The Cycling Tour – Part 2: The Last Bend
Travel & Outdoors·EN·2 min read·Published 2026-11-07, updated 2026-11-07·Part 2 of 2
For nine days they rode in loose company.
His groups changed; she stayed. They met at lunch stops, bakeries, riverside picnics. He taught her to read the road signs, to find the best crêpes, to ride in the slipstream. She taught him English limericks, with disastrous results. At the end of every day, they ended up at the same table, watching the sunset on the river.
On the ninth day, they reached the sea.
The Loire widened, grey and shining, into the Atlantic. The air smelled of salt and seaweed. Gulls cried. The road led out through salt marshes and low white houses onto a long, empty beach. Hannah dropped her bike in the dune grass and ran down to the water, whooping, with her arms in the air.
Pascal followed, laughing, kicking off his shoes. They stood ankle-deep in the cold waves, the setting sun melting into the horizon, a vast red ball.
"We did it," she said.
"You did it. Four hundred and fifty kilometres."
"I couldn't have without the puncture."
"The puncture was my best idea."
She laughed, and her eyes pricked. "I leave tomorrow."
"I know."
"I don't want to."
"Then don't," said Pascal. "Not yet."
They sat on the sand, shoulder to shoulder, watching the light drain from the sky. The sea hushed in and out. The first star appeared over the dunes.
"Can I ask you something?" said Hannah.
"Yes."
"May I kiss you, Pascal?"
"Yes," he said. "And if you say stop, you must ride the Loire again next summer."
"That's the best punishment in the world."
She kissed him, salt-sweet, her cold hand rising to his stubbled cheek. He kissed her back with warm, unhurried tenderness. The waves rolled up the beach and withdrew. The sky turned from red to violet.
When they parted, both of them were smiling.
"Green?" he asked.
"Green," said Hannah. "Very green."
The next summer she rode the Loire again. Pascal had cancelled his tours. They rode side by side, slowly, with a spare tube each.
More travel romance stories: Snowfall in Nagano · Tapas Crawl in Seville · Whistler Bike Trails
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