September 2, 2021
Tours - Ste Maure
Grateful for 30C and sunshine, delicious coffees and croissants, and discovering a new region, the Vienne.
Off at 9:30am, an early start compared to yesterday, for an easy 5kms into Tours for cappuccinos and croissants at a fancy cafe in the Old Town. We sat in the morning sunshine and took in the scene.
We had visited Tours in 2005 so we hadn’t planned to visit other than from a bicycle seat. We were amazed at the network of cycle lanes that made it easy and safe to get around the city, a great improvement since our first trip. We saw the Basilica of St. Martin once again and the timber framed houses that dot the old town squares and narrow cobblestone streets.
Leaving the Loire we changed from the EuroVelo 6 to the 3. We easily found the blue EuroVelo 3 signs which made leaving the city a breeze.
Lunch today was a perfect picnic beside the Indre River in the town of Veigne. It was hard to leave but we were back on our bikes by 3pm with full bellies and with half a chance of being at our destination at a reasonable time.
However by Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois we were dehydrated and our strength was fading. With no obvious fountain, we relied on the kindness of locals who led us to a tap to replenish our bottles for the last 10kms into Sainte-Maure.
Sainte-Maure is on one of the Santiago-de-Compostelle routes for pilgrims. As there are not many walkers this year, the talkative (and likely bored) check-in clerk offered us a “bivouac” (raised platform with fixed tent) which made for a nice change.
We cooked our first dinner of the trip accompanied with a chilled bottle of Touraine rose! With lots of kms on our bikes and warm temperatures we were worn out so headed to bed early again. All is well, we feel we are slowly getting into a rhythm for the trip, loving the scenery, the food, wine and being on tour.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 1 | Link |
Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 170 km (106 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 11 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 4 |
3 years ago
Fab trip. However wifi is weak here through the middle of France. We are hoping for better reception tomorrow and can update our blog and reply to comments. Thanks for following along. New respect for you and Scott writing every day!
3 years ago
3 years ago