Day 1: Out of Tours and Very Lost

The only store that might have sold walking sticks didn't open till ten so I knew I was going to get a late start. It ends up that they didnt have them so I was SOL. 

I thought I memorized the map that the tourist office lady drew for me but apparently I was mistaken. I wandered around for an hour before going back to square one and precisely following her instructions. After another hour I was out of Tours (it's a big city!) and on the trail. The first couple of km were along the Loire river - very pleasant. 

This part of France is all about Big Agro. The 24km route was almost exclusively paths between dead sunflower fields and live corn fields. There's something kind of depressing about a field of deal sunflowers drying out waiting for their seeds to be harvested. They're all dead facing east as if one morning they woke up to greet the dawn but just didn't have it in them. 

More depressing was the fact that I neglected to bring any water and the consequences of that bonehead maneuver. After 18km I saw a town that was a few hundred meters off of the trail, and a sign advertising the availability of water!  Delicious and refreshing as it was, it filled me with an inappropriate amount of self confidence in crafting an alternative route to my destination, Sorigny which was 8km away. I was walking about 4km/hr and after two hours there was no sign of that town so I broke out google maps and asked for directions to Sorigny. It was still 8km away. I didn't get there until 7:30 and the only hotel was full so I stayed at a little old lady's house (B&B) for 35 Euros. I missed dinner and was too tired to look for food so I laid down till this morning. Ugh.