September 1, 2014
Blois to Villandry: Now we're humming!
I am writing this the evening after. We had a great, but long day, so I was pretty wiped, plus the WiFi was intermittent, at best.
We cycled from Blois to Villandry, which was 93.22 kilometers. We were finally humming! The route was beautiful, and took us along the Loire, as well as inland through vineyards, and more fields of sunflowers, as well as an unknown crop. Hopefully someone, (Christian, maybe), can help identify.
Our first stop wasn't until Amboise, which was 45 kilometers from Blois, which for those of you who know us, that's way too far without an expresso stop! Just plain crazy! We stopped for lunch there and had pizza, of all things. Are we in France or Italy? Anyway, it was really good, and hit the spot. It was also a very warm day, and my Garmin, hit 33 degrees, at one point.
Amboise, is a particularly, beautiful small town. It's main claim to fame, is Clos Luce, the final resting place of Leonadro da Vinci. It also is overlooked by a beautiful, fortified, 15th century chateau.
After lunch, we pretty much followed the river, coming into Tours. Tours is a fairly modern city, and a university town of over 25,000 students. The main shopping street is quite beautiful, with a very modern, sleek tramway going down the centre. The street was crowded with university students returning back to school, but we managed to cycle through them. We also managed to get very lost trying to get out of the city. Despite the great signage for the La Loire a Velo, cities are always hard to negotiate.
We attempted on our own for sometime, and finally asked a young girl, around 13 years old, for help. She was our superstar for the day. Apparently, we were going in the wrong direction, and she actually cycled with us for about 3 kilometers, getting us back on track.
We finally arrived in Villandry, just after 6PM, which made for a long day. Our hotel was just ok, clean, and on the ground floor, which is a first. I think it was one of those tour bus stop hotels. We ate there because we were too tired to seek out other restaurants, and I will say, it was pretty crappy, but it's the only bad meal since we have been here. The beer and wine was still good, though, so all was not lost.
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Today's ride: 93 miles (150 km)
Total: 333 miles (536 km)
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