France: Day 4 - Good-bye Seine, Hello Canals

Our little apartment was a good stay and a nice change from a hotel room.  We walked to the town square, got a juice at the market and some pain chocolat at the bakery.  Toured the town square which took about as long as it took to eat the pain chocolat.  I had an espresso at the Italian restaurant where we dined last night and then we returned to the room to pack up.  We still didn't get riding until 10.

For the first hour Aidan was motoring.  His riding has improved every day and the change today was measurable.  He faded a bit the second hour.  By then we left the Seine and started riding beside the Canal de Loing toward the Loire Valley.

One of the things we noticed today is the route seemed well marked (or we started noticing that it was marked) with EuroVelo 3 signs and sometimes La Scandibérique.  A couple of times the signs were better than the gpx route.

Beside the canals we were mostly riding on paths.  Sometimes they were paved but mostly not. We made good time and the riding was really pleasant.

We were still pretty full from dinner last night and decided that some cold cuts, cheese and bread would do for lunch.  Aidan also had his left over pasta which looked like a full meal.

We made a little detour off the canal/path to buy lunch supplies.  I chose Lidi over a nicer market across the parking lot and immediately regretted my decision.  It would do but I would have got better quality food at the other store.

We rode a bit more and stopped for lunch beside a  lock.

The rest of the day was just riding beside the canal. At about km 50 we got off the route to get a coffee.  Our hotel is off route and we detoured to go to it.  We are now on the wrong side of the canal and will pick it up again further down.

One nice surprise of going off route was we rode through acres of yellow plants.  We didn't know what they were.

Out hotel is quite nice, Hôtel de l'Abbaye in Ferrières-en-Gâtinais.  The restaurant is quite fancy and quite good.  I would recommend.

When I said Aidan improved measurably he went nearly 20km further and his average speed was 1 km/h faster.  The advantage of youth.