Day 9 – to Decize (112 km)

We finally woke to blue sky and sun this morning. It is amazing what the weather can do to improve our moods.

The first part of the ride was a side trip up a hilly road through vineyards to the hill-top village of Sancerre. It is a beautiful old town, once surrounded by ramparts, with spectacular views of the Loire valley below.

From there, we followed the Loire river and canal to Herry and we had lunch by another “Pont Canal” at Le Guetim. We saw lots of signs to Nevers, the major regional town, but never went there – instead we cut the corner of the valley (the river curved) though the rolling hills of the Bourgogne countryside.

There were a few more château's to be seen – but most of these were showing a little more sign of their age, with crumbling towers and ramparts. One of these was near a town which we simply could not pronounce, Luthenay Uxeloup – 'Château de Rosemont'.

We stopped for the night at Decize. For once we got in before 5pm, so had plenty of time to look around. We had a beer and ice tea at a cafe by the river before a walk down the town's avenue of plan trees (some over 200 years old). It was nice to be in a town that was clearly less of a tourist trap, even if it meant there were less choices for dinner (we ended up at another pizzeria).