From Vichy to Le Veurdre and Bourges, in Centre-Val de Loire.

In which Sid and Doris make a delivery ride to Bourges, still in the middle of quite a large country.

Leaving Vichy we went to Eric’s Cycles. Doris’s gear box had been making noises for some time. Running in to Vichy Sid had spotted a bolt coming out of what is effectively the diff cover. It screwed back in, the noise stopped but the bolt was clearly not holding well.

At Eric’s we pulled the bolt and found that the middle of the thread was stripped. Happily Sid had a bolt with the right cap head and thread that Eric could cut down and Loctite. All is now well though the episode betrays a poor understanding of the Fazua components of the battery bike. And Sid had brought no star-drive tools and had forced an Allen key in for the interim cure.

There is no incident until at Marcenat we spot this in the garden. Maybe a Beechcraft Baron, but the windows don’t look quite right. Either way, an odd spot in someone’s garden.

In a village we find a lone touring cyclist. ‘Where bound?’ ‘Vichy.’ We just came from there, great town. We are going to Le Veurdre.’ ‘I just came from there. It’s the only hotel in that direction, isn’t it?’ Which demonstrates Doris’s problem routeing through sparse territory.

We ride through Souvigny and stay the night in Le Veurdre, still on the Allier. The hotel is open and some pilgrims come in to use the restaurant which is chaotic, as they try to train new waiting staff (who may never have been in a restaurant).

Then the following morning we all get back on the trail, which for S and D is towards Bourges through miles of oak forest. Then we see the barrel making factory with stack upon stack of oak staves weathering in the yard. Obviously.

Bourges is a charming town working hard to earn a turn at being European Capital of Culture in 2028. Once the capital of the Province of Berry it is now more modestly the Prefectural town of the Cher. The cathedral was built all of a piece in the1200s (just a little after Salisbury) with five levels, no transept, no rood screen, two west towers and no spire. With its five levels the nave is taller than most from the period. The buttressing is impressive.

At night (late, due to double summer time) there are spectacles de son et lumiere around the town’s sites. This below shows their amazing high Gothic Post Office (built in 1912) laser decorated.