Bicycle Trip - France, 2003

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5/27/03 - Tuesday.
I woke up between 6 and 6:30 AM, a little later than I wanted, got ready (dressed), retrieved my bike and headed out about 7:30 AM. I crossed north over the Loire on the pedestrian/bike bridge I had found the day before and immediately picked up N-152 and headed east to Amboise.

Outside of Tours I took a picture of the homes in the limestone cliffs

One does not what to read these signs going by too fast

This is the Cannondale bike I rented. Except for the kickstand, and later the rear brakes, it was just fine.

N-152 turned out to be very busy with no shoulder, so not a lot of fun. I was always confused on turn-offs and round-abouts since there were few signs or markings that I was looking for. I turned off at Vouvray to pick up D-46, supposed a less well-traveled road, but I went past D-46 and wound up in the country north of Vouvray. I stopped in front of a farmhouse to check my map, where a lady gave me directions on how to get to D-46. I headed back down the hill to the turnoff, which turned out to be only a couple of blocks from my turn-off from N-152. I picked my route east, sometimes by guess, but did get on D-1, a pleasant road which took me to Nazelles-Negron, where I exited for Amboise. But again, I exited a round-about too soon and wound up on N-152 again for a short distance to the bridge across the river to Amboise. Decided to relax for a minute, eat a candy bar, and get a good map.

I first bought a packet of bike maps at a local bike shop, but they where worthless. Around the corner I found a book store where I found an excellent 1:100000 Orleans-Tours map for 4.90 Euros. Since the tourist office was across the street, I stopped in to see what they had. They really didn't offer too much, except gave good directions on the route for my next leg of this trip. Before that through, I headed up to the Chateau d'Amboise, but the cost was too much for the amount of time I wanted to spend (it was now about 11:00 AM.) So I bought a very good sandwich and a coke at a near-by restaurant and ate at a little table beside the chateau. I headed out about noon, up from the river and south. I picked up D-31 and biked east for a short distance, looking back at the chateau in the distance.

A view of the shops next door to the Chateau d'Amboise

The Chateau d'Amboise from the bridge over the Loire, north of town.

The Chateau d'Amboise from D-31, south of town.

I turned onto D-81 and headed south to Chenonceaux. The ride on D-81 was uneventful - there were a good number of bike riders headed north, though. I arrived at Chateau de Chenonceau about 1 PM.

The path into the Chateau de Chenonceau	Chateau de Chenonceau
Chateau de Chenonceau across the Cher, taken from the gardens	The gardens at Chenonceau

I took the self-guided tour for 8 euros, then ate the rest of my sandwich and headed back to Tours along D-40 about 2:30 PM. Everything was fine until I got closer to Tours, or about the little town of Vaumorin, where the choice was to get onto D-140 (too busy) or head north to the Loire. I decided to try some side streets to see how far I could get heading west. I shortly ran out of side streets, but noticed some arrows painted on the street, which seemed to lead me onto various paths and roads which did indeed avoid the busy highway. At one point I came across another impressive chateau, but, though it was very pretty, I decided I had enough chateaus for one day and continued on.

A description of the Chateau de la Bourdaisiere

The Chateau de la Bourdaisiere

A nice, quiet road back into Tours

But soon there were more arrows, in different colors, pointing different directions. At one point I found myself going in a big circle. Deciding enough is enough, I just pointed my bike west (I think). I came to one round-about but the map didn't give enough detail for me to pick the right direction, and now the sun was obscured so I had very little idea of where I was, and what direction I was heading. I needed my compass! I later found a sign which pointed me to St Pierre des Corps which I thought was good, but I stopped to ask directions to make sure.

I got into Tours, but I had to wander around for awhile to find some landmarks which pointed me to my hotel. I finally arrived at the hotel about 5:30 PM. I took a shower, dressed, then went to tourist office (by train station) to see about rooms in my next destination, Chinon. Since there only a few they could book, and they were all expensive, I decided to try my luck when I got there. I went across the street to McDonalds and got a meal for about 7 euros. I headed back to the hotel, but thought I would first stop at an internet cafe. The three I found were now closed for one reason or another, and by now I was lost again, so I had to wander around again - Tours is bigger than I thought it was going to be.

At the hotel I checked on the availability of rooms for when I got back from Chinon, but since that was going to be a holiday (Ascension Thursday) they were fully booked. I walked over to the nearby Hotel Foch, taking my map this time, and booked a room for Thursday and Friday for 26 euros, with shared WC but with a shower in room. I then went back to the Hotel Regina, recorded my trip notes and went to sleep, about 11 PM.
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