Tick, tock. With our departure from Tours fast approaching, we had a decision to make. Do we try and be sensible and rest before our extended bus trip or do we over-exert ourselves by hopping on bikes for a second time and roll out into the Loire country side? Not excelling at self-preservation coupled with a latent fear of living with regrets, we saddled up once more. This time aiming towards Amboise; some 29km away. Truth be told, we would have preferred to go even farther; to the classic Chateau de Chenonceau. However, since one of the conditions to biking as much as we did was to stay on the designated La Loire a Velo trail, we wouldn’t be able to bike in a loop from Tours, but would have had to back-track the same way we came which would have added too much distance for our cold-weakened bodies. An estimated total of 96km was too much so we settled for Amboise return at about 60km.

As apparent reward for our devotion to this manual means of sightseeing, we set out to a slightly chilly but gorgeous Sunday morning. With only needing to clear the most minuscule amount of traffic, we rode through tiny communities that were literally still enjoying/sitting through Sunday mass. First up was Montluis-sur-Loire, in of itself a rather forgettable place. It was however the first town for us where we started to see some elevation so the Loire valley for the first time started to actually look like one.

We approached the next town, Lussault-sur-Loire, from the south-east. This seemingly unremarkable fact meant that we biked through the most peculiar area that for Tolkien fans may come close to Hobbiton. It’s a bit of a stretch, but many of the homes, along with some local watering holes or wine caves, were dug into the hills themselves. All in all, it was pretty surreal to ride through a quasi-theme park consisting of real people’s homes. After many more kilometres of endless vineyards and fields of a quinoa-looking plant, we arrived at Amboise at just about lunchtime.

Amboise is a pleasant little postcard of a town with its own castle and an undisputed commitment to tourism. It’s not that it was fake or shallow, it wasn’t. There were however no doubts as to what the main source of revenue was, even at this date, the last day of September when most people with demanding jobs and lives in general are not out travelling. One of the benefits of biking to places like this is how easy it is to temporarily squash the voice that tempers excessive caloric consumption. Put differently, knowing that we would ride in total over 60km that day, we felt no pangs of guilt ordering the most decadent-looking pastries with large cafe au laits shortly after enjoying a reasonably filling plat du jour with wine for lunch. Before heading back, we took a brief detour up to the Leonardo da Vinci museum that for reasons that remain not completely clear is located in Amboise.

Having the bikes made it a brief and fun extra mini trip despite not going through the museum. We were starting to fade ever so slightly and had the same distance again going back. Without a doubt, Chateau de Chenonceau would have been much too much. On our way back from the museum however, Meredith pulls over quickly by the Amboise castle. Flat tire? Cramp? Spur of the moment sightseeing? Nope, uh-uh and not exactly. Burrowed into the castle fortification, was an opportunity for fortifications of a different kind: A small wine cave with the tiniest of patios, basking in the French country afternoon sun. Seated comfortably under a parasol we thusly enjoyed locally produced Rosès (sparkling and not) served by a jovial elderly couple as we people-watched one last time in Amboise.