From Montargis to Rogney Les Sept Excludes

Breakfast this morning at the Logis hotel was only sweet items (sucre, pas salè) so there wasn't really much I was interested in eating. But overall they were very friendly and I was happy with the hotel. I left them a nice review on Google maps and they immediately responded.

The first 15 minutes of biking is always the best, you're moving, you're outside, the scenery is flying by, you're in town so there's a lot of people to say bon jour  to. Peter had to use the toilet in an area where there were no facilities, so we went to a nearby cafe and I ordered a little expresso, and Peter used the toilet. But then about 10 minutes later we had to return, because I had left my day pack on the chair next to me! That was stressful, wondering if it was still going to be there when we got back. Also, when I remembered that I had left it there, we were just about to walk into the Roman amphitheater (closed but you could get over the fence easily). By the time we biked back, picked up my day pack, and got to the same location, we didn't feel like going in anymore. Lots of flour mills and wheat processing happening here. 

We had lunch at the town of Montbouy, just some bread, cheese, and tomato on a bench next to the church. I chatted with the Canadian couple on a boat for quite a bit. We had passed them three times, because of going back to fetch the day pack that I left behind. Apparently they come over every summer and do long tours of the canals. They have to travel very slowly, maximum 7 km an hour, and going through the locks takes a lot of time as well. 

At one of the locks, a little cafe was operating. It turns out it was a British couple, that we're doing something like a joint venture with the French government canal company. We got some food there, and tea, and had some good conversation with him. 

Good thing we spoke English because I don't think he spoke much French at all, the first thing he said was, in French, "do you speak English". He said it's extremely bureaucratic in France, the shed attached to the house had a leak, and what with all the paperwork required by the French bureaucracy, it took two years to fix it. I'm glad we were able to stop there, we actually bought a few extra pastries (a homemade meat pie and cheese pie) to have in case there wasn't much food here in the town we are in,, which was a good thing because there actually isn't very much food here. 

It took us a little while to find the campsite. It's actually quite nice, not as fancy as the previous one in terms of facilities, but very friendly, with some shade, and the "camp tent " that we're in is much nicer than the pod we were in at the previous campsite. Plus, there's power. There's also supposed to be Wi-Fi, but I can't get it.

For a little bit now there's no developed bike path, we're on a small side road.

The weather was superb today, not too hot at all. The bike path was very well marked, overall everything worked well, except in this town that were in now there's almost no services except for this campground. Good thing we brought some food with. We had a little picnic - bread, sardines, apples, tomatoes, pistachios - at the seven locks, which is a really interesting canalstructure that was built in the 1600s.

Peter and I played ping pong here a couple times, once he played with the husband of the lady that showed us around at the very beginning, he was very friendly.

It's amazing how late it stays light here, it's almost 10 pm and it's still very very bright.