Woke up grudgingly, a bit tired still. However we don't know if there are any earlier trains so we need to get going. We bought and ate breakfast, packed the bikes and checked out, all done by 9 am. We then rode, yes second time in Paris, to Gare de Lyon where I booked a train to Nevers. No problems and reserved seats too.
The next task of the day was to mail a whole bunch of stuff, including a new Tour T-Shirt, to Australia. I asked for a large box which he got, really large, it was, shockingly, 41 Euro. However it looked like the right size so I got it. I went down to get the stuff I was sending and the box is WAY to big. I went back up, showed the guy, and asked if I could get a smaller one. He sighed, had to ask someone how but in the end it wasn't a problem. Not much price difference though, only 5 Euro.
Now that all the necessary work was out of the way we needed to kill time until the train at 1 pm, it was only just 10 am now. We decided now would be a good time to try out a Salon de The. I ordered tea and Paul a coffee. He asked us if we wanted a croissant with it and we said no, naturally. However we should have ordered the set breakfast menu. Only 90 cents more and included baguette/croissant, jam and orange juice. Bummer. Still we sat there for 2 hours anyway :) It started to rain lightly at one point which discouraged us from moving on.
Eventually we decided it was time so we went across the road to a sandwich shop/corner store and got lunch. The had a set take away menu available tuna baguette, brownie and Coke, for only 5.40 Euro, good value. We walked up to the train station looking for somewhere to sit and it started to rain so we went into the station and in the end just stood by the bikes to eat. We then waited for the platform number to be displayed, which is only 20 minutes before the train departs in France. Of course it was 4 or 5 minutes late so we ended up practically having to run to get the train as the platform was so far away. Then once we were in I realised we hadn't stamped the tickets so I ran back to the conductor by the front of the train and he signed them, then I had to run back to get onto the train, only a minute or so to spare.
The train departed and within a few minutes was rocketing along. Alas there was not a lot to see as there was a high wall of dirt and trees around the train tracks for sound dampening I assume. It was like this much of the way. It rained a few times but as I pointed out to Paul it was only on one side of the carriage and we were heading towards the other side so we were bound to outrun it. And we did!
The town of Nevers is quite nice and the camping is a little way out, so just for Paul, I agreed to a hotel in the centre of town. It is a simple hotel but the rooms are fairly large and there is a dedicated bike storage shed out the back (which had 7 bikes in it the next morning).
Paul had discovered this morning that his rear derailleur is pushed in towards the wheel and that the wheel is a little buckled. So he went to a bike store to see if they could fix it but they were shut. We then went for a long walk around the old scenic parts of the town and the centre of town as well. It is a quite large and has several interesting buildings. The main church, a cathedral, was severely damaged in WW II and they are still restoring it now! The stained glass windows, all very modern, were only put in during the early 90's and there are huge numbers of gargoyles and rock decorations in an area at the rear of the church waiting to be repaired and re-affixed.
After the walk we went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest, but hen of course we had to go in search of somewhere for dinner. Paul had been searching during our earlier walk, rather unsuccessfully as it happens. This time we walked back in the direction of the station and we discovered two good restaurants, we went to Le Gambrinus, where we had a very nice meal. We both had a Salade Landaise, duck giblets and jambon cru, then a lovely duck dish :) Paul had a pork dish for his main. Then we had some fairly revolting cheese, I managed a little bit of each, and then a lovely prune tart for dessert. Guess what? Bloated!
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