Orleans to Blois, via Beaugency

The forecast was for a very hot day as we set off from Beaugency. Our first stop after only a few km was to see the 'blue waters' at Tavers. Hot water bubbles out from the sand into a stream and this enables underwater plants to thrive. It did not even feel warm to me, but there were plenty of fish in the pools and we watched them for a while in the shade of the trees. The cycle path was pretty rough in this area as we avoided the main route and stayed by the river, rejoining the path near Miudes where it crossed the Loire to the south.

This photo is of the bridge over the Loire at Beaugency, 'built in one night by the devil' ,they say, in the 14th century. Each of the arches is slightly different from another.



The 'Blue waters' at Tavers


On our way to Blois



Along the Loire there are several nuclear power stations. they don't feature much in the tourist information offices. I wonder why?


We left the Loire at Muides, after racing a group of cyclists for fun, and headed south towards Chambord, where there was a large castle in the centre of a wood.



The castle was an amazing sight, especially the roof an chimneys, and being midweek there were not too many tourists. We cycled all around the castle and bought some extra water, as we had depleted all four of our own, and carried on to Blois through the estate.






We had booked two days in Blois, as we have been covering more distance than planned and needed to arrive in Montrichard for the Tour de France on Friday, so had a quick look at the town before dinner at the hotel. It is a very hilly place, which is unusual for the Loire and contains a castle, natural history museum, house of magic and several other tourist sites. As we were having an ice cream the windows opened on the nearby building and dragons came out!



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Location:Rue de Lauricard,Blois,France