A VELO

Jesus in the sunflower fields at the edge of Savigny-en-Veron.

I went for my first ride on my new bike. I started out to visit the Ecomusée in Veron but when I got there it was closed. It was a pretty easy ride to get there – through Candes, across the Vienne, and down the D7 for about 2 km.
Since the museum was closed I decided to continue riding through Savigny and Avoine. Along the way I encountered the dead pheasant in the road. I stopped to investigate. I wondered what had killed it. The obvious answer was a car but why would it have stayed in the road long enough for a car to hit it when it could have seen the car coming from a long way off. I moved the corpse to the grassy verge and as I did I noticed that the heart was left behind in the roadway. I began to think that a predator had recently killed the bird and was eating the juicy parts when I happened along.


Dead pheasant on the road.

I continued along the same road. There was very little traffic but when cars did go by they went at more than 70 km/hour. That seems to be the French speed limit on back roads in the country.
I loved seeing so many fields of sunflowers – fields and fields of yellow and green like golden waves rolling through the countryside.
Finally, I got to a place where I had decide between continuing on to Chinon or turning off in the direction of Huesmes. I dedcided to take the road to Chinon which was posted as being a mere 9 km from that point. That road took me all the way to the roundabout where the fire station is. At that point I could have crossed the Vienne again and entered Chinon through the back way on the other side of the river. I decided to take the bike route because it clearly had a lot less traffic on it. That was a good way to go. It turned out to be the way Rich had shown me earlier in the week.


Avoine across the fields.

When I got to Chinon I needed to stretch my legs for a bit. I walked around the center trying to decide whether to go for coffee or continue the journey. I noticed that the library was open so I went in there to check it out. I sat for an hour reading different magazines and just relaxing after the long bike ride.
I did go for coffee to the Café Hotel de Ville and later in the afternoon I met Rich there before cycling back to Montsoreau.