September 4, 2022
Day 4: Chalonnes sur Loire to Fontevraud
Today’s plan includes seeing vineyards, churches, the Loire, chateaux, and making sure we have a picnic lunch. It’s Sunday and lot of things are closed; you can’t rely on restaurants or boulangeries to be open.
Before leaving Chalonnes we followed our chambre d’hôte host’s advice and popped into the local boulangerie for a sandwich and a couple of cookies. Perfect picnic material. Then, we said our goodbyes and pedaled off in the 16C weather.
The roads were quiet and covered with dew. It was cool, but not cool enough to wear arm warmers. Today’s route starts off following the Loire and is green and lush. We rounded a corner and came across our first chapel of the day. It was locked, but zoom in close and look at the faces above the door.
This area is riddled with old coal mines.
After leaving the chapel, we rounded the corner and saw our first vineyards.
Both sides of the road are in vines. Chenin is the predominant grape.
And luckily I clicked the camera right as we passed the front gate to a small chateau that houses a winery.
The tower has a pulley up high and was used to raise and lower things into the mine shaft. The shaft went down 85 meters and then, they dug additional incline tunnels to a depth of 200 meters. It was closed down in 1963.
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It took me a couple of minutes to figure out what these piles were … the smell was the give away.
One of my favorites.
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The doors were open. The acoustics were really good.
Interesting to see another white interior church.
It’s lovely riding along the river. The roads are quiet, but this department needs to learn how to do chip seal better. Surfaces are getting rough.
Brissac is added to our list to visit again. We want to tour the chateau. It was closed between 12 & 2. That’s when we were there.
But we must continue on. There is so much to stop and see today and unfortunately it’s one of our longer days in the saddle.
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We were so surprised to see sunflowers in full bloom this late in the year. There were several fields adjacent to vineyards as we rode by.
About 45 kilometers into our ride we were starting to get hungry. We passed a sign for a dolmen, so we turned around and went in search of it. Next to the dolmen was a picnic table … perfect lunch spot. The folks down the lane from us stretched out on the ground for a nap after their lunch.
There was so much to see along today’s route.
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We couldn’t resist the sign about a cave. The gates were open and the sign indicated a restaurant was inside and if you were curious, you were invited to enter. We parked the tandem and went for a walk into the hillside.
Beyond the restaurant the caverns were filled with mushrooms! But wait … a bit further down the road we saw this:
If only we had more time. We passed up this opportunity because the hours were ticking by.
More roadside scenery to share.
Sadly, we spent too much time playing on today’s route that we didn’t have time to visit the Abbey in Fontveraud this trip. I find it a fascinating place - King Henry II (England), Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Richard the Lionheart are buried here. I’ve always love Eleanor!
Tonight’s accommodations are a bit funky: Chambre d’Hotes de Chez Mimi. Dinner was at the local’s favorite: Le Délice, where fish was consumed by both of us.
Stats: 91.2 kilometers 559 meters elevation
Today's ride: 91 km (57 miles)
Total: 605 km (376 miles)
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