41.5 mi / 11.1 mph / 1216 ft. climbing
Home: Le Cocon AirBNB

Part of the reason we extended our stay in Nantes from 3 to 5 nights is because our AirBNB was nice, large, and a reasonable price. It was clearly a place that someone lives in at least part-time, which tend to be the best kind of AirBNBs for us, because that means they’re equipped with all the appliances/tools to actually live a normal life in. This one, like our place in Paris, had the characteristics that lead us to assume that life is normally lived by a guy: not a ton of decoration, but an over-the-top A/V system! Here it was a projector instead of a conventional TV. There was no proper screen, only a white-painted wall, and since the skylight shade was broken it didn’t look the greatest in the daytime (though still usable), but at night it was fantastic, and huge!

Nantes marked the end of our navigation down the Loire River. The EuroVelo 6 route (now joined with the EuroVelo 1 route at Nantes) continues westward for another 35 miles along the widening river to meet the Atlantic Ocean, but we ain’t got time for all that, and instead will head due south (and even a bit southeastward) where we will re-connect with EuroVelo 1 (The Atlantic Coast Route) in a couple days after it finishes tracing the curving west coast of France.

The extensive road-construction projects (that had mucked up the bike lanes and made for a confusing entry into Nantes) continued onto the island, and even for a bit on the south bank. But this time Rett navigated all the sharp turns and detours like an expert who has been commuting across Nantes all year, rather than a tourist encountering them for the very first time. My pre-ride route studies give me general directions, but since I’m also encountering the on-the-ground conditions for the first time (conditions that might not match the latest maps), it can be especially challenging to direct Rett (riding in front) on-the-fly when something unexpected appears. So certainly there are times when we just need to stop, look around (and at my maps), and figure out the best way to go.

But really it’s pretty cool how most of the time she’s somehow able to correctly interpret my various hesitating “uhh…”s and “left, no, like straight, but then left, at that next, uh, thing up there”s, and take us down the correct path as we’re both simultaneously pedaling, steering, listening, and absorbing a flood of novel real-time input. Obviously we’ve been doing this together for a long time, but it’s satisfying to know that we have a connection that empowers this not-even-exactly-English form of communication. And all while she is a non-native speaker of “bicycling riding”. Yes, she has been “fluent” for more than a decade now, but she’s still doing all of this without the lived-in comfort of someone who learned the pedaling/steering parts as a kid.

The built-up area continues well to the south of Nantes, making for a different riding environment than the trails and near-empty roads that hug the banks of the Loire, but returning to a life with more traffic was still no issue here in France, and that traffic gradually dwindled as we got further out. Again, Rett was feeling confident enough in our speed that we skipped the first grocery store 5 miles in, and “risked” waiting for the one in 20 miles to get lunch.

Our destination of Dompierre-sur-Yon (chosen simply because it had an AirBNB at a reasonable distance) returned to the day’s suburban feel. It appeared to have no historic center, and was made up almost entirely of single-family homes (with yards!) Though it also had very little retail/commercial activity, suggesting it’s a bedroom community for La Roche (despite being completely disconnected from it)? It makes me glad we left the EuroVelo route, because now we might be getting a more-realistic impression of France. And it meant that our AirBNB (a small studio connected to a family home) wasn’t just easily-accessible with the bikes, it was super-modern and functional.