Loire ride for young cancer sufferers: Day 3 – Renaison-Nevers

Charles Eric Pasquiers: on this year's Bordeaux-Paris

Now in Nevers after riding 164 kilometres from Renaison in the Côte Roannaise to here. Riding time was 7.17 minutes, climbing 302 metres (as anticiptated significantly less than the first two days) with an average speed of 22.5 km/h. As Pouilly-sur-Loire is the halfway point in the Loire's descent from the mountains of the Ardèche, I'm now close to 50% of the ride completed. 

Although much of the ride was pretty flat, I was pleased to complete over a 100 miles as it is a long time since I have ridden this distance in a day.

Yesterday I managed to largely miss the rain, but today I got completely soaked through in the second hour of riding with torrential rain turning the road into a stream. 

Tomorrow will be a bit of a rest day with just 60km from Nevers to Chavignol and a chance to see what is happening with the harvest there.

I'm delighted that Charles Eric Pasquiers, the commercial director of Domaine FL, will be joining the ride on Tuesday. I greatly appreciate him giving up time on the eve of the 2014 harvest.

Loire ride for Esme: training ride along Loch Ericht and over the hills

 The beauty of Loch Ericht looking south westwards 

Today I got in a good, reasonably long training ride (a little over four hours) through the Scottish Highlands in preparation for riding the length of the Loire (starting 17th September) to raise money for two cancer charities. 

I headed out from Newtonmore to Dalwhinnie intending to explore The Old Drovers Road that starts just south of Dalwhinnie at the top of a steep hill and goes through to the Laggan Road. Although for the first mile there is a clear track it soon peters out and becomes barely a footpath, so not ideal even for a mountain bike. 

Heading to Dalwhinnie

 The hills above the A9 to the east on the way to Dalwhinnie

So it was onto Plan B (nothing to do with the Scottish Independence debate..) into Dalwhinnie and out along Loch Ericht to Ben Alder where I took the track up into the moorland and across to Loch Pattack. From there northwards following the River Pattack for much of the way until I met the A86 Spean Bridge road well to the west of Laggan. Then back to Newtonmore. 

Great ride through some really beautiful scenery. Although the Loire will be lovely it will be hard to better parts of this ride.

My Loire ride will be to raise money for two cancer charities – one in France and one in the UK. My donation page on Fondation Gustave Roussy is: https://igr.friendraising.eu/jim.budd. For Teenage Cancer Trust it is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JimBudd 

      

 Loch Ericht (above and below)

 The track away from Loch Ericht towards the hills including Beinn a Chlachair and approaching Loch Pattack

 Hills including Carn Dearg (?)

 Loch Pattack