June 28, 2016
Chinon to Villandry.
Dark knights and misty mornings.
June 28 Tuesday 43kms
Chinon to Villandry. Dark knights and misty mornings.
A misty, damp start. We leave our tent and cycles at the campground and take the lift that propels us skywards to the castle on the hill, strategically placed to overlook the town.
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It must have provided pretty good protection back in the day, though it was captured after a siege at one point. The Plantagenets were an ambitious and broody lot, it seems, plotting against each other with wild abandon and keen to gain territory, especially Henry ll.
Henry Also put his wife Eleanor under house arrest for about 15 years and kept his brother imprisoned for most of his life as well. Sibling rivalry was clearly an issue. Richard the Lionheart figured in the story somewhere too. Their names, John The Lacklustre and Geoffrey The Quarreler say it all- I do wonder though, how you might avoid being stuck with an unflattering moniker for life. I keep thinking of the movies in which I’d seen Henry portrayed, as well as Eleanor of Aquitaine. Looking about the castle with its various rooms you wonder what passed as small talk in those days – ‘I’m off for a spot of boar hunting dear- should be back for dinner. Maybe with dinner.’
I continue to be amazed at the way castles churches and monuments are restored and maintained in France- the bill must be whopping. They also do audio visuals very well too- seems like live recreations of history are big as entertainment- how much revisionism goes on – who knows? Light, as opposed to heat seems a characteristic of some aspects of France - mostly they are pretty practical, but every now and then one comes across strange anomalies- camping grounds with 5 showers but only 2 toilets. However they enjoy a joke which is good, and eating out is an experience gastronomique, usually.
After the castle experience, uplifting as it is, we decamp and ride out of town. The route is steep out of town but mainly good through some Greenway, a little rough, then pretty farmland and sometimes on raised dykes which are well paved and allow for a exhilarating speed of 25kph! We stop for well deserved a citron and a beer at a beautiful hamlet, Huismes, reach the Loire again at Villandry and camp about 3km up the road at Savonniers. The campground is undergoing renovation and has very basic facilities. We chat with a Lithuanian couple and cook in the main block. Les Moustiques are gathering.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 729 km (453 miles)
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