Azay-le-Rideau to Loches: finding a treat in the "lost village"

October 20, 2009

Weather: Mostly cloudy with headwind, cool temperatures

We had a modest breakfast with our fellow guests, a Canadian couple from Quebec, and took off from Azay-le-Rideau about 10:30 through a lovely little rural area just outside the town. Then we hit a headwind again and lots of fields, quite boring and slow. At tiny Thilouze we picked up a couple of sandwiches at the store, since we wouldn't be passing through any towns that seemed big enough to have a restaurant for lunch. After about 8 more kilometres we reached Villeperdue (lost village) and stopped at a patisserie where Al bought an apple turnover. Since it was too cold to sit outside on a bench to picnic, we asked at the patisserie whether there was a bar in town where we could buy some coffee and eat our sandwiches. The woman behind the counter directed us to the only restaurant in town, where they were just starting to serve their menu du jour lunch.

We decided to skip the sandwiches and go for the 11 euro lunch, which included an appetizer buffet, a choice of main dish, cheese, dessert, ¼ litre of wine per person and coffee. It was an incredible value, and the restaurant was full of workmen--Eva was the only woman beside the waitress. We feasted on a selection of salads, chicken breasts in a good sauce, a mountain of scalloped potatoes, and profiteroles with chocolate sauce for Eva and chartlotte rousse for Al. We couldn't believe the amount and quality of the food.

After that we continued on to Loches, about 30 km, still with a headwind and still through boring fields, but we were so well fortified after lunch that it wasn't a problem. When we got closer to Loches some woods appeared and the headwind lessened. We went down and up several steep hills to get to the B&B, which wasn't where it was supposed to be according to Google Earth. Loches is a spectacularly scenic town, and we looked forward to exploring it the following day—a day off the bicycles. We passed the 9th century castle which dominates the town on our way to the Logis du Bief, our chambre d'hote,

Loches crouched under a thick cloud layer as we entered town from above and to the west.

We arrived at the Logis, and Moha, one of our hosts, seemed a bit startled to find us on bicycles. He recovered quickly, and showed us a safe place indoors to park them. His older partner, Jean-Claude, appeared and welcomed us, and then Moha showed us to our attic room, up two flights of spiral stairs with a dormer window overlooking the bief (canal). The room was small, but it had a large separate bathroom with a BATHTUB. That was so great! Eva had not been sleeping well since we left home, but after a hot bath and a decent dinner at Entr'acte, a nearby restaurant, she slept like a log.

The picturesque canal that supplied an old mill with power ran behind our Chambre-d'Hote.

Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 154 km (96 miles)

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