September 6, 2016
Villandry: A bad start to a good day
To start with the bad. We were packing up and I realised I hadn't seen my phone anywhere. I had used it the previous morning to ring Jane so I must have left it beside the bed. Rang the hotel but they said nothing had been found by the maid, I had a rather uncharitable suspicion it might have found the way to her pocket. So if there is anyone who needs to contact us urgently we still have Ken's phone for calls and texts. It is a NZ phone the number 0274948737. Have fixed things up by ringing Vodafone and they have blocked all calls from my phone.
After that we had a slightly later start and a very good day. First up into the hills where all the grape growing for the area happens. It is really very extensive and it is interesting to see how differently things are done. The rows are1.5m apart, the plants1m apart and the trellising 1m high (compared with our trellises that are around 2m). All the grapes (mostly Chenin and Cab Franc) are spur pruned - they are well through veraison and probably about 2 or 3 weeks away from picking which will I imagine be done by machine.
Then we swept down the hill on a perfect bike track to Montlouis and on to Tours. What a breathtakingly beautiful city Tours is. We stopped at the cathedral and admired the soaring interior and the jewel like stained glass. Then on to the pedestrianised centre with its many trees and cool fountains. It all looked so inviting that it was impossible not to stop for our second cup of coffee. The way out of the city was easy because of the excellent signage and we were soon on the largely green route to Villandry. This tiny village is all about the castle. There are several hotels and restaurants but the jewel is of course the castle and particularly the gardens. I found these wonderful formal gardens stunning. In particular it was the Renaissance kitchen garden that I loved - it is made of 9 squares of equal size and each is planted with vegetables of different colours to create the illusion of a multicoloured chess board. The amount of work to keep this all immaculate is mind blowing - I also wonder if anyone eats any of the huge number of vegetables.
While we were having a beer waiting to get in to the hotel we were talking to two French people. They live in Verseille and they and their dog were here to visit the Chateaux of they Loire. They had already visited 10 - the mind boggles my brain would short circuit. We have been to 2
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Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,671 km (1,038 miles)
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