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Up at 7:30 to be able to get a good breakfast before going to the market before meeting at the canoe rendezvous at 11:15am. The breakfast was served in a beautiful French provincial type room, absolutely beautiful, with a wonderful breakfast, complete with freshly squeezed orange juice, baguette, boiled eggs, jams, honeys, yogurt, compotes, tea, hot chocolate and coffee… mustn't have too much as I'll be carrying it with me for the day.
Off the the market in Amboise - the biggest in the Loire (only on a Sunday) Everything you would expect and more from clothes, belts, hats, jewellery and the necessary food, some pate and a couple of cheeses, a couple of baguettes and we were off…
Not quite as flat as I was led to believe and really 50 kilometres is a very very long way…. We did manage to get to the canoes by 11:15, but only just and not without many walks uphill for me.. We were instructed on today's activities - a van ride to where we begin the ride, canoe for 6km including 2 weirs by locks (fortunately open this time of year), then past Chenonceaux. Everyone fought not to be in Miles' canoe as he is notoriously bad at canoeing, which proved correct over the next couple of hours. Richard drew the short straw but only after negotiation that he wouldn't have the small bed at this hotel - good bargain... so he thought!
Canoeing is a challenge for Miles, firstly they tried to beat the 3 of us, but apparently the wind kept on zig-zagging them across the river. The locks were a little more challenging, but Pierre, our friendly van-driver had prepared us with suitable instructions to go straight ahead and keep paddling - don't go down sideways. A few showers gave us more variety, but we all had wet weather gear on, so all well. Delicious picnic where Miles relayed the challenges of the day and Rory swapped with Richard (a weak moment I suspect). Rory and Miles seemed to have a little more control as they engineered their way to the photo opportunity of the magnificent Chenonceaux. It really was all it was set up to be, with the arches across the River Cher.
We found the pontoon and landed our canoes gratefully. On the bikes again and we all found we were rather tender in certain places already (only 13km's so far with an expected 50km for the day!) Off to the castle to have a look around. Beautiful roses, and laid out gardens, wonderful furniture, tapesteries, paintings, the kitchen arger (sp?), etc - we could have easily spent the day there, but we had to hit the road as we have a lot of biking to do before the day is done. We all took a vote on whether to go back to Amboise the short route (about 15km) or the long route (about 30km). I admit I opted for the shorter route with the boys but Miles and Claire were more ambitious.
Somehow we lost Rory so Richard and I arrived back at Amboise about 5, looked for him for about an hour and a half, eventually finding him at the hotel (long story....) We all had long hot baths and waited for the others to return through the teaming rain (by that stage).
They arrived in rather a poor state, straight into the bath and then off to dinner at a creperie... exhaustion is not quite the word, there was no part of my body that was not aching as I fell into bed.
Had the Stantons bitten off too much this time?
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