Sauntering to Saumur

We started today with what was probably the best continental breakfast I've ever had. It included crepes, homemade pot-de-creme, bread and even a flourless chocolate cake that our host made because Catherine can't eat gluten. After stuffing our faces, I mean getting energy for the day, we packed up and headed to the train station.

We decided to hop on a train to Chinon in order to cut out about 15 km from the trip for the day. On the train, which we were only taking two stops, the conductors stopped us. Apparently you can take bikes on the train, but you can't take bike trailers, which we were doing. Also, I apparently didn't know how you had to use tickets. We bought tickets from the machine, but didn't validate them because I didn't realize we had to. So they fined us 40 euros, but said that obviously, based on my accent, we're foreign and so they will write up the situation on the ticket and said that I had to take the ticket to the office in Chinon to get a refund. Of course, he still had to write the ticket in the first place. How very French!

Biking by the Troglodyte Houses

In Chinon, we stumbled across a farmer's market where we bought some snacks for lunch. We found sausage, cheese, bread, pears and a bottle of rose. To get out of town, we first wanted to take a tour around the castle. The map said that there was a bike route around it, so we tried to find it and ended up biking up a very big hill and putzing around for 45 min, trying to get back to the bridge out of town. We found out that there was actually an elevator we were supposed to take. I don't know why I didn't think of that!

The best view of the castle was from across the bridge where you can see it overlooking the town. After admiring the view, we followed a great bike path for about 15 km that went along the Vienne, and about when it got to the Loire, stopped for our picnic lunch. One of the things we noticed along the way is that there are a number of poplar plantations along the path. After some digging online, it turns out that they are planted in the area traditionally when a girl is born. Her father plants the trees, which are harvest when she gets married to pay for the wedding. The wood is used primarily to ship wine.

After lunch, we continued along the bike path on what was probably the most interesting stretch. The path from Conde-Saint-Martin to Saumur goes through a sequence of vineyards and little towns, some of whom are cut into the hillside. At one point, we were taking the scenic route up to the vineyards. Catherine was zooming ahead on her e-bike and I was trailing behind slowly cranking our baggage up the hill. I passed an older couple walking the other way, who looked at me, looked at Catherine, then looked at me again and just smiled.

On that stretch, the bike path does a detour in Turquant that actually goes through some of the old roads carved into the cliff side. They actually go for kilometers and were used to move from house to house, while staying hidden. We also stopped at the pommes tapee museum/factory. These are a specialty of the area that were primarily used back in the day to preserve apples for long sea voyages. The apples are slowly dried over 3 days in a kiln and then smacked flat with a special hammer. The entire operation is done inside the caves. To eat them, you rehydrate them, preferably with something warm and tasty, like mulled wine.

A couple of towns past the museum, we stopped quickly for some coffee and then headed into Saumur in time to go to the maison de vin, which is a tourist tasting room to showcase the wines of the region. It was interesting to get an overview of the Saumur and Anjou wines although our guide wasn't that good.

We then dropped off our stuff a the hotel across the river and went for dinner at a small restaurant right in downtown. I had terrine as an app, while Catherine had some mushrooms roasted with local goat cheese. For mains, we had steak and Catherine got some french fries. Finally, for desert, we had Cointreau creme brulee, which is also a local flare since Cointreau comes from Anger, just down the river.