Faster turnaround at the bike shop this morning, including 2 e-bike upgrades, and back onto the trail along the loire, this time continued straight until coffee at scenic bridge in cande-sur-beavron, where we tried to figure out where the 4 stragglers were ('we weren't lost!') and how 4 leaders went on without stopping. Beautiful riding through forests and along the river until the fairy tale castle in chateau de Chaumont where we instantly decided we needed more time than initially allotted. Beautiful gardens and overlook of the loire River, and nice lunch in courtyard. And a nap. Magical. Then back along the river, and by the vineyards. Stops for swimming in the loire, and another winery tour! Arrival in amboise before 5pm (!!), then our 2nd 'group's dinners (clois d'amboise with anne & jj). This town may be even cuter than the last.
After first in-room coffee, a much nicer breakfast at hotel chaptal. 8.30 on time departure. Medoum climb away from river, then across fields with sunflowers then along Cher river. Little piece along single track with barbed wire and electrified fence, to another fairy tale castle, the 2nd most popular in France (crowded! Definitely a super spreader locale) and really stunning gardens. Jens family goes back to Diane de Poitier who owned this castle in the 1600s. The castle is built ON the cher River, which was the dividing line between nazi and vichy france. Apparently the vichy rescued lots of Jews in WWII by secreting them south through the castle. Apparently to the french, they were heroes. See daily comments....jason used castle workshop to fix Bruce's shoe. Bailed on the castle lunch and found a spot in town, then back along the river to the water park. So fun. 15 of us waited for Shira and david,, who from the other side of the river said they were doing their own thing. Stayed till 4.30. Had to kludge the route back onto the trail, then back to Amboise. A couple big climbs, but a lovely forested shady gentle downhill broke them up. Arrived in town late and ate the best peach of my whole life. Then another one. Sushi dinner with Clive, jeannie, bruce, lisa, Jason, dena. Then out on the town for a beer in the hopping plaza below chateau with cohens. The whole country is on vaca! 32 Miles. Another good day.
Wednesday. With 97 forecasted for today, the bus left at 7.30am along left bank towards montlouis-sur-loire. Nice riding through vineyards to the chateau bordaisiere where we could actually have stayed (agus' dream!) For 200 Euro (with breakfast). This Is one of the places the nazis took over for their parties, as is often portrayed in movies. 21 milles, 17 riders, back by 10.30.
First appearance of audrey, still testing covid positive but still not riding with us. One flat (with the wrong tube, so jason played hero again). And one crash - Jason passing me on the right. 26 miles, 2 real hills, one lost helmet and while we didn't think it possible - a better day than yesterday.
During the day, we explored amboise including Leonardo da Vinci's workshop, where he spent his final 3 years and invented the first bike which is actually here (that's our story) Appropriate. Besides the mona lisa, the guy invented pretty much everything - double-hulled ships, ball bearings, swivel bridges, tanks, the archimedean screw (maybe?), and he fixed guttenberg printing press. Some walked to the island, others did a walking tour (learned A LOT about the secret l'amasse river under Amboise), shopped, slept, Jason and Mark tried to kill themselves by riding another 25 miles. And an epic game of code names, with the boys beating the girls 2-1 (supposedly with an asterisk)
Dinner at la cave aux fouees with everyone - so fun to eat in a cave. Not the best meal of the trip, but 21 Euro each including wine. We had to taxi over as due to normal french rules, they would not keep bike room open past 9pm. Hung by the water for 10pm sunset. Yet another good day
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