Follow The Horizon

Km 390- 56 km today.

The weather today has been psychotic! We woke today before our alarm at 6:00, looking forward to an early start to the day. The view out our hotel window looked beautiful,  the sun was just coming up, and we set about getting ready to move on. As we prepared,  the day was getting darker not lighter. Dark clouds were moving in. By the time our panniers were packed we had thunder and lightning, which lasted about an hour, delaying our start. We finally got away at about 8:00, riding out into the last raindrops.

It felt so good to leave the city behind, and be out in the countryside again, with small towns and friendly people! Our first stop was in Jargeau for our usual pastry breakfast. Everyone was “bon jour” or “bon journey”, it was a fantastic feeling to be among such happy people.

A lot of the riding is now on the “stop banks”. Very flat and smooth, we are able to make good time, though it’s a little boring at times. So nice of the French to build these raised bicycle sightseeing roads.

As we rode along once again in oppressive heat, we watched the clouds to our right transform from small and fluffy, to grey and heavy, then a solid mass of black. When we arrived in Sully sur Loire, our destination for the day, we were just a little too late to find proper shelter, and spent 3/4 of an hour under a tree watching the tourists scatter. We only ended up getting a little wet, and were completely dry by the end of our mid day meal.

After a walk around town with our bikes we headed to the nearby campsite, and we setup our tent as the sky once again began to darken. I left Chris in the tent to get organized,  and went to wash my bike shorts in the washroom. When I turned to leave I saw what I thought was heavy rain was in fact hail. Big hail! Some of the pieces were the size of golf balls. People were scrambling to cover their cars with tarps, or move them under trees. I was under cover and not going anywhere! Chris was freaking out in the tent, which made a fine drum.

With that storm passed we’ve had no more rain, and I sit here typing this under a clear blue sky… or was that thunder I just heard?