Amboise to Blois: back and forth across the river

October 23, 2009

Weather: cloudy and cool

After breakfast with the other English-speaking guests at the Manoir, we rode through the centre of Amboise and crossed the bridge over the Loire near the chateau, then travelled east past fields and through small villages.

We stopped for another menu du jour lunch (this is getting to be a habit) at the railroad station hotel in Onzain and enjoyed another great 11 euro repast. This one consisted of four courses including cheese and wine and coffee, and the waitress substituted a huge platter of haricots verts (green beans) for the frites that were being served to the 25 or so other patrons--all construction workers—plasterers, electricians, carpenters and plumbers. We could see their vans in the parking lot of the restaurant. Once again, Eva was the only woman in the room. They were having a great, quite boisterous time in their work clothes, and we enjoyed the ambience. While watching our fellow diners consume a reasonable amount of wine, we wondered a little about the quality of construction work in the afternoons in France!

After lunch we crossed the Loire again and rode 3 kilometers to the extensive grounds of the Chateau Chaumont. We had planned to stop here and visit the chateau, but were told we could not wheel our bikes through the gardens and would have to leave them the equivalent of several blocks away from the chateau building locked to a railing on the sidewalk. This did not appeal, so we continued eastward along the south side of the river. We had been riding on nice quiet roads for our whole time in the Loire, but there was a lot of traffic on the approach to Blois and hardly any shoulder, making for a stressful few kilometres. Too late we noticed a lovely paved bikepath across a field to our right. This must have been quite new and had not appeared on the Google maps Al had consulted while planning our route. We crossed over to the north side of the Loire again on the outskirts of the city, and it was a short ride along the river to our hotel, the Cote Loire.

Approaching Blois along the north side of the Loire with the old bridge ahead.

The hotel entrance and parking area just metres from the river Loire.

We checked into our small bright room facing the river. The sink was behind a wooden screen near the large window, and the shower and toilet were together in their own tiny chamber. The hotel is in an old building with only seven rooms and a very nice dining/breakfast room. We knew from their website that bike storage would cost 1.50 euro per bike per night—the only time we were ever charged a bike parking fee.

The sun came out right after we got there, so we walked up the hill to the chateau and the train station and the public gardens. Blois is a handsome old town with nice stone buildings, larger than any of the other towns we've stayed in so far. We decided to eat dinner at the restaurant in our hotel. The menu choices seemed good, and our legs appreciated just walking downstairs instead of going out again and trudging uphill. The small dining room filled up completely, and dinner was excellent. The first course, a vegetable terrine, was particularly good, and we had a nice sauvignon blanc with the meal—our first white wine in the Loire.

The outstanding vegetable terrine served in the hotel dining room.

Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 243 km (151 miles)

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