Day 78: Tours to Villandry

October 7, 2015

It is amazing how the people you meet in a place can affect your whole perception and experience for a day. Today began not only with a phone call from our friend Michel in St Luce, but with a sendoff from Paul, the young man running (owning?) the Hotel Moderne. Michel had already spoken to Paul, when he called the hotel, so we kind of felt that everybody knew each other. But Paul on his own asked us lots of questions about Canada and our trip, and took care to help carry our bags to the garage. The way to the garage was through the kitchen, and he said here, take some croissants for the road. And, would you like some coffee? The hotel is already geared for La Loire a Velo, and Paul spoke of plans for more bike storage and for receiving lots of cyclists. He was surely the most hospitable host we have met this trip.

Our first stop was the nearby train station, where we picked up tickets for our planned lightening trip to Paris, next week. I was left stashed outside with the bikes as usual, and as usual attracted a French lesson from someone who thought I looked interesting. This fellow was a local man, on an ordinary bike, and the subject did not seem to be the Usual Questions. Rather, the discussion was about the quality of food in France and Canada, and the situation of small producers in both places. Although artisanal production seems to be thriving here to us, this man felt the producers were under attack from taxation and by multinationals. This would seem to accord with a report on our TV last night, citing increased suicides by small farmers, in response to increased pressures.

Whatever the subject, we felt welcomed just by the fact that someone would come up to talk. Skipping ahead in the day, the same happened at the market we found - many times over. We remember particularly one older man who talked to us for a long time, referring to us Canadians as "cousins". And then a cheese seller chased us down in the market, because he had found a paper with the details of a cheese we had bought, and which I had asked a lot about, but without properly cluing in to what the man had told me verbally. It went on and on. A couple addressed us outside a church - and it turned out they were from Quebec City. (OK, so that doesn't count as a local welcome).

Once we had escaped from the city, we ran in to two oncoming cyclists, and a little uncharacteristically they stopped to talk. They were Josh, from Prince Edward Island, who had recently met and temporarily joined up with Martin, from St. Gallen, Switzerland. We had a grand time talking about ..everything .. until we realized just how much time was flying.

This is just a taste of how many people spoke kindly to us today. Yikes, I did not even include the three or so cyclists heading out of Tours who in turn cruised beside us for a while, chatting, or the the tens of cyclists who zipped by, but not without a shouted good word for Canada.

One of many cyclists who each cruised along with us for a while

Let's go back to Tours for a bit, because this city really was a treat. With a population of about 150,000, it is not huge but offers some big city feel, with some Paris like buildings, some wide boulevards, and a tram system. Still we were able to move around easily with the bikes, and nothing was very far away. A pocket guide given us by Paul identified the central streets as among the main things of interest, so we cruised around those. They offered the now expected narrowness, lack of cars, and multitude of shops. As we passed these shops, we thought of various of our family and friends who would enjoy looking in each type. And we spotted stuff they would like to have. Unfortunately, there is no room on the bikes for any shopping like that. Still, Joni, Sabrina, etc. have a look in these (and at the general streets of Tours):

A street in Tours, with an art gallery at the end

In Tours, with St Martin basilica visible in the distance

One of the broad avenues in Tours, with trolly tracks

We did not actually see any live bagels here

Our two other destinations were the large daily market, and the basilica. We made our way to the market first, for fear they would close. In this season, apples and mushrooms are big, and they were offered all over. Then there was the bread. One lady had a small selection of baguettes, but they included a rare multigrain. It was dripping with seeds on the outside, and turned out to be top notch. To go with baguette you need cheese, and the one that caught my eye had red peppers in it. Asked for more info about it, the man kept repeating the keyword Brebins, which meant nothing to me. But now, hours later with the internet by my side and the paper the man gave me, I can report that Brebins is sheep's milk, and the cheese came from Arberats, a teeny hamlet in the southwest corner of France, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The cheese itself was fairly mild, with a bit of zip from the peppers. Good choice, for someone with no idea what he is doing!

Today's cheese. The paper brought over by the cheese man.

Apples are big at the market in this season

Piles of those famous French green beans

The clock tower of the former St Martins church

Evidence of the former church in the city street

Statue of St Martin, depicting the famous story of his sharing his cloak

St Martin books for sale at the basilica

Pilgrims are welcome, and can receive food and lodging here

another represention of the St Martin cloak story

With the help of the GPS and very good Loire a Velo signage, we left Tours and headed west along the Cher. The Cher will soon join the Loire, but the route stays south, on the Cher, for a bit.

We passed Michel's "favourite" spot - Joue les Tours. Actually last time, Michel thought there were some pretty dodgy people around Joue. All we saw, though, were nice parks.

Outside the lovely village of Savonierres, Dodie identified Les Grottes Petrifiantes, a tourist attraction that guides you deep into the hillside, in caves that are composed of tuffa - the limestone from which the chateau are are made. This particular site was first explored and developed in 1547. The dripping water through the material that is up to 80 percent calcium creates wild scenes of stalactites and stalagmites and swirly vertical and horizontal patterns of deposited material.

The tendency of the water to deposit calcium, often at a rapid rate, has been exploited to coat various articles - like little figurines. But also for hundreds of years there has been an art form of bas relief, in which molds are carved and put out for the water to deposit its mineral. The molds in the old days were made in copper, and transferred to rubber. Now the material of choice is silicone.

We have been in underground environments like this before - in the US, including a gold mine in Idaho and caves elsewhere. They are always fascinating. But nowhere have we seen deposit of stone this fast. Surprisingly, grottos like this are common in France. We picked up a pamphlet that lists 70 of them all across the country!

Flowers and stone, a major theme in this region

Calcium deposits, with figurines placed to accumulate a coating

Photo shows the fine detail in the calcium art

These form in the caves within the pools of water

Depiction of one of our favourite chateaus

Old methods of cutting/prying out a block of tuffa

Big blocks needed to be cut into pieces like this for transport, and building chateaus

Its hard to see in this view of the ceiling of the cave, but it is full of fossils. This area had been under the sea, and the limestone is clearly material deposited at that time.

Just down the path from Savonierres is Villandry. Cyclists that passed us on the route all mentioned that we were approaching the fabulous chateau here. So we perched in the town, just down the street from the chateau. Probably we will walk through it tomorrow, unless some madness puts us on the path to Saumur right away. Our hotel here is the Cheval Rouge. Like in Chenonceau, the town seems to be a cluster of super cute hotels poised near the chateau. The view from our window certainly verifies the attractiveness of the place. We are not saying that we saved the best for last on this tour, but returning to the Loire does seem to have been a great idea. Only thing, we will have to return again. The bikes, even Grampies' bikes, just go too fast to allow one to absorb everything.

A rather royal feeling passage along to Villandry

What we see from our window at le Cheval Rouge in Villandry

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 3,774 km (2,344 miles)

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