It was cold out on the ride to Angers and my right felt a bit sore, so I improvised a solution to help keep my knee warm. Dr. Dave’s head wrap (to warm my ears if gets really cold in Oct.) worked great as a knee warmer.
As I rode toward Angers I was overtaken by another rider and we spent a bit riding together. His name is Roma and he was on his way to the German Alps to work picking grapes for fall harvest. He had to arrive within two weeks so his timeline was pretty short and when it came time for continue riding with him I didn’t think I wanted to keep up his pace. We said goodbye and I was off to Angers.
It turns out that while riding and talking with Roma I had ridden 5K past the turnoff to Angers. That was just the beginning of trouble I had with Anger. Angers is about 10k off the main route up a side river and the campground is somewhere along the path. I rode most of the 10k about 3 times before finally finding the campsite. It was confusing because the main campsite is about. 3k from Angers and partially hidden (to me), and there are signs to another campsite about 8k from Angers that is just a Caravan campsite (only for motorhome camping).
I finally found the campsite set up my tent and then headed into Angers to get groceries and see the town. Angers is situated next to Lac du Main which makes for a beautiful image as you ride toward town on the nice bike path through the forest. Sorry – no pics – they are on my other camera and the lack of computers at campgrounds is inhibiting my technology. I thought the campsites would be more like hostels in Italy with a central area with a shared computer for Internet. Well, anyway…I made it into Angers found Tourist Information and got an historic map of the town and directions to a supermarket. The main castle/fortress is very impressive with it’s strong fortifications and a dry moat. The walls seem like they are very thick. It seems it was Catherine de Midici who had the castle restored as a fortress in 1562.
I had my first negative encounter in Angers. I was riding slowly through a pedestrian only zone and the two guys coming toward me decided to turn in front of me. I was going so slow that I couldn’t slow down and one guy blocked me from turning left and the guy blocked me from turning right. Just when I decided to cut through the the middle the jumped right in front of me and we collided. In the moment of panic I couldn’t get my feet out of my peddle-straps and my bike and I fell to the ground. Which was shortly followed by a breakout of laughter from the 150 people seated at the various outdoor cafes. So I was a bit embarrassed and it turns out that in my struggles to get my feet on the ground I sprained my right big toe. It was black and blue and still hurts a little, almost two weeks later.
After embarrassing myself in front of the town I quickly finished my tour and headed back to the campsite for a quiet dinner.
While eating dinner I met my campsite mate Marian who is from NY but moved to Paris to teach English 40 years ago, and solo bike tours on her electric bike with old-school equipment – very cool. Makes me think I might be able to continue touring with an electric bike if my legs ever give out.
Day 5 – $26.35- Sept. 9
$3.50 cafe, baguette, and pastry
$7.85 camping in Angers
$15 groceries – $4.25 2009 Bordeaux – haribo candy – speculoos – 2 chicken breast & leg – baguette – 2 apples – pear – dates
Total $115.45
The total spent to-date is $167.65 and the average to-date is $23.95