Our final day on the Loire was a relatively relaxing run into the city of Nantes. We had a light tailwind for most of it and some of the best surfaces of the holiday.

We left Ancenis mid- morning having never quite mastered the pronunciation of the place’s name. We think it was Ann-sen-nee. But whenever we tried, we always added an extra syllable. So we won’t be moving there anytime soon.

The last couple of days have been lacking spectacular sights. But some of the little things we have seen along the way have more than made up for it.

The farm bike shop we encountered down a tiny lane was fully equipped and ready for action. It also had a rather haughty cat guarding the entry – he wouldn’t let us stroke him and stalked off when we tried.

We also passed some intriguing agricultural activity on very carefully manicured fields (above). Very fine grained, sandy soil was being sown with precise rows of tiny green plants. There were also fewer vineyards around today.

Today’s surfaces included some of the smoothest tarmac I have ever ridden. Along with a lot of sandy tracks and shorter stretches of woodland singletrack.

Coffee was taken at Mauves-sur-Loire, a tiny village up a short and very steep road. As we drank, a man pulled into the square on a tired looking woman’s bike. He met another man who, it soon became apparent, was wanting to buy the bike.

The potential buyer submitted the bike to minute scrutiny and seemed to be pointing out its many faults to the owner. But, despite having all the appearances of a classic tyre kicker/time-waster, he did eventually complete the purchase, much to my surprise…. and probably that of the owner.

Nantes, when we reached it, proved to be an attractive, modern city that had a great mix of modern architecture and older buildings. All built around the Loire and various off-shoot waterways and docks. The jardin des plantes was a spotless city centre park with some exotic plants, including pitcher plants (which trap, drown and then digest insects).

Ironically, our first impressions of Nantes were based on a large and rambling scrapyard, through which the Loire cycle path passed as it entered the city.

You couldn’t fault the location of the scrapyard – it’s possibly the most attractively sited scrapyard I have ever seen. We didn’t linger.

After a quick tour of the city we headed to our Airbnb for a rest – the cold weather has added to the fatigue in recent days and were glad to put our feet up.

And speaking of Airbnbs, last night’s was ok. It was spacious, very well situated in the centre of Ancenis and the bed was huge and comfortable. But it was the most characterless accommodation of the holiday. It also had an unfortunately situated tank in the bathroom, which I bumped my head on. Ouch!

Bird report: a splendid green woodpecker calling from a tree. Woodpeckers have been a big feature of the bird-life of the Loire.

Tomorrow we head north, mainly by train, ready for Friday’s ferry back to the UK.

Julie: one positive of the Airbnb was its location. It took me all of 5 minutes to pop out for bread this morning as the Boulangerie was close by. We also nipped out at 9pm for a beer in a lively restaurant by the Loire.

Given the lower temperatures we treated ourselves to a larger breakfast than usual. Muesli with yoghurt and milk followed by scrambled eggs and the loaf mentioned above!

Olivia would have relished my interaction with the bartender at our morning coffee break. An older woman with a dour expression and terse manner she steadfastly refused to reply in French shouting coffe milk or coffee cream when I requested Deux cafe au lait!

However she shouted a more cheerful goodbye as we left, having taken 7 euros from me!

Today I also had my first proper fall, trying to execute a tight turn on the sandy track after Phil shouted me to turn back. Here is why!!