Bloise to Rigny-Ussé, through Ambois and Tours

July 3, 2023 - Bloise to Ambois

We got a much later start this morning, started breakfast after 9:00, and then left the hotel maybe at 10:15. Unfortunately it rained pretty hard for just a short while, we were able to huddle under an awning and get out of the rain. But overall we started very late. We ended up not going to the local castle in town, it just seemed like too much, and you can't do everything. Plus, we were going to head to a castle that was on the way today.

The famous stairs in Bloise

On the way out of town, the bridge was blocked. There were a lot of bikers waiting around, I asked them why they didn't just go to the next bridge, so we did. Then a minute later, biking down the road to get to the next bridge, I heard a huge shout, and saw that there was a movie shoot happening, of zombies coming out of the water. The bridge was a background for the movie shoot. Very interesting! Right after that happened, the bridge opened and so we ended up going back to that bridge.

Interesting pattern of blossoms on the thistle

A development of little homes

I think this unusual tractor must be used to trim the grapevines

Another cell tower

These little libraries are everywhere. I get the feeling they're not privately built, though, like they are in the US

Cool weather today, 44K but unfortunately lots of hills, they didn't make any effort to keep the bike trail next to the Loire, they went up into the villages and hills. The Chateau that we were going to visit, Château de Chaumont, was very close to the water, but unfortunately still up on a big hill.

We started walking up and then decided it was too far, got our bikes, and then started biking up. Walked much of the way up the hill. Then after getting to the top, we decided that it wasn't worth it, and would take too long, so we headed back down again! A long uphill for nothing. Thinking back to the chateau in Sully - it was great, it was immediately next to the trail, very beautiful.

We finally got to the hotel around 3:00, it's the Ibis budget, which I've always been happy with in the past, and which has always been very central. So I didn't really take a very close look at the map, but it turns out it's actually very far out of town. So this one was a mistake, and now we're here for two nights. We'll probably just go downtown tomorrow and see what there is to see, which is a lot - I think there's three chateaus in town.

Went to the Novotel next door for dinner, that was the only meal option reasonably close. It was a fancy-ish type of place, though not too expensive. The beef was tough.

July 4, 2023 - A Rest Day in Amboise

We had a nice day in town today, the big events were the visit to the Amboise chateau and then the Leonardo da Vinci chateau.

Walking down to the center of town takes a whole 30 minutes, and back is about the same, but of course it's uphill. The Amboise chateau was all about the history of various heraldic orders, order of Saint Michael, order of the Golden Fleece, etc. not super interesting, though there were some great views of town, and some nice gardens.

A bookstore that has a lot of paper maps - haven't seen that in the US in a while...

The riverside in Amboise

Bought some marzipan fruit

Cool old car

View from the top of the chateau

Unusual chair design - very short seat

Lots of school groups were everywhere in the castles

There was an inclined ramp, to ride into the castle on horseback

It was STRAIGHT down from the tower.

Really cute looking house, built into the cliff.

The Leonardo da Vinci Chateau was more impressive, and had many models of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions. There were also some very large school groups that huddled in doorways and staircases, blocking everyone else, trying to find the answers on their treasure hunt type worksheet.

Peter as the Mona Lisa

Relaxing in the room

Had a nice conversation with some other tourists, an elderly couple from Alabama, traveling with their 16-year-old grandson. I started a conversation with the grandfather because he had on an Indiana t-shirt, and I told him that Eric went to Purdue.

For lunch we had some stuffed crepes, and were sitting next to a couple from North Carolina, who are on a tour from the Backroads company. We chatted with them quite a bit. People seem to be very impressed that we're doing this trip on our own. We saw other people on that tour all throughout town, it must have been a pretty large group.

What else... there was supposed to be some heavy rain this afternoon, but it wasn't too bad, just more or less some drizzle.

Peter wanted to try the warmshowers thing (kind of like couchsurfing), so I emailed one host in Tours, and for the first time they actually replied and said that they were available! So, looks like we'll be staying with a family with four children, which is very unusual for France. I'm looking forward to it, Peter is as well, there may even be some boys his age - that's what it looked like in their profile picture.

July 5, 2023 - Amboise to Tours

Short ride, with some easy hills today. We also ran into a plum tree that was ripe and picked a bunch of plums for our next break. We were taking it very slow and easy because we have a warm shower's stay set up, and they were only available at 6:00 p.m., so we had a TON of time. We biked along a section where wine storage facilities and even some houses were built into the cliffs on the side of the road, very interesting.

Lots of grapevines

We stopped for a lot of breaks, since it was a short ride.

Also ran into a Canadian lady who was biking with her two kids, they had lost their dad along the way, and we're having a hard time reconnecting.

In Tours, we spent some time in the cathedral which had some very impressive stained glass. They each had a huge sign to describe what each section of the stained glass meant, but it was really hard to try to figure out which sign corresponded to which window, and which window segment corresponded to which explanation. They needed somebody who has some experience in user interface design to tell them how to make it more understandable.

I saw two of these "completely cleaned between each visit" public toilets, they were both broken.

We had lots of time to kill because we couldn't show up till 6, so we biked around casually for quite some time

This park reminds me of the one across the street from us in Geneva.

At 6:00 p.m. we knocked on the door of our hosts from warm showers. The mom and one of the daughters was actually just coming to the home, they had been a little delayed. They were very friendly and welcoming, they host a lot of people from warm showers and have a wall up in their hallway with pictures and notes from their guests.

I tried speaking some French, but Blandine spoke English, and also encouraged the girls to speak in English, which they did mostly. They have four girls, three of them at home. Also - no TV! That gives a whole different atmosphere to the home, much more peaceful and calming. They had many many books, also lots of comics, they dug out the ones that Peter knew. So, Peter was able to read Calvin and Hobbes in French, though he said he didn't need the French because he had memorized the English.

Husband Matthieu is a doctor, general practitioner, and Blandine is a pediatrician, who works at a center for children with disabilities. I asked them some questions about the French healthcare system, it seems very complex, with both a public and a private insurance system that both appear to be mandatory? I'm not quite sure I understood that part properly, though. Blandine makes a ton of jam! She has all different kinds, including fig from her own trees, and apricot pear mixture, and the most exotic which was banana jam. Matthieu actually opened up one of the banana jam jars for me at breakfast, it was quite good!

For dinner we had what Blandine called a salad composee, basically pasta, corn, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, with a dressing. Then afterwards bread, cheese, and fruit.

Also I sat up with Matthew and Blandine when they had some coffee in the evening, we talked till about 11:00. I asked Blandine about her job, we talked about health insurance, etc. Very good chat.

July 6, 2023 - Tours to Rigny-Ussé

We had a nice breakfast that our hosts had laid out for us, Blandine had to work that day and had had to get up at 5:30 to take the train, Marion was on her way to school, Matthieu had needed to take his car in for repairs. We ended up eating breakfast with Emily, who's 14 or so.

Matthieu ended up biking with us about 15 km, it was very nice to have him to talk to. I asked to go by the plaza that Blandine talked about, where there was a burnt out bus from the riots. I took some pictures there. Very interesting!

Burnt out bus from the riots

Then we went by some gypsy encampments, first some concrete huts that seemed completely deserted, then a whole section of travel trailers, a huge amount of them. I didn't see any people though.

An old mill close to Tours

We ended up stopping in Villandry, a huge chateau with enormous, very well laid-out gardens. We spent a lot of time there since we didn't have that far to go today. We hung out and read in some sling chairs in the gardens, very nice. Here's some photos of the castle.

There's been a huge amount of bikers on the trail compared to what we've been seeing, the most we've seen. I wonder if that lasts all the way to Nantes.

Here's some photos of the segment between Villandry and Rigny-Ussé

I think this was another old stone marker, marking the distance along the Loire ocanal

Strange monster stacks of hay

We didn't actually get inside this castle. Pretty neat looking, though.

We we got to the apartment, and I called the phone number from booking.com, to see if we could get in early. Almost all of these types of apartments only allow you in at 5:00 p.m. which is way too late in my opinion. The lady that answered the phone was very friendly, and told us how to get in. It's a very nice, newly renovated old barn, with old beams, stone walls, etc. Very charming, though I've hit my head on the low beams a couple times.

This is a very isolated area, there's no restaurants or anything nearby. Peter and I biked to a little tiny grocery store to get some food for dinner and breakfast. At this grocery store, you weren't allowed to touch any of the fruits and vegetables yourself, you had to have the storekeeper help you. I haven't run into anything like that in many years.

Ah...finally at the apartment

Lots of beams

The apartment from the outside

Regular whole milk gets a "B". Cocoa puffs get an "A". The logic of modern food labeling.