We left Angers in good time and negotiated our way out of the city traffic , alongside the Loire for a time before meeting the confluence of the Mayenne river and onto a very fine gravel coacted cycleway . On my Surly with the fat 3” tyres the surface creates an audible thrumming sound as the kms wizz by.

Despite heading upstream these 2 days the gradient is almost imperceptible and speeds seemed reasonable . It was a real gift after the rolling country of the previous 2 weeks . Sort of like a great leg

massage.

The Mayenne river has been tamed over since the mid 16 th century with flash locks at first then some canalisation in the 17 th and 18 th century all the way up to Mayenne . Lots of photos of locks in this blog but they are pretty spekky.

From Saint Gontier and onto Laval we started to see the locks . Took many photos as they were all amazing .

With a day of rain forecast we wisely elected to find someplace to hideaway for 2 nights at the fascinating old town of Mayenne . We booked a spot at a place called Maison D’ Hercule and consider it a great find . Built in the 1870’s . A lovely old mansion , we have most of the second floor today as the rain sprinkles down reinforcing the wisdom of the decision , glad we are not out there getting soggy .

Robert is an interesting character , an American with a dream to own a wonderful old home in France . A collector of fine China and goodness only knows what else . Very welcoming and obviously very accommodating to waifs and strays with velos .

This castle was built at the beginning of the 10 th century and is considered an exceptional example of the Carolingian period. A fine example of life in the Middle Ages . Has a museum which we will explore today .

Marvelled at this totally amazing old church built way way back in 1110