Day 28: La Charité sur Loire – Why we bike tour

Distance: 16 miles

We rode a short distance today to get to our campsite, which puts us near N9evers to pick up another family from the train station Thursday afternoon. Ada rode the whole way on her own without getting in the trailer, for an almost 6 year old she’s doing so well.

We arrived at the campsite and played in the river for a while. There was a small beach area where we skipped rocks and got our feet wet. The weather is great, and our gear is drying out from being wet the last few days.

Why we tour.

It’s easy to get caught up in thinking about the next campground, big city, or end destination. It’s also easy to get absorbed in how many miles you’re putting in, and feel the need to do more. These can all be distractions that get in the way of seeing cool things.

There are opportunities to deviate from the route, stay an extra day at a really nice campsite, or site see when you’ve only put 2 of your 30 miles in for the day. In the past I’ve typically erred on passing up those good opportunities to see cool things for getting further along the trail.

When I think about it, those aren’t good reasons to tour, and at the core of it I think I bike tour for the following reasons:

1. Spend quality time with family / friends.
2. Exercise and work hard, but not too hard. Sweat and work up an appetite.
3. See other cultures and visit new places.
4. Set up and take down camp, teach the kids to work and take responsibility.
5. Create enjoyable memories. Make sure the kids enjoy the tour.

None of those have to do with finding great campsites, swimming pools, high mileage or taking a direct route. It’s easy to get distracted though.

As we plan our days and make decisions on the fly, we can use these priorities to decide which choice is best.

Meat and cheese plate we had for lunch.

Heading back from the supermarket with popcicles!

Rock skipping!

Hazel adores her brother Bennett. Bennett and I spent some time playing soccer today, it was great one on one time. I need to do this more often.