Day 5

Crossroads cafe - somewhere south of St Germain.

Breakfast at 8.00 was beautifully presented and generous. The Hotel management raised an eyebrow at Simon's anatomical attire, and the guests on the next table moved nervously away!We wandered through the beautiful medieval streets, the top of a hill to find a large Norman church in a Romanesque style. This had four unusual spires along the length of the nave.A circular route through fine old streets, past castle walls and towers, brought us back to Hotel de France. We loaded up our bikes and eventually set off at 10.30.This is the first day we have all started the day without wearing jackets to keep us warm, and as the morning mist evaporated, our choice of suncream and shorts turned out to be a good one. John had an unexpected halt when some high speed insect flew straight into his eye. Very painful, brought tears to his eyes, and to add insult to injury he suffered a dowsing from the field irrigation system as it swung through its cycle. Sunglasses make good insect deflectors too!Long undulating roads, with perfect cycling surfaces and very few cars. Sunny skies with high clouds. Glorious flowers along the sides of the road, greens of all shades creating painterly landscapes, patterns of trees and farmsteads providing inspiration for photographs.

Then a blast of vibrant rouge a gauche, as our eyes where anbushed by a stunning Poppy field. Cameras blazed like First World War machine guns, but now only with peaceful intent.

John spotted an area on the map with numerous lakes, which might be interesting for flora, fauna and bird watching, and we all agreed to divert off our planned route. After several miles of disappointment we were finally rewarded with the sight of a lilly clad lake with birds dipping and diving to pluck fish for an in flight feast. A huge grey Heron flew 10 feet above Simon and Peter's heads, which was an awsome spectacle. What looked like a small crocodile causing sleek ripples in the water turned out to be a Coypu. Through the binoculars this looked a bit like a beaver. John was in his element, photographing, insects, birds and plants. A sudden clap, some shouted French words an forceful gesticulations from an insistent Frenchman at the road, made us realise we had unwittingly trespassed on a hallowed bird sanctuary. We were cycling through one of thenations Parc Naturelles Apologies made, we mounted our velocopedes and continued back towards our planned route.

After 60 miles we arrived at our hotel just south of Argenton sur Creuse at about 6.30. A thoroughly enjoyable day....and no punctures!