Cycling to Chateaux de Chenonceaux

Today was our first real day in France. It was also our first trial of biking. We started the day by picking up our bikes from the bike rental place. We had concluded that if it was possible to do day of baggage transfers, that would have made our lives easier because both of our bags would not fit in the one trailer we rented. However, they are only willing to do that if you have it pre-booked and know all your locations along the way. So, we left our bags in the hotel and headed off on a day trip to Chenonceaux.

The official bike trail to get there requires going out of the way to Amboise and then going south, whereas the direct way is straight east of Tours. That would add about 10km to the ride. So, we followed Google Maps and took a more direct route. This started great as it was a bike bath following the river out of town. However, after a while, it turned into a very bumpy tractor route. We were also paralleling a semi-major road, so we gave up on the river path and cut over to the road, only to find a real bike path. The rest of the way alternated between a paved side road and proper bike paths. I wish these things were marked properly either on the tourist maps or in Google Maps as we were really just guessing.

We were hoping to make it to Chenonceaux in time for lunch, but it didn't look like it would happen, so we stopped in Blere for lunch. In France, you have to stop for lunch between 12 and 1:30 since that's the only times that restaurants are open. I had a delicious confit duck sheppards pie while Catherine had some fried ham steaks and a salad. It was a nice stop.

After lunch, we went to the castle, which was really neat. It's listed as THE castle to see if you come to the Loire Valley and for good reason. It is built over the river Cher with the main gallery being a long narrow room that straddles the river itself. Apparently they had balls and other big events in there, which would be interesting because of the space. Great for line dancing, that's for sure. It was also used as an infirmary during WWI and the soldiers would fish out the windows to entertain themselves. The chateaux was primarily built by Catherine de Medici and Diane Poitiers, who was Catherine's husband's mistress. There were three stories of your typical French royal bedrooms and studies. I found the kitchen area most interesting. They still had all the old tools from a well worn butcher's block, to dozens of copper cake pans to a rotisserie device that worked by having a weight out the window over the river. It would slowly lower, keeping the meats turning for hours before needing to be rewound.

After visiting the castle, we hopped on a train back to Tours and went to dinner at a wine & cheese restaurant. I bet you can guess what we ate! A large selection of cheeses and an appetizer of escarcot baked with cream and cheese. For desert, we shared a glass of desert Vouvray from 1989 that was delicious.