This weekend John was in France and was joining us on our cycling trip, we were very much looking forward to seeing him. We had hired a third bike for him in Sancerre.

We were up early and had another lovely breakfast. Realising that I was very interested in the unusual jams/jellies, Giselle mentioned last night that she had a small amount of a special jelly this morning that I might be interested in. It was a coffee jelly and it was divine. I’ve shown it opposite, though not a great photo – it was very dark brown as you’d expect. I asked her for the recipe – 1 litre of hot coffee, Add 500g of sugar and dissolve well, Add a teaspoon of agar, (I’m thinking gelatine) and allow it to set. I will be trying it when I go home. I was surprised how little cooking was involved. She also had another new one – a jelly of red wine. Homemade strawberry and raspberry will seem very ordinary after these new ones…

We left our lovely accommodation and once again email addresses were exchanged.

We met John as planned in Sancerre shortly after 9am – it was so wonderful to see him. He was ready for cycling and we set off to Decize, 93 km according to Google Maps. It was another glorious day. It was great to chat and catch up with him as we cycled along. John set a faster pace for the day so I didn’t bother taking too many photographs!

We had lunch sitting at a table outside a boulangerie, the only option when we needed to stop for lunch. But again the quality of what we had was excellent.

After cycling a fast 100 km we arrived tired into Decize, checked at the very first place we came across and yes they could accommodate us. L’Hôtel De L’Agricultue was a very simple but clean hotel, however its restaurant was excellent. We had a super dinner. We were chatting so much that I forgot to photograph the food, such excellent food in a most modest location.

We had a great sleep after our long day’s cycle. John suggested an early start for Sunday as he had to be away by 3pm. We were back on the road shortly after eight. Our goal was to get to Digoin and he would leave from there.

Denis and I hoped to revisit a lovely place in Digoin where we had stayed before on our north to south trip in 2012. We checked earlier and yes they could accommodate us and would be serving Sunday lunch.

We arrived into Digoin by 12.45pm after a fast 75 km and just one coffee stop. We were showered and ready for lunch without any delay – we were hungry.

We were sorry to see John leave after lunch – it had been great fun to cycle and chat and catch up and slag etc. We were so lucky that he was nearby on dates that matched our cycling trip.

We rested/relaxed for the evening – well D’s rest includes his daily 5 km run – I did the resting for the two of us!

It was a great way to spend Father’s Day.