Distance 55.9 miles

Ascent 233 metres Descent 287 metres

Christophe points 220

Alison has renamed Bikemap and he is now known as Christophe. Last night we told Christophe where we wanted to go and waited excitedly to have our route mapped out for us.

Christophe led us deftly out of Chartres and then straight onto the busy National auto route. Despite his insistence that we should go straight down the auto route we referred back to the Michelin map pages once more and made our way safely to Orleans.

A tortuous ride from the outskirts of Orlean with heavy traffic at a standstill, and disappearing cycle lanes

We think Christophe shows great promise and we are working on training him to do our bidding.

Staying in an Auberge de Jeunesse in Orleans – a French style youth hostel. Delighted to think that we are considered to be young. As we climbed up the stairs to our room laden with panniers we thought we have the esprit de jeunesse despite our aching bodies telling us otherwise.

Christophe awards points and we have collected 220. No idea how we achieved this but points mean prizes so we look forward in anticipation to finding out what we will win.

Fell asleep while writing this! Will be going into Orlean this morning to see the Cathedral, collect another stamp and learn all about Joan of Arc.