Friday 11th July, Amboise to Tours

Over the rain so we decided to book into a hotel in Tours. We packed up the wet tent again and set off at 8:15am. The ride was beautiful even though it was overcast. We rode along the Loire and then up through many vineyards.

We stopped off in Montlouise-sur-Loire to buy come morning tea a Flan or "flaan" in French. Just like a slice of custard tart. We stopped further on in a picnic area to eat it but had to put on our rain jackets to keep warm! We followed the river route into Tours, an easy ride passing many other cyclists, some on the Loire a velo trail others just day trippers including a group of children on their summer break.

We headed straight for the hotel in Joue-lés-Tours an outer suburb of Tours to drop off our panniers.

We headed back into tours to visit the Cathedral and it's lovely stained glass windows. They all had a story behind them that they had documented in both French and English.

Built from the 13th to 16th century.

We also found part of the medieval town that is now a square full of restaurants. The angle of the buildings are amazing in that they have remained standing for so long. Not easy to see from this picture but have a look at the angle of the windowsills in the white building! We had a drink at an Irish pub looking out over the plaza.

We headed back to the hotel to check in after stopping off for supplies. Luckily we made it back before the downpour. We are now spending the night with our tent draped out to dry in a nice comfy warm bed. Ready for another week of camping. The weather is forecast to clear for the next week with temperatures back up to the 30s. Fingers crossed. 40+ km today. (Had problems with the speedo today and the reading was 40km but not sure how long it wasn't working)