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Published: August 10th 2011
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So today was the first day of cycling. I got up nice and earrly (6.30am - yes shock horror I wouldn't be doing that at home) and had a nice big breakfast with crossaints, eggs on toast, youghurt, oj and coffee. So after that got everything prepared to start. It was overcast and slightly drizzly, but had to go sooner or later as 60km ahead of me. Left the hotel at 8am and was on my way and managed to get slightly lost leaving Tours, after cycling for 1.5hrs I made it to Castle Villandry. The castle was a large one and absolutly beautiful, the gardens were amazingly big and all colour co-ordinated with special designs all having a certain meaning. After spending about 2hrs there I was on my way again following the river Cher which comes off the Loire river. The scenery was beautiful as had river on one side and farms, cottages and the odd town on the other. So followed the cycle route which is a cycle path but you do see the odd vehicle coming as is a road that a few locals drive down. So after another hour of cycling (at no great speed, just
taking it easy) I came to the town of Langeais in which there is also a castle. So being the typical tourist I went in to see the castle and grounds, it wasn't as big as Villandry but the castle itself was nice and has some history there of royal marriage. The castle grounds weren't that big but there was still part of an old building there and you could climg up the wooden stairs to see a good view of the castle. By the time I had finished looking at the castle it was after 1.30 so I decided to stop and have some luch, the weather had fined up by this stage and it was scourching hot and the sun was out in full fourse. So after having a really yummy salmon salad and a bit of a break I carried on my merry way. The next stop after about cycling about 15kms was Chateau d'Usse. So I stopped and had a look around the castle and grounds, the castle and surrounding builings were beautiful, but there wasn't much of a garden. At this castle there was a seperate church, caves where they made wine for royal guests
and the stables which you could look at too. So after spending oveer an hour there I had a nice refreshingly cold ice-cream it was time to head on my way (about 4.30ish). So the next stop was Chinon which was the final stop for the day and where I would spend the next two nights sleeping. Chinon has a castle as well but by the time I got there it was closed so I didn't look inside but that didn't bother me as has seen enough for one day. After finding my hotel (and getting lost once more) it was time for a nice shower and dinner. When I headed out for dinner (the resturant I had the voucher at was only 5min walk) it was about 7pm, and I was starving from the biking. I was the only one at the resturant for about half an hour which I found strange but it seems the french like to eat quite late and have big meals. So after filling my belly with yummy food I headed back to the hotel for an early night as was stuffed.
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Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0469s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb