A less challenging but most enjoyable penultimate day before travelling back

The Church at Seur

We were rather tired after our circuitous lengthy ride to Chambord and back, so we breakfasted at the Gite on Croissants and a shared Tarte Abricots- that crėme patissier is something else.  Well fortified we set off at a leisurely pace for Seur and stopped to have a look round, especially at the church which dominated this nearby quiet village.  Previously we had sped through on our way to Montrichard or on our way back from Cheverney, but it was most enjoyable to take the pace down a notch or two and just amble along with no great urgency.  The stained glass church windows were interesting and the tranquillity was very relaxing.

We then took a way marked trail down the side of the Seuvre to Montheu and on to Valaire where lunch at an attractive little restaurant beckoned.  We decided not to eat since we were not sufficiently impressed by the menu. Another time perhaps.  We then followed the Loire along a road which bounded it, following its levee until it seemed the right route to veer back towards Chailles and we headed away from the river down a very narrow road.  Traversing minor roads left and right we emerged at Villelouet, not far from La Haye and directly opposite the Supermarket where we had shopped for basics.  We bought enough food for late lunch and dinner and returned to the gite.

Back to La Haye via Blois

 View across the field from the Chausee Prive to the gite

Time has marched on and we are miles away from home.  The realisation comes over us that we have some hard cycling to do if we are to get bck before nightfall.  Maybe, buoyed by yesterday’ success we have overreached ourselves.  It is going to be a race against time.  Our urgency is not helped by a decision to take the cycleway hich presents itself and from the map seems to go towards Blois.  Instead it veers towards St Dye before turning westwards and delays us even longer than necessary.  So when the cycleway crosses the road to Blois we take it.  The most direct way is the priority now.  We pedal like mad relentlessly wearing down the kilometres as we pass through places shown on the Michelin map so we can trace our journey and gain encouragement from making progress towards Blois.  The ‘D’ road is almost straight and we pass through St Claude and Vineuil where a right turmn takes us onto a main road for Blois for a short distance until we reach the river and turn laft to follow it back to the bridge across which we had travelled earlier that day.

We stopped at traffic lights at the bridge, had a drink by the river, bought a grand pain and some tuna quiche and moved off at quite a pace in the failing light along the levee down which we had come earlier.  When we reached the gite it was almost dark and we were exhausted and very hungry.  It had been another brilliant day.

The Largest Chateau : Chambord

 The Avenue to Chambord

The  easy option is rarely our choice so the train back to Blois is only considered briefly before we remount and recross the bridge at Muides and head through the village towards the chateau at Chambord. The heat is blinding but we soon reach the outer gates at the edge of the perimeter wall round the estate.  After a very straight and unexpectedly long journey we see the chateau at the end of a tree lined avenue Traffic is barred but we are able to cycle towards it, the way almost deserted and it seems as if we are privileged to approach from this side as carriages would have done in the past.  The moat is magnificent and the chateau’s size is immense.

 Chambord: from the Rear

Sylvia has been in search of a glace for days – framboise to be precise, which she has with a scoop of coconut. I have one scoop of nougat. We relax at the rear of the chateau as we eat them and then tired from our exertions – pedalling, not eating the ice cream – we have a snooze.

A Memorable Lunch

Bird Island

 The restaurant we were heading for is closed for the winter and we have no time to mope about our misfortune.  We need to make “other arrangements”.  Our disappointment is tinged with the hard edge of not wanting to go hungry since we have built up a healthy appetite on our journey, which has also made us tired.  We can head to the auberge at Muides sur Loire with Mer as a backstop and possible train journey back to Blois if we wish.  Or we can head straight inland tto Chambord and eat there.

 Heron

The auberge is closed but at Mer we get lucky. At 1.55pm we park up in the searing mid day heat and walk into a lovely little restaurant in the centre of town.  We are attracted by its Plat du Jour: Porc avec carrottes.  We add entrées as the gaspacho and salmon rilette look very attractive.  A noisy set of diners fish their meal and leave us in peace. The gaspacho is superb: pieces of jambon and floating French bread with creamy goat’s cheese aboard.  The rillette is also great, and is served with a creamy crevette sauce.

 A Memorable Lunch

The Plat du Jour is slow roasted belly pork.  It is lip smackingly good with its amalgam of juices and meat forming a crust to be savoured.  The high flavour of the  meat is softened by the plainly presented pile of steamed buttered carrots which have a light dusting of parsley on the top.  Another fine lunch is completed by an éclair filled with praline cream and sailing in a pool of crēme anglais.

St Dye sur Loire

View across the River Loire

Back   on the bikes we sped off down the side of the Loire taking in the beauty of the awesomely wide river and the wildlife.  The birds perched on islands and rocks in mid stream presumably preoccupied by watching for a tasty morsel to glide past which they might grab for lunch.   In the heat everything was languid, although the herons moved fast enough when I tried to shoot them – with the camera and the cormorants disappeared from view when you thought you were still watching them.

 Another superb view

The distance to Blois displayed on the signs increased as we enjoyed the views and the activity on the river.  Soon we were near our goal and looked for the Rue d’Eglise  which would take us inland to the road along which this small village spreads out like a ribbon.  As we passed the church we saw the spire swathed in scaffolding as the building was being renovated. We hit the main road.  Disaster.  Fermé

A Digression in Blois

 

The Bridge towards St Dye sur Loire which we crossed 

 

We reached Gare de Blois in almost exactly one hour which reassured us that we could comfortably make the train on our journey home. After this we planned to travel to St Dye sur Loire for lunch if it wasn’t too much, but first we needed to buy some stamps to stick on the postcards we had written so we headed for the Post Office.

The lady in  the Post Office finished dealing with the previous customer, tool one look at me, shrugged and left her position, closing the gate to the area she had occupied and moved to the next one where there were two positions on the counter.  One of these was already occupied by a colleague who was busy serving someone.

“Huit étampes pour cartes postales à  Angleterre si vous plait“, I blurted out, hopefully. She shrugged again.  Without a word she relinquished her position again and returned to the desk she had previously occupied.  Then, looking up, exhibiting an overt degree of patience,  she displayed eight fingers.  Clearly Madame had served Les Anglais before.  I nodded. She opened a book, tore out the stamps, pressed the cash register, and helpfully turned it towards me so I could tell how much to pay.

Day 6: Morning Ride to Blois

Having gone so far the day before we were again open minded about how far we would travel.  We planned to head towards Chambord via Blois and St Dye sur Loire.  We wanted to estimate how long our return journey to the station at Blois would take on Saturday morning.   I wished to take Sylvia to a wonderful restaurant in St Dye sur Loire which I had visited earlier in the year, where I had eaten the brilliant beurre blanc sauce.  This local speciality had first come to our notice years ago when we had been served it with freshly caught river fish in a restaurant near Fontevraud L‘Abbaye where Henry I of England was buried alongside Eleanor of Aquitaine and their son Richard Coeur de Lion.

 

After a light breakfast we went straight down the main road towards Blois. We zipped downhill with the wind blowing through our hair and traffic flashing by perhaps a little too close for comfort.  We were surprised to find out how close we had cycled to our gite on our day of arrival before we had veered off into the forest, got lost and spent a long time finding our way out.  laughed at our mistake as we sped on to a bridge where we crossed the road to join a cycleway which ran next to the roadway, and came to a small bridge.  Traffic queued to cross it over a single lane, but a separate bridge to the side meant we had no delay, except to watch the workmen inching an iron girder into position using a mobile crane operated with a remote control device.  We retraced our off road route to Blois which we had travelled down upon our arrival and soon arrived at the bridge which we needed to cross.  The view was spectacular.