The first major settlement is Loudon with its mighty church spire and when I am still 10 miles away I am reminded that the Romans were here as the road is straight. So straight in fact that if you take a sighting down the road's central white line it always lines up with the spire; not that I actually did that, honest. My legs are fine at this point, my shoulders aching but my head is going nuts as the spire never appears to be any closer until suddenly I'm in Loudon. My satnav wants to take the faster orbital road but I push on to the spire so I can conquer my nemesis of the previous hour.
The countryside is mostly given over to agriculture and at this time of year that means yellow fields of flowering oil seed rape (canola), barley, wheat and as I saw and smelt today the very occasional field of sheep. For now I have left the grape vines back in the Loire Valley.
There are lots of villages to pass through with a church or castle to offer interest. Loudon boasts a small velodrome. This is an outdoor one with a concrete track and small spectator stand just out of shot but casting a shadow. Yes, I thought about it but no I didn't have a go as the banking is steeper than my photo shows.
One interesting feature of today's ride has been the old Michelin signage that still occasionally appears alongside the official road signs. It was the initiative of Andre Michelin over a century ago as he offered to put these up for free. I expect the benefits were a bit of advertising and it provided the other element needed to make his maps more usable.
As the day wears on the effort of cycling feels like a bit of a grind, cranking out the miles just to reach my destination. I know this is the result of a second long day in a row but that doesn't make it any easier. Yesterday's longer day hadn't been as bad. With 20 km to go the temperature drops, ominous black clouds roll in and a cold biting wind comes from nowhere closely followed by slanting rain. The rain jacket goes on but its no fun. Mid-rainstorm I am stopped at the bottom of a village waiting for two trucks to squeeze part each other; setting off uphill I very nearly topple over in an undignified manner. The fatigue is getting to me which is not surprising as the satnav recorded 780m of climbing over 83 km at close of day.
But hey, the sun is out and I only have 5 km to go. Please disregard that last paragraph.
Tonight's plan? Lots of rest.
