France - Indre-et-Loire

Amboise
Mon 26 May 2014     Cumulative distance 1002km
The simple 'Hotel de la Gare' where we stayed the night proved to be popular with cycle tourers and another six arrived soon after us. In the morning there was much discussion (they spoke some English) about our gear, planned routes, etc, as we loaded our bikes on the footpath outside the hotel. We expect to run into them again somewhere in the next day or so.

Our day was short in terms of distance as we allocated generous time to visit Château de Chenonceaux with its majestic buildings and wonderful gardens. As we had only a short distance to cover to reach the château, we arrived before the crowds and could enjoy the place without the usual summer hassles.

Today we achieved our 1000km marker (after some minor objections from Denis regarding measurement accuracies were duly dismissed) and felt it fitting that this occurred in the vicinity of Chenonceaux.

After a couple of hours wandering about we retreated to the local village for a light lunch before completing the short trip over the ridge between the Cher and Loire rivers to reach Amboise. Its impressive castle sits on a hill overlooking the town and the river and dominates the landscape. As luck would have it, the rain returned soon after our arrival and so our sightseeing was curtailed and we retreated to the hotel we had found in the old town to plan and prepare for the next leg of our journey towards Brittany.

On to Chenonceaux Photo

 

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Château de Chenonceaux
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The château gardens Photo

 

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Amboise Photo

 

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