Beautiful sunny skies and warmer today in Azay le Rideau. We checked out of the Biencourt hotel and got on the road at about 11:15. Our earliest start yet! But not before I made a few adjustments to Julie's rough shifting bike, which included lubricating the chain with some French butter.

First stop was a bar/cafe in the town center for some ham and cheese baguette sandwiches for the road.

We rode from Azay le Rideau 11 km to Brehemont where we rejoined the Loire river. We had our picnic lunch there during which two stray cats came up and started licking Julie's buttered bike chain.

We then road 15 km southwest along the Loire until reaching I'lle Saint Martin. Here we took a 2 km round-trip detour to the Château d'Ussé. This one has a spectacular, castle-like appearance from the outside but according to our Rick Steeves guidebook was not worth the admission price. Then back to the Loire and on to the hamlet of Neman. Here we turned south away from the river and rode 4 km to the town of Avione and then another 4 km west to Savigny en Veron. Our trail then turned southeast for 8 km, joining up with the Vienne river after 4 km. We reached our destination of the Hotel Plantagenet in Chinon at about 6:00 pm.

Total distance for the day: 44 km (28 mi).