Tuesday, May 31  Cosne-La Charite  Rain

Most of France is experiencing persistent rain, fog and some wind. In some places it is flooding. The Loire is over its normal banks, moving very swiftly but has not reached flood stag in most places.

Another rain day. Twenty km of riding in the rain in the Loire Valley near the river and the Loire Canal. It was colder than yesterday.

After 15 kms of riding through the rain we stopped for coffee at the base of a 3 km climb into the medieval city of Sancerre, more for the warmth, to dry our rain gear and use the bathroom than for the caffeine.

We had lunch in Sancerre then took pictures of the valley below (not too much to see due to the weather) then followed the Visitor Guide walking tour  until it started to rain harder and become more windy. The 3 km ride back down to the valley floor was cold, especially on our hands. We got many “brovos” from locals for  riding in this weather. We saw no other riders out in the storm today.

The rain let up as we approached La Charite, our destination for the evening, also a medieval city.We are staying at a lovely hotel on the island between the river and the canal. At the Visitor Center we arranged to rent a car tomorrow so that we can tour some of the vineyards here in Burgundy and also see some of the many chateaux that dot the region. Doing it by bike would take many days and the weather is supposed to continue to be bad.

Then we started the walking tour of La Charite on the map given to us at the Visitor Center.

We were able to follow the walk most of the way until the weather took another turn for the worse. We again abandoned and rode to our hotel. We checked in, took our wet things out of our packs and relaxed before dinner at the hotel.