Amboise to Tours

October 4, 2022

Today we have an easy ride to Tours, leaving plenty of time to dawdle a while longer in Amboise. We start with the short ride across the bridge to check out the view of the Royal Château d'Amboise from the other side of the river. This early in the day its still shrouded in the fog unfortunately. I'd love to be here after the mist burns off but we must pedal on.

Try to catch the view of the castle from across the river in the sunshine if you can. We'll just use our imagination this morning.

Barry's gloves have wandered off somewhere. We take a little time to explore the shops on Amboise's Rue Nationale where he scores a nice pair of leather gloves. They'll make the ride more pleasant on this cold morning.

Continuing along the bike path near the river we enjoy the fall colors that seem to glow as the clouds begin to clear.

Beautiful collection of pitchers lining this stone wall.

By the time we reach Montlouis-sur-Loire the sun is shining again over the valley and we enjoy sweeping views across the vineyards.

Looking out towards the river near Montlouis-sur-Loire

Sweet smooth road with an even sweeter view

As we approach Tours, the route curves back towards the river and we enjoy the quiet paved trail. Today's ride has been just as lovely as our trip to Chenonceau yesterday. No grand castles or medieval spires, cycling the beautiful Loire valley in the sunshine is thrilling all by itself.

Our Airbnb is 200 meters from the Saint-Pierre-des-Corps train station where we'll catch the train to Sarlat in the Dordogne region tomorrow afternoon. The plan is to ride out in the morning to see the gardens at Château de Villandry before we take our leave from the Loire.

Our apartment has a nice kitchen and we're ready for a break from the restaurant scene so we decide to check out the neighborhood grocery store. Ordinarily I don't have too much trouble throwing a meal together with whatever is on hand at the market, but the pickings are slim. We find a couple of ready-to-heat pasta meals that are uninspiring but good enough, especially washed down with a decent local Touraine region wine. It's a cheap night after an easy day and we get to sleep earlier than usual. All good.

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 414 km (257 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	8
Comment on this entry	Comment	0