There were two other couples staying at the accommodation last night, one French and the other Dutch and we all breakfasted with our hosts Catherine and Alain this morning before setting off.
Catherine presented us with a couple of leftover yummy breakfast muffins and she and Alain suggested an alternative route to the one in our map book to the town of Rigny-Usse, the location of the Chateau d'Usse, one of the best preserved and prettiest on the Loire. It was the inspiration for Charles Perrault's children's tale Sleeping Beauty. The chateau is open to the public and is still a private residence and home of the Duc de Blacas and his family.
There was no rain today but the wind was quite cold when we started off so we donned the rain coats for our lovely ride with no traffic, along the path beside the Indre River to the Chateau, paid 14 Euros
each and spent an hour and a half wandering through the magnificent castle, church, gardens and wine cellars,
stopped for coffee at the little cafe opposite the castle and continued our journey to Saumur.
Following the cycle path between the Indre and Loire Rivers, we stopped to investigate a strange looking 'thing' on the path and were surprised to see it moving. It was some sort of slug or worm I think and the weirdest thing we've seen.
The path was flat and easy riding, the French cycle signs are plentiful and easy to follow but sometimes confusing as we seem to be going in circles at times. When we reached River Vienne and turned right we both thought it was the wrong way but 2 kms along we crossed the bridge over the river into pretty Candes-St Martin, the ancient village which was the site of the death of St Martin, bishop of Tours (AD317-AD397) and is on the confluence of the Loire and Vienne. We stopped for a cold drink and a rest from bike saddles, then again for a quick look at the church,
then on through the villages of Montsoreau, Turquant and Parnay. A little way past Parnay, the path took us up into wine growing country, a steep climb which was hard on the old legs but worth the effort when we found ourselves riding through the underground village in Souzay-Champigny and past houses built into the cliff face,
Once we were back to the cycle path beside the main road it was easy riding into Saumur and our hotel accommodation for tonight and Monday night.
We ate out tonight, at a bar/brasserie where we had the evening "Formul" which is a plat du jour, and a dessert each and both ordered the profiteroles for dessert. When they arrived we almost fell off our chairs, expecting one or two profiteroles each, we had one.....the biggest we'd ever seen and with fresh cream and filled with ice cream!
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