Wednesday 9th July, Chenonceau to Amboise

It rained overnight again, what a surprise! But all our gear has so far remained dry. Only a short ride today but we did need to climb out of the valley of the Cher river and then descend back down into the Loire. Leaving Chenonceau we rode past the Chateâu one last time down a partly muddy track. What an amazing building with a great history. It was on the demarcation line in the 2nd world war and enabled the passage of hundreds in the resistance to travel back and forth between the free and occupied zones. We crossed the river further down stream for the short ride to Amboise. The sky's were once again threatening to open and it was quite chilly. David wore his rain jacket the whole way. We passed through quite a few small villages and many other cyclists some fully loaded like us and others whith just their bikes, obviously supported, including a couple of groups.

We made it it Amboise before 11am. We stopped to have a coffee/hot chocolate at a cafe under the walls of the castle before heading to the campground and tried to check in. They said we couldn't check in till 12pm so we snuck in and had showers and put the ipad on to charge. At 12 David headed to reception to check in and buy a token for the washing machine. We put the washing on set up the tent and hung the washing out with a strong wind blowing and heavy skies, and headed off to lunch. 

The campground is on an island in the middle of the Loire. With this view 

After lunch and some grocery shopping we went back to check on the washing which was mostly dry so we took it in and headed off to Chateâu du Clos Lucé, where Lionardo da Vinci spent the last 3 years of his life sponsored by King François I. We did a self guided tour through the residence and the gardens. Many of the inventions he had drawn up have had models produced by IBM. In many of the inventions he was centuries ahead of his time! We also learnt things we did not know about his paintings like the lighting effects in portraits.

The model in the left of this picture is a helicopter which can be powered by 2 people walking in a circle. We both found it an insightful visit. Learning many things we didn't know about Leonardo and his inventions. After visiting Clos Lucé we walked up many stairs to have a view over Amboise, then back down again over the bridge

 for a lovely salad dinner in Chateâu de nylon. Only 18km today and having a rest day tomorrow on the Tour de Loire. I don't think we we will be doing a time trial though.