We set off further up the valley with a detour to the Château de Chenonceau on the way to our next stop - Blois. We wondered if we would feel ridiculously under dressed exploring a grand castle in our sweaty bike gear, so were pleased when we saw quite a few other cyclists with the same idea. This was a fairytale-like castle with some grit, having been used as a hospital in WW1. It is built over the River Cher, which marked the border between Nazi territory and Vichy territory in WW2 and was used as a passage to smuggle people to the free zone. It was a beautiful spot and well worth the extra few kilometres on the bike.
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| Château de Checonceau over the Cher river |
We headed to Blois, where we had booked an Airbnb for a couple of nights to allow us to do a day trip to our next castle, Château Chambord. Blois was a picturesque spot with some nice old town buildings. Unfortunately, that often comes with a few stairs and some of those lovely cobblestones we love to bike on so much to add an extra challenge to the end of the day.
We set off without the panniers for a day trip to the the Château Chambord. We had packed ourselves a picnic lunch to eat on the grounds and enjoyed the ride through the countryside. We were rather annoyed at ourselves when we went to go inside and realised we had left the locks for the bikes at the apartment, 25km or so away! We decided to risk it and used our spare bike tubes to tie our bikes to the rack in the hope it would act as a visual deterrent to the stupider criminals and hope for the best while we explored the grounds.
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| Maybe we should upgrade from two wheels to four.... |
After a few lookouts from various towers in the castle, we were relieved to find our bikes just as we left them when we returned. I guess we will never know if it was those tied up bike tubes that did the trick!
We headed back to Blois and planned to cook a meal in our apartment and utilise the rare luxury of a T.V. to watch the Euro 2016 semifinal - Germany vs. France. As you probably know by now, France won, and for the next half an hour we could hear endless cars tooting their horns to celebrate. We caught a bit of football fever ourselves and were looking forward to watching the final in a few days time.
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| Blois |
We headed further up the Loire Valley and enjoyed our last day on the cycle trails. It was a hot day and we were heartbroken when we turned up to the campsite and saw the "Complet" (full!) sign. We meekly asked if they had any spots for us and to our relief they told us they always have spots for cyclists - they even offered us the "best spot in the campground".
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| Nuclear power plant - didn't see any three eyed fish in the Loire though! |
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| The best spot: I was a bit worried about how close those swans were getting... |
We said goodbye to the Loire Valley and rejoined the traffic to head northeast to Fontainebleau. It was a little intimidating after spending so long on dedicated cycle trails, but the roads were reasonably quiet and the drivers courteous. Our first choice of camping ground had been flooded out, so we settled for what can only be described as a French trailer park. However, we had a nice spot in the shade by the lake, which partially made up for the condition of the toilet facilities.
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| So much serenity... The view from the tent at sunset |
After a hot day walking through the forest of Fontainebleau (Dave wanted to check out the famous bouldering area), we found a tiny local pub to watch the Euro 2016 final - France vs Portugal. We enjoyed watching the theatrics of the football game and found ourselves quite disappointed when France eventually lost after extra time. After a bit of a sleep in, we were excited to catch the train to our destination for the next week - Paris!
- Sarah
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