Ride: 25km; Walk: 14km
Up before dawn to get ready for our sunrise walk. The early light is so good for photography normally but this morning a light foggy mist put a dampener on it. Regardless it’s a great time of the day to be out and about. Coffee and croissant in the chill of the morning in the town square made it all worthwhile.
On the surface, apart from the Canal Bridge and Saint Etienne Church, Briare appears to have little to offer us cycle tourists. However, that is exactly what we were hanging out for today, an escape from the cities.
The church would have been disproportionately large for its 6,000 inhabitants back in 1895 and if it wasn’t for Mr Bapterosses, the owner of the local enamel factory, it probably wouldn’t have been built. He trained some of his workers in the various crafts and trades; so, the townsfolk effectively built their own church, which only took five years. It’s 56m high which is pretty impressive for a bunch of amateurs.
At 63m long, 6.2m wide and 2.2m deep the canal bridge here is the longest metal one in Europe. It holds 13,680 tons of water and the metal superstructure, one piece of steel 600m long weighted 13,600 tons. Quite impressive for something that was built back in the 1800s.
The rest of the day was taken up wandering or riding around the town and outskirts. Very relaxing and pleasant.
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