Malcolm Green Blog

Day 14, Wednesday 20 September

Azay-le-Ferron to Argenton-sur-Creuse

60k

Feeling: great – just a brilliant day.

Dinner at our hotel last night was a comedy act. The waiter hadn’t a clue what he was doing and the food was poor. But this chaos served a purpose as we fell into conversation with a lady named Danielle at the next table. She asked us if we intended to visit La Brenne natural park. It was on our route but we had given little more thought to it than that. She explained that she worked at the park’s information centre, La Maison du Parc,  near Rosnay, and suggested we should visit. So we did, and it was totally fascinating.

The day started bright and sunny with no wind – perfect cycling weather. I had some bike maintenance to do – cleaning and oiling the chain, which had got filthy dirty with a lot of grit in the links. But we were soon in the park area. We could tell by the road signs:

La Brenne natural park organisation has been established to conserve and develop this extraordinary area. It includes more than 2,000 fishponds which were first created in the Middle Ages and which produce carp and roach on a commercial basis. The land area is poor agriculturally, but is being managed as a natural ‘wild’ reserve, with abundant wildlife, plant life, etc. La Maison du Parc is well organised with an excellent educational film show. We met Danielle again, and some of her colleagues, and had lunch. So, this is a big recommendation: you really should visit La Brenne! Click here for more info.: La Brenne

And a big ‘thank you ‘ to Danielle!

In the afternoon we continued down the Creuse valley to Argenton, cycling along a voie verte, a disused railway track. The track still includes a wonderful stone bridge over the river with spectacular views of Saint Gaultier:

The Creuse at Saint Gaultier

La voie verte

A quick cold beer in Argenton, and we headed for our B&B. Perfect day.