Voyages au printemps: Faire du vélo à Château de Chenonceau/Cycling to Château de Chenonceau

Le dimanche nous sommes allé à Château de Chenonceau. Le Château est en l’environ 16 kilomètres de Amboise. Nous avons pris le train à Saumur de Amboise. Malheureusement, quand nous sommes arrivé à la gare le train a ete 50 minutes en retard. La conséquence était que nous aurions un court fois au Château. Nous avons fait quelque faux tournants, bien-sur. Éventuellement, nous avons arrivé au Château, mais nous avons eu l’environ 30 minutes à le voir. Nous avons retourné sur une route différente à côte de Cher et puis j’ai fais une erreur. Nous sommes monté une petite colline et puis sur une route était très fréquentes. Il n’était pas bien, mais les voitures étaient très prévenantes qui est diffèrent de les conducteurs en Nouvelle Zélande et Australie. Nous sommes arrivé à la gare à l’heure !

It was a fine day for our bike ride to Chateau de Chenonceau. It was still cool but at least the sun was shining. It was far too far to bike in a day so we planned to take a train to Amboise and then bike from Amboise to the Chateau. The distance was somewhere between 13 and 16 kilometres according to he information that we had.

Unfortunately when we got to the train station there was a sign saying that the train was 50 minutes late. This was causing some consternation to people as it seemed that some had a TGV to catch to Bordeaux and Paris. For us it meant that there would be less time to look around the Chateau and the spectacular grounds and gardens judging by the photos we had seen.

Eventually the train arrived and we had a very quick ride to Amboise. The “Velo Loire” signs from the station were quite good until we got out of the very pretty town of Amboise. Then it all went to custard they disappeared. I think we must have missed a sign or two. Also Google Maps did not help much either. Eventually we found the right road which went through a nice forest but about three kilometres from the Chateau we were sent on another set of roads. This had us climbing and descending frequently and the distance must have been about another 6 kilometres. At least there was very little traffic on the country roads.

We were in need of some sustenance when we arrived at the Chateau so we found a little Boulangerie where we had a superb sandwich or roll.

We saw what I thought were lots of people biking when were going on the route less travelled. At the Chateau there were many bikes locked to the bike rails and we briefly spoke to a couple of American women about our age who commented that the roads were not quite as flat as had been made out in the cycling information.

Chateau de Chenonceau was very busy. I am not sure if this is typical or whether it was because it was both a nice day and a holiday weekend. We only had half an hour to scoot around the place, take some photos and a get a taste of what the Chateau and the grounds might be like. It was very impressive.

Before we got on our bikes Bev told me off for going too fast and that I had to go a bit slower so she could enjoy herself. I said that it was my comfortable rhythm and she of course retorted with “its not mine”; which is fair enough since I have longer legs. We took a slightly different route with the first six or so kilometres on path beside the river Cher before it left it and then I took a wrong turn (the signs often were not in obvious places although Bev had seen one and I had taken no notice of her). If I had we may have had an easier ride than the long climb and then the rather busy road along which we travelled. It is less daunting to travel on a bike on French roads than in New Zealand. Drivers give you a wide berth and will even stop or slow down to allow you proceed at your pace.

Eventually we arrived at Amboise with a few minutes to spare which involved walking through the crowds on the streets until we got to the road to take us to Gare d’Amboise. We arrived with three minutes to spare.

Getting our bikes onto the train was a bit of a mission as there was nowhere to put them so we had to put them in the aisles – generally people were tolerant of us and it helped that the train was not very full anyway.

We had to change trains in Tours and only just made that train too but this one was newer and we had a dedicated place to put our bikes which was great. There were two tired people who arrived back in Saumur. However, that did not stop us from riding up to the Chateau de Saumur and seeing a few panoramic views before sitting down at a little bar and enjoying a drink looking out at the Chateau in front of us. It was a wonderful end to a rather eventful day.