Loire valley cycle, day 5 - Azay-le-Rideau to Loches

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Again, early morning mist from the river, but with the army of ducks laughed their taps around 7 am, I was out of bed by 8 am, with enough time to enjoy the quiet and the misty reflections on the river. Our first stop was to La Vallee Troglodytique des Goupillieres, a small collection of dwellings and farms discovered by the proprietor, Louis-Marie Chardon, as a child. He had since converted the caves and land to how they might of been, with a fruitful garden, an odd assortment of old farming equipment, and farm animals like goats, donkeys, pigs, and chickens. He was at hand to explain some of the more interesting details of the caves, with his obvious excitement about the magical place contagious.

Then onwards on winding paths, along the Indre towards Loches, including some off roading, since some of the local roads on the maps are no more than gravel tracks. Weather was also cooperative, and we enjoyed a summery picnic on a bench outside of a river kayak course in Cormery, home to an abbey that makes "veritables macarons." They were like marzipan donuts with a hit of orange, very nice.

It must be fly mating season, since we collided with swarms. Swarms that attach to your clothes and hair and coat the ground.

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