Day 4

Tuesday, May 2
Lyons-la-Foret to Anet
94km

Much nicer weather today.  The sun was out, I rode in shorts, and there was no rain at all.  There was a bit of a headwind for most of the day, but it was a shorter ride without any serious hilly, so it wasn't too tough.

Although the sunshine was very nice, the scenery was somewhat less interesting today.  It was a lot flatter, with huge fields of grassy green and bright yellow crops.  It looked a bit like the farming areas around Toronto.

We did have a nice decent into the Sienne Valley, which was picturesque.  There was on Old Castle on a hill that was built by Richard the Lionheart.  (Kevin, the tour leader told us that it was built by Henry the first, but Gavin (the retired history teacher) set us straight.

For lunch, we stopped at a Boulangarie and got a long, skinney baguette sandwich, a chocolate crossant, and a brownie.  Yum.  Nice to have all of the little shops open.

Thus far, breakfast and lunch have both been great.  Dinners have been good food, but French food is not really. "Cycling food".  Saucy meats, small portions, lots of wine, bread and cheese, and almost no veggies.  I would love some pasta and salade...but no luck thus far.

The group is getting along very well, and I am enjoying their company a lot.  Lots of funny characters.  I am definitely the youngest, but everyone is very adventurous and young at heart.  Unlike the Tour du Canada, the riders tend to ride at relatively similar speeds.  As a result, we meet up with many other cyclists throughout the day as we stop for breaks at different times.

Tonights B&B is nice, but the shower was terrible.  The French clearly have NOT mastered showers.  The shower head is on a long tube, which does not atach to the wall.  It just joins the faucet at the bottom, meaning that you have to hold it yourselt.  Since there is only a small "splash screen", which does not go completely around the shower stall, water goes everywhere!