Bill and Lin Sue travel from Beaugency to La Ferte St. Cyr, France

We got up bright and early and ran some errands as we prepared for our 22 km hike to La Ferte St. Cyr. First stop: the boulangerie for apple croissants and a baguette. Then off to the grocer's for apples, cheese and a small bottle of wine.

We returned to the hotel for breakfast to find a gentleman dressed in a tuxedo waiting for us. While the fare was simple, everything was excellent. We asked if they had a plastic knife we could have for our upcoming picnic. While he could not provide a lastic knife, he did insist we take a regular bread knife with us for our travels. How nice was that?

The first day of hiking was adventurous on many levels: 22 kms and through vaguely described treks through open fields with no trail markings. Lin Sue almost drove Bill crazy with her compass readings. (Bill's intuition was spot on but it never hurts to check says Lin Sue :-). Haha

We completed the walk in under five hours as we never stoopedfor that picnic after all. (1) We were afraid that it might rain (2) someone was practicing his/her shooting very regularly on the last leg of the trek (3) everything was so water logged, there did not seem any comfortable place to stop.

We are amazed still at all the overflowing river and streams that we passed.

Arrival at La Ferte St. Cyr was like a little homecoming. This place was tiny. The inn keeper's first words were: Beaugency est tres jolie, n'est-ce pas? As though it were the big city. As we walked through the town, we realized that comparatively, it was.