Wine, cheese and Chateau(s)

Did we say we had finished?

After crossing to Spain we took a train to Bordeaux where we  had a pre-dawn (5 mile) ride to catch a train to Tours (I impressed myself sorting all this out as it had to include bike reservations).

Bordeaux was hot and crowded, but had some nice bits.

For the morning ride into Bordeaux we managed to get our rear lights visible (hadn't thought about it much, with all the panniers in the way and not expecting to ride in the dark), put all our reflective riding gear on and sweated our way in.

There was no traffic, we had forgotten it was Saturday. The only signs of life was the post party, party people in the parks.

We arrived in Tours at 0900, had a meander around and then set off to follow the Loire to Nantes, because.... Why not?

Obviously some wine was sampled.

We dodged erecting the tent a couple of nights, to avoid some more storms. Couldn't fault the location of this alternative tent, right on the banks of the Loire.

Five days later we were in Nantes (for a second time), and trying to negotiate the French rail system again.

It gave us a chance to visit "L'Ile de machines" that we had not known about on our first pass last month.

The elephant, which is made of Tulip Wood, carries people around the waterfront, spraying bystanders with water.

Next stop the Brittany coast, with all it's uppy downy stuff.