The ups and downs of biking in the Loire

Sorry it's been a few days since I updated. I was writing an update to Andrew a couple nights ago that I thought I would copy and paste sections of here, but copy + paste doesn't seem to work with Blogspot. So, long story short - I made it to Tours on Fri night, which is an interesting enough town. Saturday my original biking itinerary started to fall apart - between getting a late start out of town, not having the right equipment to secure my bags on my bike, and not anticipating how slow I would be, I didn't make it far out of Tours at all - so I scrapped the original touring itinerary and decided to just do a combo of riding between towns and taking short day trips in/out of town. Saturday I made it to the fabulously ornamental vegetable gardens of Villandry, Sunday I biked to Amboise and toured the Clos Luce, where da Vinci lived his last three years (and saw lost of scale and life-size models rendered from his inventive drawings, which was awesome).

Monday I decided to tackle real self-supported bicycle touring again. I fashioned two makeshift panniers out of garbage bags and bungee straps ( you know I wouldn't make this up), and left the hotel at 8 AM bound and determined to make it the 70 km to Blois if it took all day. I MADE IT! Success! Me and the "ghetto velo", as I chirstened it in its garbage-bag state, made the whole ride right on schedule, rolling into Blois around 1:30 PM. It was tiring, for sure - made worse by the fact that it rained the ENTIRE TIME that I was riding. I arrived at my hotel looking like a poor drowned rat - and shivering. One thing about working to arrive at your destination - it makes the rest of the day feel so much better. The 20-minute hot shower, dry clothes, and tabouli and pastries I found in town were all the best I've ever had in my life. The sun finally came out that evening, and I enjoyed aimlessly strolling around the beautiful little city of Blois. (Except for the stairs and hills - a town built on a bluff is hard on your legs if you've been biking with your luggage all morning).

Today I took a short riding trip about 17 km outside of Blois to see Chambord. The exterior is its real magnificence - it's set in the middle of a beautiful forest, and looks dramatically big and beautiful from every angle. The interior was kind of meh, though.
And now repeat after me - I will not leave for a bike ride without my flat kit. I will not leave for a bike ride without my flat kit. I will not leave for a bike ride without my flat kit.
As I was leaving Chambord, I heard a hiss from my rear tire. Groan ... oh well, at least I know how to fix a flat. Then I realized that I'd taken my flat kit out of my bag yesterday when I went to walk the village, and had neglected to return it to its place before I left that morning. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Luckily I have guardian angels working overtime on my behalf - a very nice and sweet French couple stopped to help me, and they had me on the road and rolling again with a fixed tire in no time. I wish I could've thanked them more - were it not for them I probably would've walked my bike 17 km back to Blois. Thank God for the kindness of strangers! I owe the universe a huge favor for that one.

Internet time's almost up - I've definitely had some adventures on this trip! Tonight I'll be in Blois again, then tomorrow taking a train to Langleais and riding (ghetto velo style again) to Chinon, including passing the Usse castle (supposedly the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty). The riding is beautiful - I've been following signed routes from point to point, and they can be a bit adventurous. Riding right through vineyards (you could almost touch the grapes from the road - I thought for sure I was riding on private drives at points), cornfields, city parks, river tow paths, and little towns has been lovely. Even so, I'm missing family and friends and greatly looking forward to seeing familiar faces and sharing my stories when I return! Au revoir!!