Cycle Touring in France: Tour de France

Today was a special day on our cycling holiday as we had timed our visit to catch one of the stages of this year's Tour de France. It passed through Montrichard on its way from Le Mans to Chateauroux and we were fortunate enough to stand next to a group of primary schoolchildren who were clearly exited to be there. They had all made banners and when the Caravane came by they had lots of freebies thrown towards them from the various sponsors. They made lots of noise, as did most of the spectators. It seemed ages before the riders came by as some strong winds had delayed them along the way. And they were gone very quickly too! The Caravane that came by before the riders lasted much longer with lots of floats, motorbikes, official cars etc and most of the spectators got a gift of some kind. I landed a 'king of the mountains' red, spotted cap and a keyring.

Before the tour came by we visited the castle and walked around the town again. The castle is mostly ruined but they have a museum on the grounds with prehistoric items, fossils, pictures, old costumes etc and a room showing the history of windmills, with lots of old stone grinding wheels and other equipment that was used to process the various grains.

Montrichard from across the old bridge (over the river Cher)