Ride: 50km; total: 254.5km
Had a little sleep in today as breakfast was at 7am. The usual spread fed the worms nicely for the day’s activities. We were still a little early for the Tourist Info Centre, that opened at 9:30, so we went back to the room, where Greg had a little noddy, and Wendy read her book.
We rode over to the info centre, and armed with timings and some maps we headed for the Troglodytes and Sacophages Museum at Doue-en-Anjou. The route was quite lumpy but it was a great ride. We stopped on numerous occasions for photos and therefore didn’t get to our destination until just after midday. A very nice lady with almost perfect English informed us that there was not enough time to do the tour so she could not let us in. Like a lot of French places they shut for lunch at 12:30. However, she asked us to come back at 2pm. She gave us directions to the town centre and the name of a pub and boulangerie, so we could have lunch while waiting.
We found the town centre, and purchased our lunch from the very popular boulangerie - salad du jour (salad of the day) with ham, mushrooms, cheese, croutons, tomato, cucumber and lettuce. Dessert was a chocolate eclair for Wendy and an apricot danish for Greg. All very tasty.
Just before 2pm we returned to the caves and paid our money. First up we got a geography lesson about the make up and history of the earth in the region, basically the area was an inland sea, so under the soil is a rock like substance made of sand and shells from marine creatures. An archeologist happened upon this phenomenon in 1989 and subsequently unearthed the underground ‘houses’ during his research. The caves were developed not only as a place to dwell and work but also to escape from the marauding Vikings and others some 600 odd years ago. The rock was also suitable for making sarcophagi which were exported to far flung countries. After the viewing, we were both of the opinion that it needed a bit more work to make it more presentable. It’s a bit “untidy” at the moment. If the ride there and back had not been so picturesque, Wendy thought the caves were not worth the effort. The ride home was 3km shorter and not quite as hilly, although there were a few that had us both in great granny gear.
We had a little rest on return to the room, then got glammed up for dinner at our new favourite Chinese restaurant. We had different dishes tonight and Wendy’s was better than last night, however, Greg said he would go back to his favourite, the seafood hotpot if we eat there again.
A short wander before going back home where it was time for blogging and bed.
Water crossing on the way to the caves
Entrance to the caves
What’s left of Monsieur Jacques Martin
The courtyard
How to survive underground, the other side of the door opens to above ground and the space is very limited, thereby restricting access to the marauders
The sarcophagi cave
The Chapel
Cathedral
Troglodyte bread oven
A lovely little chapel at Marcon, on the way
Ride scenery
Marijuana, the legal stuff
Loire early evening
Rode route and elevation profile
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