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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2882 |
16th October 2016 Mt. Biking: Neris-Les-Bains to Montlucon Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods Max Speed: 30.51 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 26 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Sunday 16th October – Bike **** Neris-Les-Bains to Montlucon and beyond – sunny periods. 30.51 kts max speed, 26 miles and out 5 hours. Not too bad a night in our spot on the dead-end road at Neris-Les-Bains near the Moulin restaurant, Mag was a bit disturbed when the water treatment works started running but luckily for me I didn’t hear it until I woke up. After breakfast we packed a picnic and drove up to nearer the start of the Voie Verte from Neris to Vallon which must be well over 30km including having to cross the large town of Montlucon so it seemed unlikely we would complete it today. We parked up in a small carpark that was the recycling place as well. Mag had trouble getting a satellite signal for Strava on her phone but once we reached the start of the track it appeared so we set off along the old railway track which to be honest was again poorly signed:( The path went straight onto a viaduct out of Neris right over where we stayed in the van last night. There were two more really high bridges as the track went high in the hills, whereas the road underneath headed sharply down. We had stunning views down towards Montlucon:) made all the better by blue skies with lovely sunshine but it is still very chilly! The 6km section to Montlucon was all downhill and being a Sunday it was fairly busy with walkers, runners and mountain bikers enjoying the top track over the great viaducts and rocky tree lined gorges surrounded by forest. Nearing Montlucon we crossed a few roads with barriers more suited to walkers than bikers and then when the track reached a main road our luck ran out with no signs to give you any clue how to cross the huge city and meet up with the path the other side! We thought that the track continued on disused railway lines but as we found out later, on the other side of Montlucon it starts again on the towpath of the now disused Canal de Berry to Vallon. We spotted a yellow walking stripe and decided to see if that would get us there. It was a job to spot in places but it was easier when we reached the River Cher where at our first bridge we saw a fly fisherman surrounded by large chub turning in the current:) We followed the tree lined river to the two main town bridges which were very pretty in the still sunshine with lovely reflections in the water:) large sections of road were barriered off for an event which we guessed was a road running race. We managed to get to the second flower covered bridge and then lost the yellow marker. Mag suggested we follow the river but we saw a sign to the Tourist office towards the city centre and headed there just as the runners came around the corner, so we watched them pass, shame the citizens of Montlucon were not out in force to show their support :( We found a fantastic medieval section crowned with a Chateau which we decided to investigate, I took the steep way up while Mag looked for another route and we promptly lost each other for 15 minutes! We found each other again outside the closed Tourist Office and Mag took me up to see the Chateau on a less steep road, just as the race was finishing. Sadly we couldn’t see but by the noise the commentator was making it sounded pretty exciting! We returned to the second bridge to see if we could find our track and followed the yellow marker which we spotted again. This route went uphill for miles, past the cemetery and into the countryside. With no sign of an old railway track we gave up and headed back. We crossed the river and the first thing we saw was a bike track to Vallon running right along the river - we couldn’t believe it!! Getting hungry now we decided to ride a short way along the track looking for a spot for a picnic. The first section along the river was nice but had a lot of mainly McDonalds rubbish lying around :( It then turned into a rough looking industrial area before reaching the Canal de Berry which the path follows all the way to Vallon. Although very pretty with tree lined banks, this canal is not used now by boats and none of the locks are working. Where the roads cross it has been filled in with only pipes allowing the water to flow. Vallon was a further 20km away, too far to go now so we stopped by a lock for lunch before returning to Montlucon. We biked the other side of the Cher back to chub bridge and then onto the track back to Neris. This was a steady 6km climb with tired legs from two days out on the bikes but we made it back to the van with the main excitement being three goats perched on the embankment rocks:) As we are running out of days and have to be in Calais on Thursday – where did that six weeks go!!! – we decided to drive up the Cher valley and see if we could find somewhere to park by the canal. As we know Montlucon well now thanks to our day on the bikes ! we got through there easily and headed towards the first village on the canal, St Victor. Amazingly we manged to spot a sign for Voie verte parking which also had a dead-end road running about a mile along the canal to a museum with cars parked everywhere. it looked like half of Montlucon were here enjoying a walk in the afternoon sunshine! We soon found a lovely spot under the trees right by the canal and had our cuppa and éclair watching French life, sadly no boats, but lots of strollers and bikers and even a couple of slow trains on the tracks opposite. We relaxed and read before having yummy leftover rotisserie chicken and potato cubes for tea. If the weather is nice tomorrow we hope to complete this Voie verte into Vallon:) Monday 17th October – Travel. Rain to start and sunny periods later Well our plans to bike the rest of the Canal de Berry path were thwarted by the weather :( It started pouring at 5 a.m. and didn’t stop so after breakfast we sadly packed up and without getting out of the van left our lovely spot with such a lot of potential and headed on the boring green road out of the area towards Bourges. We didn’t want to see any of the things we would see on the bike or follow the river Cher up to the Loire which was our intention over the next couple of days because it seems a shame when the weather is so awful. We will save it for another time. The road, although not as interesting as many we have been on, is very straight and there was hardly any traffic at all. We had to pass through St Armand Montrond and got diverted by three Gendarmes with guns!! We wondered what on earth was happening as we were sent round the small side streets of the town but it turned out it was the most attended Street Market we have ever seen. The rain was torrential but hordes of people with umbrellas were heading from all corners and parking anywhere they could – quite far out of town in some instances – on a Monday morning to visit the market!! We eventually came round to the otherside of the diversion and there were another three Gendarmes with guns at the other end – Spooky! After skirting round the by pass for Bourges we headed up the next straight green road to Orleans and decided to see if we could park along the river Loire for our lunch break. It took a bit of manoeuvring but we got a great parking space for an hour for 2 euros. We ate our lunch sitting on some steps down to the river as even the weather had improved! We headed up to the ancient part of what seems like a pretty bland place and visited the cathedral which is amazing if you like that sort of thing! There – sight seeing done in 20 minutes :) Back to the van and decided to travel a short way along the Loire to a small town we have used as a stop over in the past – Beaugency. It also happens to be the next town up river from where we stayed at the beginning of this holiday. We passed through Meung sur Loire and over the river bridge thinking we would approach Beaugency from the opposite bank but after a lot of windy road we got to the bridge and it was closed for road works!! Although we could see traffic moving along a nearby road to the right , we decided to return to Meung along the route we had come and tried for Beaugency again but on the right side of the river. We got here fine and parked in the free camper aire which is on the river bank – right next to the bridge which is not closed and we could have reached by turning right instead of left when we decided to retrace our steps – Typical!! Anyway no worries all fine and the kettle was soon boiling :) After our cuppa we went for a wander around the old town and had a quick look in the Abbaye which is quite enough of that for one day – two large churches on the same day is pushing it and Mag isn’t keen on any of them!! As with last night we are keeping our fingers crossed for a nice day tomorrow to get on our bikes for what could possibly be the last time this holiday :( I returned to the old town when it was dark to take some photos. Photo Gallery here |
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