September 17, 2019
Amboise
A wonderful relaxing day
Last evening we walked into the Rue Nationale where we had a very nice meal enjoying yet another warm evening and chatting to two English women who had come over to Tours for a long weekend. They were complaining about the time it had taken them to get through passport control, nothing like I imagine it will be after Brexit. Tours is such a lovely city of white buildings and slate roofs situated between the two rivers the Loire and the Cher. As we left this morning we rode around little streets enjoying the ambiance and getting to the Cathedral of St Gatien-this was started in the the 12th century and finished in a very flamboyant gothic style in the 15th century. In its dark interior Ifind the stained glass particularly jewel like and Ken of course liked hunting down the two organs.
From here it was onto the cycleway that runs beside the Loire passing its many bridges - it is such an easy and pleasant route. After about 10km we left the Loire and followed up into the town of Mountlouis-sur-Loire, a very well kept and pleasant little town with a good coffee stop. It was here that we met Barb and Neil, they are from Christchurch (NZ) and on a relatively short cycle trip along the Loire before going on to cycle in Croatia. We had a lot in common so an hour passed very quickly and pleasantly
From there it is a climb up into the vineyards, these are a mixture of white (Chenin Blanc) and red grapes (Cab. Franc) and the harvest is on. We saw harvesters busily going from vineyard to vineyard followed by tractors pulling their trailers to receive the bounty. It has been such a dry year that the berries are small so will have very concentrated flavours so presumably although the production will be down the quality should be up. The valley which drops you down to the Loire is stunning with Troglidite houses built into the cliffs and the wine making equipment, if not already in use, all polished up and ready to go. Then a pleasant riverside ride on a cycleway till you come to the stunning village/town of Amboise. I think that Amboise is one of my favourite places in France particularly on a day like today when it isnt too overrun with tourists. Little connecting streets lead you to the Main Street with the Château d’Amboise on one side and interesting shops and restaurants on the other, we spied a couple of Crepe shops so I think it will be galettes and cider for dinner tonight. If you continue further up the street you come to Clos Luce the place where Leonardo de Vinci spent the the last few years of his life and has now been turned into an exceptional museum which includes the reproduction of some of his more way out inventions including the bicycle
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This is about the fourth time we have ridden the Loire a Velo (often using part as a connector to another route) and it doesn’t fail to delight and it is certainly easy to understand why you meet such large numbers of cycle tourists as you ride along
Today's ride: 32 km (20 miles)
Total: 2,350 km (1,459 miles)
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I do hope your colds are better.
Bron improving and we hope she'll be with us in Akl next week for a double graduation.
I'm going to be sorry when your journey is over. Go well to Paris .
5 years ago
Love
P and K
5 years ago