We headed into the city area for breakfast and stopped at a bigot's cafe. I refused to eat there until the guys convinced me that it was the surname of the founder.
The ride out of Amboise was on great bike paths and through parklands for the first few kilometres, then along a cycleway beside a quiet secondary road. There were a few other cyclists out and about.
Then our world caved in ... sorta. We'd been having bike problems every day. Generally changing tubes, having valve issues, one replacement tyre (which should last more than 1,000 km), one patched tyre (which we hope lasts the final few days), and one change of axle. Today was the biggest challenge to date. David's front wheel axle and bearings imploded. We spent about 45 minutes trying to sort out a fix to get us the 23 km we needed to get to Tours, but in the end, we opted for safety. I argued for David to just keep riding but the guys like him.
Habibe was the first, and only, Uber driver to respond to our distress call to be picked up 5 km out of Amboise and drive David, his bike, and his gear, a further 20 km to a Tours bike repair shop, and our accommodation booked for that night. Habibe was a superstar, getting David to the bike shop before it closed for the French 2-hour lunch break, helping get the wayward bicycle out of the car, waiting for David as he explained the issue to the bike repairer, then driving him to the hotel and waiting to make sure it's the right one! Habibe ... we salute you (and provided a generous tip).
While David was now lounging around, the rest of the team were back on the bike travelling the remaining 20 km to get to Tours. If you're reading this David, the remainder of the ride was the best ever! A shame for anyone to miss it!
We cycled through many plots of red and white grapes. Unlike previous areas, the grapes here were only starting to be picked. The guys tasted a single red grape each.
Back on the bikes and primed with red wine (and #@$% coffee for me) we picked up the pace, determined to get to Tours early to tour Tours ...
We hit speeds of 27 km per hour ... not bad for fully loaded heavy steel bikes.
We finally arrived at the hotel to rendezvous with David, to find we couldn't check in until 4 pm. With the map in hand, Brett led us on a scenic walk around the highlights of town. However, we keep getting lost and misdirected. Finally, we realised that Brett was referring to a map of a town 200 km away!
All was not lost as we visited Cathédrale Saint-Gatien - another amazing church that took 400 years to build, Le Cèdre du Liban (a tree rumoured to have been planted by Napoleon), the Opera House, Place Plumereau, and a gelato shop.
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