Rain, Steep Grades, and Google Maps Going Insane

The back of our hotel in Amboise

Getting out of Amboise and back onto the trail was logistically easy this morning. The switchback up into the higher countryside was… challenging. My stupid lungs do not like climbing. My legs do fine, but I just can’t get enough air in. Anyway, after a short stop before the 3rd and last switchback, we were out in the country, and the rain.

We started off in full rain gear because it was drizzling when we left and we were glad for it. It pretty much rained off and on the whole 30 miles. The rain gear made it completely enjoyable. It was cool and, when we were headed east, we had a tailwind. There was a small town where we were supposed to follow the trail from further away from the river, down closer to it. Problem is that the town had put in new bicycle paths and marked them with the Loire au Vélo signs, but not the EuroVelo signs. I got worried because that path didn’t line up with my printed EuroVelo maps. It didn’t line up with the downloaded version on Brian’s tablet or Google maps. So we backtracked a bit, figured it out and got back under way. They’re constantly adding and improving cycling routes here, which is a double-edged sword. Hard for even digital maps to keep up. If they had correctly added the EuroVelo symbol to the sign, we would have had no problem.

This section of trail was different than any other so far. I lost track of the number of times we had to climb into a town, then back out of it. Did I mention climbing isn’t my forté? In one town, I was doing OK, but then turned a corner to find more climbing and I was already down to 3 mph, at which point it’s nearly impossible to stay upright. I walked it the final 30 yards or so. I knew I was in trouble when the street name was “Rue de Cour Haute” (High Court Street). It ended in front of a church, with an open door. Should have gone in and offered a prayer to a cycling Saint! (Hmmm.. Now I have to look that up!) Yep, there is! Brief history here http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/la-madonna-del-ghisallo-the-patron-saint-of-cycling/

Anyway, the climbs are challenging, but I made most of them. Then we got to Blois. The directions to the office of tourism seemed as straight forward as the crazy curvy streets of a medieval town can be. I swear street names change every block! Google has apparently not figured this out yet. Seriously, after the tourism office, we could have gone a couple tenths of a mile northwest to the hotel, instead it had us go south, west way past the hotel, then back north, then east across a ridiculous intersection to the hotel. The worst part was that we would go downhill, then climb over and over! I gave up and started walking. Then it started pouring. I swore if it made us climb one more time, I was calling a taxi. At one point, it was trying to have us turn left, onto steep steps that went up probably 50 meters to a road above us! And that was on the bike navigation settings! Ugh.

It didn’t help that this trip was longer than we thought, so we had planned to just get lunch here. We didn’t get to the hotel until 3. When we knew we were close, we saw an awesome looking boulanger so I went in, got Brian a quiche Lorraine and a salad with tuna for me. Of course, I also got us a pastry to share!

The hotel is lovely. It was on the recommended list of places to stay here in the Rick Steves book. We have a lovely large modern room on the ground floor and our windows literally open onto the locked garden where the bikes are stored!

We walked through a nice shopping district to dinner. Again, on the way, we read menus of some of the places we passed. We ended up at a pub type place because the specials sounded great and they had a great beer selection. It didn’t disappoint! I had a tasty lentil curry (no dairy and lots of protein. Yay!) Brian had a risotto that was really good, too. We shared a generous side of frites (for the potassium, of course).

There’s a castle here, but not quite as historically significant as the others. We’ve seen the most significant, really. And I’m a bit burnt out on touring them. We went by it…. multiple times. I got a picture. It’s pretty. And we have a long ride tomorrow.

We plan to get to Orléans tomorrow. That will be a decision point. We’re through the valley of the castles. We’ll likely stay there a couple nights, anyway.

There have been many, many poplar groves, as well as areas
with piles of fresh cut and graded lumber. I call these “Lorax” trees
because the air plants make them look Suessian!