EuroVelo 6 - France, Gien to Saint-Ay via Orleans 100 km

A lot has changed since my last post, Steemit has changed, the world has changed and priorities have changed accordingly for everybody.

What hasn't changed is my desire to travel and discover EuroVelo and share it with the world. I was so eagerly waiting to continue cycling on EuroVelo 7 this summer, let's hope we all return safe to normality by then, cycling will be such a huge bonus after this.

Unfortunately we now live in a world of restrictions and confinement but that's only physical, nobody can confine our mind, our thoughts, dreams and desires. It makes me feel good working on these posts and sorting the photos, it brings back a bit of that energy when I was living so intense pedalling all day long in the sun...it's a remedy for my anxiety and I hope will relief a bit of yours too.

I hope this post finds my readers well and healthy on both chains.Thank you Hive for my new account and for all its value. I'll take good care of it as I did with Steemit. I'll continue using Travelfeed for now as I already had my pictures uploaded and I like the platform until I understand what's going on with the Steemit/Hive deal. This is the first time I don't know on which blockchain I'm posting but that's only today's dilemma and shouldn't matter down the road. I am already a father of a 6 yr old son, also I feel like Steemit is my 4 yr old virtual son and just now I found out that I actually have twins. How can I not love them both...I see people selling and choosing sides, I honestly don't know what to do just yet, I guess I'll continue using both platforms until one day I'll know what I have to do. May be I continue with Discover EuroVelo project on one chain and with my other non bike related travels on the other and begin a personal experiment of trying to make a living as a blogger on this two platforms? This lockdown may be the best time to start.

We all know Steemit is far from perfect and sort of an experiment but the first to incentivise people for their time and effort unlike traditional centralised social platforms where the shareholders extract all the value. It worked for couple of years and my expectations were high. As the saying goes, when two argue the third wins. Even the big elephant in the room, Facebook and others like WordPress will change their business model and adapt to survive, as their users wake up and start asking for their share of the pie in the new economy.

I think Hive should focus on the true censorship resistant model, decentralisation and ease of use to attract users and considering the team (DTube, 3Speak, Actifit, SteamPress, Peakd, eSteem) and their experience so far, they are perfectly positioned to compete both with Steemit and traditional media, hopefully with strong leadership with a clear vision to overcome the continuous challenges imposed by this increasingly competitive space.

As a content creator I need to focus on creating quality content and I'll use the tools I ultimately like and make economic sense to me. Competition is good and healthy in business in general and from one blockchain enabled blogging platform like Steemit, we are going to see many competing for users attention, which in the end will benefit everybody.

For me, a hobbyist blogger Steemit was an alternative to WordPress. Steemit was simple and straight forward, no domains to buy, themes and plugins to install and maintain, custody and marketing to pay for. It made my life easier by giving me more time to travel and create than maintaining the platform and I liked it, I invested in Steem, curated and wrote some posts, not many but I tried to offer quality content as much as I could, then the split came and C-19 came. That's life and in times of pain great progress is made.

As I said, competition is healthy in business and Hive team has all it needs to succeed. Good luck Hive, daddy will also take good care of you. Now that I have two blogs and considering the times we live in, I will reconsider blogging more seriously.

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Now let's escape all this madness for a while and enjoy a beautiful summer day on EuroVelo 6 in France.

Good morning Gien! Since we arrived yesterday I spotted the chateau on the other side overlooking the river, now it's time to arm with my camera and attack it.

The morning was very quiet when I got there and the first thing I saw was this church and of course I decided to have a quick look inside.

The castle was closed for restoration when I arrived so I could only admire it from the outside. It was built in the 15th century for Anne of France and since 1823 belongs to the French government being listed as an official monument in 1840. Nowadays is home to a hunting museum. I am not a big fan of seeing hunting trophies hanging on the walls so I gladly skipped this one.

One last stop near the river before leaving Gien.

Back on EuroVelo 6 route this morning to Orleans located about 80 km downstream, the weather is great and the spirit is even greater.

Later in the afternoon we arrive in Sully-sur-Loire and discovered this beautiful castle right beside the river. Actually this château-fort, a true castle, was built to control one of the few sites where the Loire can be forded. It was the seat of the Duke de Sully, Henry IV's minister Maximilien de Bethune (1560-1641) and the later dukes of Sully, more info from wikipedia here.

Took a one hour refreshing break in the castle park while having a snack and enjoying the view. This was the penultimate day of my one week bike trip back in 2016 and I had to continue to Orleans to make it on time back to Paris the following day, so no time for a proper visit inside the castle but from what I've seen it's definitely one of the many beautiful castles that Loire Valley is famous for. One adult ticket is 8 EUR, more information and a short presentation video can be found on their official web page.

The advantage of travelling in France is that you can have a fresh croissant in every village.

Later in the afternoon we arrive in Orleans. The city has a nice long riverfront with some pretty floating terraces just perfect for enjoying a dinner. Oh yes I almost see myself on a comfortable soft chair with one cold beer in my hand looking at the river, but not before going for a quick city center tour.

Orleans Cathedral 1278-1329 and 1601-1829 is mostly well known for its association with Joan of Arc. She is considered the defender of Orleans and the cathedral stained glass windows depict her story. While in the city on 2 May 1429, the French heroine attended evening Mass to lift the siege (from wikipedia).

Spent some time in front of this gothic masterpiece admiring it in all its glory under the evening sunlight until I realised the sun was slowly going down, living back a cool shadow over the square I was standing, gently telling me that it's time to find a place to rest for the night.

The only camping I could find in Orleans was closed so that nice dinner by the river plan got canceled. Luckily I spotted another camping on google maps 15 km downstream in Saint-Ay. No more time to explore Orleans, I should better get going.

On my way out of the city I saw this strange boat floating on the river and stopped for a minute to have a quick look. After reading the info panel I found out it is actually a pilot project for a river hydraulic turbine, but without building a dam and destroying the ecosystem, which I think it's an interesting concept, hopefully feasible too. It's like a wind turbine for the river where the water flow is spinning the turbine which turns a generator and so producing clean electricity. Smart project!

I think I lost the main route at one point which was now on the other side of the river but I kind of liked these last 10 km of unpaved trail through the thick vegetation of the Loire right bank.

Made it to camping la Fontaine de Rabelais the just in time to set up my tent for the night. Another beautiful day cycling on EuroVelo 6 in France. You can do it as well, have a look on the official Loire by Bike site where you'll find all the info you need to organise your next cycling holiday in France. We'll eventually overcome this pandemic and what a better way to enjoy life to the fullest other than cycling on the EuroVelo network this summer.

Here is the map with our progress on EuroVelo 6 for today:

Until next time,

©Discover EuroVelo

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All photos were taken with my iPhone 6S.

EuroVelo, the European Cycle Route Network” are registered marks of ECF asbl.

I have no affiliation with EuroVelo or other organisations mentioned here, I am just a tourist sharing his opinion.

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