Europe 2014: Nouan-sur-Loire (update...)

Yesterday and today's distance: 160km (100 Miles)

Our ride yesterday out of Rigny-Ussé was probably not one of our better days of the trip. We rode for a good part of the day on top of the levee which in it self wasn't bad, other than every gnat in France wanted to swarm on the same road we were riding on. Had to keep our mouths closed otherwise we would have quickly swallowed our daily protein intake for the day. We dared not look up otherwise you would get a full dose of them right in your face.. They seemed to dissipate once the sun rose higher in the sky.

We were making good distance when we got to a barricade with a bunch of folks standing about yelling "Alléz" many times. It seemed we had run into part of a marathon than was using OUR path for their course. We both have run marathons in the past but our enthusiasm for them seemed to quickly wane now that they were preventing us to proceed on our excellent journey through the Loire Valley. We hung around to see if there was a good time to sneak past the barricade but a young gendarmerie guy was guarding that particular intersection pretty well, AND had a big gun on his holster. We decided to backtrack and find another way to get around. We thought we had outwitted them when we ran into another barricade further back in the middle of a little village. Seemed like a good time to take an early lunch and watch the proceedings from our outdoor cafe table. They had some live French music playing about 30 ft from where we were sitting. Made a mental note to never run a marathon in France and have to listen to that! That was not inspiring music to say the least!

Managed to finally get on the road again towards Tours, one of the bigger towns on our route and also the start/finish of the infamous marathon. We were able to avoid any further barricades by riding on sidewalks and other places that we're probably illegal. Good thing it was a Sunday. We rode to the center of town where we visited the St Gatien's cathedral. Amazing to see! It was started in the year 1170 and finished around 1547. You can see why it would have taken almost 400 years to build it..

The rest of the ride was less than inspiring and were glad we finally made it to Amboise where we secured a hotel room. They have this huge fortress in the middle of town that was a residence of many French kings. We were pretty tired so just sat in a cafe outside of it and watched it with beers in our hands. I think that Chateaux "fatigue" was starting to set in for us. Seen one,... Amboise is also the town where Leonardo da Vinci retired to and died.

Today was a better day in that we didn't run into many bugs or marathons.. The route did wander up and down many steep hills, but were rewarded with some great views over the vineyards and farm land. Many chateaus, but decided to just look at them as we rode on by.. We did stop at the one on Chambord which is one of the more famous ones in the region. This one has 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases! Pretty overwhelming seeing it from the outside, so we dared not buy a ticket to tour the inside..

It was a great day weather wise for bicycle touring although a lot cooler than we have had so far (low 50's). Still we decided to camp out tonight and found a good spot in the little village of Nouan-sur-Loire. We had luckily prepared buying extra food because there was no restaurant open within 10km.. Even a nice bottle of Medoc to help us keep warm before bed!