owners were happily eating lunch and I guess they though a couple of cyclists in Lycra would not be the right image for their establishment!!!

Anyway we had some water and left over lollies and were on our way to Niort in no time at all... the last 20 kms just flew by 

We arrived with no navigation errors at our hotel at about 3.15 pm well inside the 6.00pm curfew due to great leadership by Chris and some assistance from the “wind gods”

A great day of riding... for me anyway one of the best 

A lovely scene here of a village with stream 

.... on the other side of the bridge 

Coffee at last!!

Road study.... normal country lane/ hedgerow 

Road study.... major road linking towns

Road study.... gravel road 

Road study.... road between villages

Nice restaurant/ hotel where we were refused lunch as they were closed??



Home for the night.... posh hotel with towels!!!

Could be an interesting place for a new business to be born as Chris and I discussed the idea of doing these sort of trips with others as a business.... you never know!!

ANZAC Bike Tours