Tuesday 30th. April. Bourbon-Lancy to Digoin. 32 km.

We had a bit of drizzle today, but not enough to bother us. The route along the canal is shown on our map as gravel, but it turned out to be recently tarred, so it was a quick and easy ride. We spotted a canal barge which was flying the Australian flag. We met an Irish couple in Nevers who have been living on a barge on and off for nine years, and they said that there are a lot of Australians traveling through Europe on barges.

Digoin is a nice enough little town, which has the Loire River coming to it from one direction, and the Canal du Centre coming in from another direction. Digoin is as far south as we are going in France and tomorrow we leave the Loire and head north east towards Switzerland.  I'm really enjoying the French food. Stayed at Hotel Entre Mer et Montagne.

Route: Bourbon-Lancy - St.Aubin-sur-Loire - Diou - Coulanges - Digoin.

Monday 29th. April. Decize to Bourbon-Lancy. 42 km.

Nice cool dry day with a very easy ride to Bourbon-Lancy. This is the heart of Burgundy country, so I'm looking forward to trying some of the house wines which should be good. Bourbon-Lancy must be the prettiest town we have seen in France. The whole area has been beautifully landscaped over the years and the buildings are lovely. The old medieval town centre has been restored and carefully maintained. The town is famous for it's thermal waters which attracted the gentry in the old days, hence all the fancy hotels. If we had known how delightful Bourbon-Lancy was we would have booked a few days here.

Stayed at the Grand Hotel, which looks like it came out of an old fashioned Hollywood movie, a grand stairway,cage lift and high ceilings and spacious corridors. Very ornate.

Route: Decize - Gannay-sur-Loire - Garnat-sur-Engievre - Bourbon-Lancy.

Sunday 28th. April. Nevers to Decize. 42 km.

The canal path started out good, but then became muddy and in poor condition, so we followed the D116 road which was a very pleasant ride. The D roads are very quiet and quite safe. The day was cool but dry, so perfect for cycling.

Decize is nothing special compared to all the beautiful cities and towns we've seen. Stayed at the Hotel Belair.

Route: Nevers - Sermoise - Chevenon - Fleury-sur-Loire - Avril-sur-loire - Decize.

Saturday 27th. April. Mesves to Nevers. 55km.

Shortly after we left Mesves, we were overtaken by about 40 or 50 european vintage cars. I didn't want to stop to take photos, because I thought that I wouldn't have time. As it turned out, they were all in Nevers when we arrived, so I managed to get some shots.

It was a nice ride today with no rain and a good tailwind. Nevers is another beautiful French city - nice architecture and nice parks. Stayed at Hotel de Verdun.

Route: Mesves - Marseilles-les-Aubigny - Cuffy - Challuy - Nevers.

Friday 26th. April. Belleville-sur-Loire to Mesves. 55km.

It was a miserable day today, with steady drizzle for most of the day. We met a Dutch couple who said that they always cycletour around Europe, and feel envious when they see us. After a pretty wet day today, there was nothing to envy.

Route: Belleville-sur-Loire - Bannay - Sancerre - Herry - La Charite-sur-Loire - Mesves.

Thursday 25th. April. Sully-sur-Loire to Belleville-sur-Loire. 62 km.

Beautiful ride, with perfect weather. The further we go into the heart of France, the more pretty and peaceful it seems to be. We saw a wild deer today, and also heard a cuckoo calling again.

Stayed at Hotel Terre de Loire.

Route: Sully-sur-Loire - St. Florent - St. Gondon - Gien - St. Martin-sur-Ocre - Briare - Bonny-sur-Loire - Belleville-sur-Loire.

Wednesday. 24th. April. Orleans to Sully-sur-Loire. 55 km.

Nice easy ride, which was good after a hectic day in Paris yesterday. Sully-sur-Loire is a clean pleasant little town with a very elegant, smaller Chateau. Very sunny today.

Route: Orleans - Jargeau - Chateauneuf-sur -Loire - St. Benoit-sur-Loire - Sully-sur-Loire.

Tuesday 23rd. April. Paris

You would need about eight weeks in Paris to do it justice, so we only had a small taste of it today. I wanted to see Jim Morrisons grave at the Pere - La Chaise Cemetry, so that was our first port of call. We were wandering around the cemetry, trying to find it when a self-appointed guide walked up and said "are you looking for Jim Morrisons grave?" I said yes, so he said "Follow me", and took us straight to it. After that he showed us all the interesting graves: Frederic Chopin, Edith Piaf, Jean-Baptiste Molliere, Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, the Rothschild family, Bellini, Bizet, Maria Callas, Marcelle Marceau (who died in Australia), Yves Montand, Modigliani, the Bugatti family, the Peugeot family, and Joseph Spiess who was involved in the development of the Zeppelin airship.  It seems incredible that so many famous people would be buried in the same cemetry, but as our guide (Raphael) explained, the cost of a grave site is offered free to famous people, but is exhorbitantly expensive to anyone else.  The Rothschild family crypt is said to have cost hundreds of thousands of euros, but Jim Morrison's was free.

After that we went back to the Seine and took a guided boat cruise to see all the sights from the river.  Then we walked to the Eiffel Tower, and walked back through the city along the Boulevard St Germaine.  We saw the bar/restaurant "Les Deux Magots" which used to be frequented by famed artists and writers, including Picasso, Hemmingway, Sartre and de Beauvoir.  It was too crowded for us to have a drink there though.

We caught the express train back to Orleans that night, exhausted but happy.