Day trip to Château de Chenonceau

October 3, 2022

and a bonus . . . the Château de Paradis

Every travel show I've seen about the Loire Valley raves about Château de Chenonceau on the Cher River. The day trip from Amboise is the most popular bike ride in the area. The tourist information office gave us a map yesterday with a couple of options to get there.

The most popular way is a 34k out-and-back trip that is mostly on bike trails. The other is a loop that takes the same path to the castle and returns on some roads shared with cars, but not a lot of traffic. We like loops for the extra scenery.

I learned a lesson two days before about mapping the ride ahead of time instead of winging it with Google, so our Wahoo devices are queued up with the route. We’ve also packed some picnic supplies to take advantage of the spot on the river we heard about from Eric at the bike shop.

From Amboise we follow the path west along the Loire a short way, then turn south. It’s cloudy, cool and dry for a change. The trees are full of bird songs as we climb the hill up out of the valley. I can hear them real well at my pokey pace.

Friendly local on the pretty bike path out of Amboise

Pretty soon the road leads to another bike path through farm fields and woods to vineyards at the top of the ridge. We sail down through vineyards to the town of Biere on the Cher River, enjoying the sweeping views of the valley.

This delightful bike path was a pleasure cruise after our muddy gravel fest two days ago.

Crossing the Cher into Biere for provisions

In Biere we stop at the boulangerie and the market to pick up a baguette, fruit and a few other tidbits to fill out our lunch. The market has a few options for half-bottles of wine. There's plenty of room in the pack for one of those. In the brief diversion from the route we run into some fast street traffic and cranky drivers. It’s very unlike what we've experienced so far on this trip and we’re eager to move on.

Relieved to get back on the path, we find the picnic tables by the river just a little way further. A few other cyclists are camped out there enjoying lunch as the sun pokes through the clouds.

Picnic in the sunshine. The trees are a nice windbreak; it's breezy by the river.

From there its mostly flat riding to the castle, very doable in our postprandial condition. We lock up the bikes on the corral and go all in on the 2-hour audio tour of the castle and grounds.

One more hill crossing back over the Cher on the way to the castle

Approaching the Château in the town of Chenonceau

Pretty walk through the grounds leading to the Château de Chenonceau

Château de Chenonceau is dramatically situated over the Cher River, built on platforms surrounded by the water. It’s known as the castle of the ladies for all the powerful women who built, embellished and restored the property. The tour serves up plenty of dishy history on all the women, notably Queen Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henri II, and her rival/ Henri's mistress, the glamorous courtier Diane de Poitiers.

Diane was mistress of the castle from the time Henri II gave it to her in 1547. She had the bridge built that connects the château to its opposite bank, and oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens.

Portrait of Diane de Poitiers as Diana, goddess of the hunt

Diane de Poitier's exquisite flower garden

Soon after Henri’s death in 1559, Catherine evicted Diane and plowed more of the royal treasure into the castle, adding new rooms and her own massive garden.

The Grand Gallery on the bridge over the river

The butchery, my favorite room in the sprawling basement kitchens

Catherine de Medici's garden, on the opposite side of the chateau from Diane's

This is the most entertaining castle we've toured yet. After a stroll through the gardens and the farm, we mount up and continue on our way back to Amboise. The loop route takes us through charming villages and farms and along quiet forested roads with light traffic.

Adding to my French vocabulary: Partageons la route . . . Share the road

In Croix-en-Touraine, I’ve spotted a small dot on the printed map labeled “Château de Paradis,” my family name. My grandfather, George Dosithee Paradis, and his future wife, Florida Loranger, both moved from Quebec to Maine in the early 1900s.

A few years ago on a trip to Quebec, we found the monument to my grandfather's ancestor, Pierre Paradis, who emigrated from Normandy, France to Quebec in 1605. Standing on the land that Pierre owned on Ile d'Orleans, the monument immortalizes him as “Ancetre de tous les Paradis de l'Amerique du Nord.”

My many times great grandfather, Pierre Paradis

Back in Croix-en-Touraine, we see that the Château de Paradis is just a little ways off our route back to Amboise and I’m so curious to know if there could be a connection. We ride up the gravel driveway and see a sign that it's a gite, then a posting that says “private,” and a big barking dog galloping out in our direction. I’m not that curious. We turn around and beat a hasty retreat.

After looking it up later it seems the Paradis name is marketing speak rather than an indication of heritage. Looks like a nice place to stay though.

Didn't get a clear picture of the Château de Paradis, what with the slavering hound coming at us

Approaching Amboise we detour off the route again to look for a European plug adaptor at the E. LeClerc Hypermarket. I left mine in Amsterdam and have been getting by with loaners from our hosts. It's harder than I would have thought to find an adaptor or even a European USB charger in the local markets. I guess Paris would have been the place to take care of it but there were far more interesting ways to spend our time there. I score a double USB charger at the Hypermarket, our first and hopefully last suburban shopping mall of the trip. The side trip goes through some busy traffic but is mercifully short.

Overall this has been the loveliest ride of our trip so far, apart from the shopping detours. Back at the apartment there’s still no Wifi, grrrr, but we have time for a shower and a nap before heading out for dinner.

Out on the plaza a musician serenades the diners on the plaza with his accordion - si français. Across from the musician in the shadow of the royal chateau is the Anne de Bretagne Restaurant and Creperie, honoring the only French queen to reign alongside two kings – Charles VIII and Louis XII.

It seems a worthy choice for our last dinner in Amboise. The Galette de Chambord - a confection of duck, shitake mushrooms, potatoes and foie gras - is absolutely delicious, washed down with a bottle of Francois Ier from a winery a few miles away.

Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 386 km (240 miles)

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