Eurovelo 6 - Day 15 - Rest Day in Ambiose

A bit of a sleep-in this morning before heading into town around 9.00am. The historic centre of Amboise is about a 15-minute walk over 2 bridges from our accommodation. Breakfast consisted of a quiche with a chocolate eclair chaser. Exquisite.

We then began a tour of the town with the first stop, Leonardo Da Vinci's last home, the Chateau Close Luce. Amazing place and an amazing man. Few would not have heard of Da Vinci, but few would know the extent to which his talent has influenced the world. He was a genius well ahead of his time. An Italian, Da Vinci came to Amboise in 1516 at the invitation of King Francis I, a lover of the arts. Francis gifted Chateau Close Luce to Da Vinci as a place to work and live under the King's patronage. Da Vince died there in 1519 and is entombed in the town.

We then followed a town walk as suggested by some map we'd been given by the local tourist board. It went up and down hills across Amboise, eventually taking us on a circuit leading to the Chateau Royale d'Amboise. It was impressive however I'd had enough of playing tourist and went to lunch. Brett and Col inspected the chateau and surrounds, but promised me a blow-by-blow description when we caught up.

We all reconvened at 4.00pm at Caves Ambacia for a wine-making tour, and my personal favourite, wine tasting. Thomas, our host, was an impressive sommelier (wine guru) who'd spent time in Melbourne (poor soul), the USA, the UK, and surprisingly every other country that one of the guests was from. Thomas was also a showman!

After pre pre-dinner drinks, we had pre-dinner drinks, then drinks with dinner. Tomorrow, Tours ... here we come!

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Eurovelo 6 - Day 21 - Nantes to Saint-Nazaire (final day)

Mission accomplished. We arrived in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins and dipped our toes in the Atlantic Ocean, after riding across France, east to west, from Mulhouse, near the Swiss border. We still had a short ride to Saint-Nazaire where we will spend the night and travel to Paris by train tomorrow. We've travelled over 1,300 km in 21 days, including 3 rest days in Nevers, Orleans, and Amboise. We experienced some of the best that France offers its visitors; cultural experiences, fine wines and food, and a glimpse of its history and heritage. Today's ride ... A few blogs I've read about the stage between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire described it as being a bit boring, however we found it great. Very diverse landscapes throughout the 65 km journey. We started this morning with stands up at 9.00am, cycling back towards the Eurovelo 6 route on the northern side of the river. The traffic was chaos to us, however by the looks on Nantais' (natives of Nantes) faces it wa...

Eurovelo 6 - getting to the starting line

So I'm travelling on this trip with 4 old and new friends. Two old friends read my blog from last year's trip and wanted to know when the next one was ... and so here we are! Col and Brett are ex-RAAF mates. I've known Brett for around 40 years. I was best man at his wedding with Janine, and I'm Godfather to his daughter, Ashley. We've done many of my hiking and motorcycling trips together over the years. So you could say we're best mates. Imagine my surprise when we breezed through check-in and immigration at Brisbane airport, entered the lounge and found the open bar ... just to him utter friendship-ending words of, "I'm not drinking". We're now sitting in different rows of our flight ... apparently too late to uninvite him! Sitting in different rows ended up being my bad! With haste to welcome my new travelling companion, an older woman heading home to Birmingham, I asked if she'd enjoyed her holiday in Australia. "Can't wait t...

Eurovelo 15 - Day 21 - Orsoy to Arnhem

So what I thought was a kid's sideshow alley was just a precursor for the main event ... a techno music festival ... just 50 metres from my room. I thought about joining the crowd, who seemed to be enjoying the spectacle (probably the musicians' parents), however, techno isn't real music, and their repertoire of 3 songs, played over and over, spoiled the magic. 11.34pm, 11.35pm, 11.36pm ... 12.02am - where is the rain, thunder and lightning now? 12.25am - surely someone has called the Mayor of Orsoy! 12.45am - hold my beer! Finally, all went quiet around 1.02am and I got to use my pillow! My body clock woke me around 6.30am and I'd arranged breakfast for 8.00am. The hotel didn't normally serve breakfast until 9.00am on a Sunday, however, they made an exception just for me! At 8.00am breakfast was served ... it was a feast ... I actually thought another half dozen people were joining me. I felt so guilty not being able to put a dent into all the offerings ... then t...

Pedalling for a Purpose

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