August 17, 2011
A delightful easy morning: We have trouble getting past Tours
The road out of Chinon was very steep for the first 3 km as it took us up to the height of the fortress. After that it was undulating all the way to the river at Usse and great travelling. The Chateau at Usse was magnificent . It was too early in the day to visit it and anyway I think I prefer to look at them from the outside and imagine what happened inside. From there the route was largely a dedicated cycle track alongside the river and it was very pleasant and easy. We went through small villages and in one stopped for our usual coffee at the usual price, usual small size and as usual freshly ground beans and fairly strong.
We felt pretty pleased with ourselves when we stopped for lunch at the outskirts of Tours having done a bit over 50km and feeling very fresh. We stopped at a small park like place beside the River Cher. Besides us there was a group of around 15 2-3yr olds with their minders. I think they were probably from a day care. They were having an absolute ball and on the river was a characteristic boat and some serious looking men all dressed up in boatman gear having lots of serious fun and taking the children for rides in a boat. It is this type of incidental thing that makes travelling by bicycle such a great way to travel. We may not see all the 'great' sights but I feel we get a much better feeling of the country.
After this it all turned to custard and somehow we lost the route and ended up going around in circles in the outskirts of Tours. Nothing for it but to resort to the GPS. We programmed it for a small town the other side of Tours. I think it must have decided to punish us as it took us on an enormous detour the apex of which was a place we passed through well before lunch. Never mind we have now stopped after 101km and there are 2 good points. I think we must be getting fitter as we both feel OK and we passed a bike shop. My gears had got very stiff and the helpful mechanic was able to free them up so I will be able to get in the low range easily again.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 101 km (63 miles)
Total: 495 km (307 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |