Loire Valley - Day One

After yesterday’s long drive and late arrival it was a late start today. My bed had a single sheet and as it was hot when I decided to sleep that’s all I used to cover myself. It got cold during the night, which woke Daniel and he decided to throw a duvet over me. I woke at 9:30 most grateful. After reorganizing our possessions we took the car to be refueled and then visited a supermarket for some supplies. I don’t (can’t) usually do this when cycling as there isn’t any room to carry more than food that will be consumed the same day. However we will be based in Tours for five nights and the room has a small kitchenette in a cupboard. We can cook. Perhaps I should clarify that…… Daniel will cook! We skipped lunch and departed on a test cycling ride around 2pm. The initial destination was a local bike shop where I had the front brake on my bike maintained. The hydraulic brake was very spongy. The brake fluid needed topping up. That done we started following the route I had planned whilst in Australia. We hadn’t planned on going too far as we wanted to check the bikes. However the kilometers steadily passed under our wheels and we travelled 25km to reach the Chateau de Villandry in an attractive village with the same name. Much of the ride was through light forest and parklands beside the River Loire.

The scene from the bridge was too good for Daniel to miss

A photo of his chubby father! At this point in the ride I asked Daniel if he would like to retrace the route to Tours.

Chateau de Villandry He wanted to press on and complete a circuit At this point we were overtaken by a serious cyclist on a carbon fibre bike. However the route south from Villandry immediately goes up a steep hill and he was struggling. Then he became somewhat angry as Daniel and I surged past on our modified ebikes. Once over the steep hill we entered rolling countryside with fields of corn and sunflower. Approximately 10km from Villandry we reach our second chateau, Chateau Le Gerfault. This one is now an exclusive hotel. As it was private property entry was prohibited. We cycled on stumbling upon a supermarket where we briefly stopped as Daniel wanted to buy something to eat along with a cooked chicken which he intended we eat for dinner. At the southwestern corner of the circuit we reached Chateau D'Azay-le-Rideau. It’s rather hard to see the chateau as it’s in a valley beside a river and surrounded by trees. We would have like to stay longer but it was 4pm and we were at the extreme end of the circuit.

Caught whilst working out a route back to Tours The route east was on rural roads adjacent to the river L’Indre. We passed through quaint villages with two storey stone cottages before heading north to Tours on the slightly busy Rue de la Monts to reach the southern outskirts of Tours. Eventually we found a cycle path and returned to our apartment having ridden 68km.