LOIRE TO VIENNE

28th.May 2015
We did Tours twice and back towards Amboise. Lovely proper cycle tracks along the rivers and exceedingly  well  used although it was a Bank Holiday weekend...lots of family groups and much picnicing on the banks. Tours is nice with a grand cathedral sporting excellent stained glass windows and an interesting old quarter....fine looking tram system through centre.
26/05/15
Left for Chatellerault which has not got a great deal going for it, with the idea of meeting Geoff  &  Caroline who were supposed to be passing through in the Cobra having been on a jaunt down south and were planning  to stop there on the way back. It turned out that they meant Chateauroux despite  insisting that the name had a double l in it and is an hours drive to the east. And anyway they were not on schedule we learnt on Thurs morning and wouldn't be there till Friday. By which time we had exhausted the delights of Chatellerault and had decided to head back to the loire and do Nantes and the giant machines.
We are staying at another Castels  chateau site which is quite delightful . The large grounds are peaceful and tranquil  with birdsong the only noise, and the owners are quite charming. We have cycled with their route maps and got hopelessly lost but the roads are fairly traffic free except at lunchtime as the french head for home or the mistress (the one going more than 50mph are doing both we decided)
We are at St Ustre and the main town is about 5 miles away and hardly worth a detour, but as the sun is shining we have had an extraordinarily pleasant stopover.
We can sit outside till 10.30 as it doesn't get dark till 11 and there is nothing better  than sitting in the grounds of a stately house with a few glasses of red watching the sun go down.