#9 France Cycle Tour Eurovelo 6: Sancerre – Nevers

In episode 9, Jenny and Patrick leave the hilltop, medieval town of Sancerre and bicycle downhill passing the rolling vineyards. They meet the Eurovelo 6, La Loire a Velo, at the bottom of the hill and cycle 32 miles (51 kilometers) toward Nevers. They stop for lunch at Le Berry, a restaurant on the bike trail. Once in Nevers, they enjoy numerous restaurants and sightseeing, spending 2 nights in the old town.

I was just looking at the water buffalo. You saw a water buffalo? They’re right there. It’s a water buffalo. Oh my gosh. Did you see the ostrich? He’s behind the They have an ostrich. Oh my gosh. So, this place is having a little fun. Yeah. [Music] Today’s cycle trip will begin in Sansair. We will go along the Lois River for 32 miles, about 51 kilometers, and we will end our cycling in the town of Neair. We woke up that morning, packed our purs, loaded our bikes, and left the hilltop medieval town of Sansair. Since we were at the top of the hill, there was only one way to go, and that was downhill. By the way, Patrick’s mom went to French language school in this building. On our way out of Sansair in the morning, the light is just gorgeous. [Music] We’re going down there. There’s the bar. We’re headed to Nevada. Beautiful. [Music] [Music] [Music] Okay, Patrick, where are we eating at today? This is lunch, by the way. This is what? This is lunch time. Yeah, this is lunch. Um, this is called the berry in um a town called Chevar. I don’t know. We haven’t even crossed the bridge into the town, but there’s this very popular restaurant right here. It’s full of men having lunch together. Yeah. And it’s um this is you and one other person in this room with about 20 people are here servers. And um it’s a three course dinner or lunch with um I have the breakfast mous. You have the fish. Yeah. Lovely salad to go with it. Oh my gosh, it is so delicious. It’s the fish kiche. And I just inhaled it. Just the flavors and it’s so warming. Yeah. How is yours? Um, it is really, really good. Really good. We just had a really fun lunch. Um, three courses at this restaurant. says it’s family owned since like the 1600s. I don’t know if that’s true. [Music] It’s hot. It’s late. So, if I use if there’s this way that goes right to our 25 rug gambetta, we would turn around. We would go back to the bridge. We would go like that. Okay, we can do that. We probably should. Yeah, because do you see what I’m looking at? Yeah, let’s do it. It’s quite a bit longer even now. So, first time, right? Changing direction and turning around was a mistake. We should have stayed the course on the designated bicycle route. As soon as we crossed the bridge, there was no bicycle path. We made our way on crumbling sidewalks along a busy road in 80° weather. It took over an hour for us to reach our accommodation. Yeah, let’s keep going. When we finally did arrive, we were pleasantly surprised. We were staying in the heart of the city, but the room was tucked away in the back of the garden. We had to go through three doors before we entered the garden. Our bikes were definitely secured once we had them in the garden. The apartment was through another door and up a flight of stairs, but it was quite large. There was a sitting room with a little TV and a dining room with a nice large table. There’s a little kitchen. Had a bedroom and a bathroom. It was very cool inside. There was air conditioning and it was a very hot day. And the best part is we would be spending two nights here. That evening, we walked through the old section of Neair and had dinner at a crepery. Patrick, where are we? Remember how I told you that in France you can get salads that really kick bum? Well, here we are at the crepery where they make pretty awesome salads with a lot more than just lettuce. So, here we are. We’re in the town of Ne. We think we say it as Ne. And what’s I have a Caesar. Mhm. And you have a an an oa salad. An oat salad for So yeah, that’s what we have. We have a nice little breakfast spread in our um uh apartment that we’ve rented. We’ve got some bread with plums. This has pork cracklings baked into it. You got Have you tried it yet? Mhm. It’s pretty yummy. Is it? Mhm. Um we put got some jam at the store and some yogurt and mui. So I think we’re all set. Enjoy. After breakfast, we explored Ne by foot and visited one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city. Hi, we’re in Nea. We’re spending the day just going around the town. And this is a um big site to visit. This is where St. Bernardet died. She was a young girl in 1850s and saw a vision of uh the Virgin Mary over a fortnite. The Virgin Mary visited her and um she then was canonized and ended up here in there where she died of cancer at a young age of 31. that this was a convent. Um, might still be a convent. I know you can stay here. And what happened to her after she died? Um, they um her body is um laid to rest here, but it’s visit. Is it under the ground? No. Where is it? It is. How do you say? I I don’t know. Involved. Involved. It is involved. Was it disinterred? Yes, it was disinterred. And her body was disinterred and imbalmed. And you can visit it. It’s a pilgrimage site. So, we went inside and saw her body. And it’s a very holy place that you have to be very quiet. Yeah. It’s a place of prayer. Place of prayer. And people find it very moving. Yes. At lunch, we stopped at this restaurant and had a delicious, leisurely three course meal. Patrick will pronounce the name of the restaurant correctly and explain its meaning. Where are we having lunch today? This is um a restaurant called Lentto which is the 58 and all of the products come from 58 km from here. And we have um I have a a pate det which is like I guess in English would be head cheese with a cucumber salad. And you have a cucumber soup with balsamic oil, um, cubes of melon, and some kind of cracker. I’m not sure what it’s made out of. I didn’t quite catch it. Got to kind of stir that all together. You can eat it as you wish. Okay, so what has arrived in front of us? We both have the same thing. Okay. So, this is a sausage from a local place, a pork sausage. And we have a um a type of whole grain that has been cooked in a vegetable mixture and a cream of celery underneath. Excuse me. A spicy oil, which I just tasted, which is why I’m popping a little bit. Okay, let’s enjoy this. Bonapetit. For lunch, I have a strawberry rhubarb. A strawberry rhubarb crumble. And Patrick, what do you have? This is a um a caramel cake with a um a compost of pums of apples with it. So awesome. Yeah. Okay. Our meal with a cafe. We had a delightful restful day of sightseeing and eating in Neare. Our legs needed the rest from cycling for a day, but we will be ready for the adventure that awaits us on the cycling trail tomorrow.