[See BIKING TO MONTSOREAU link for pictures]
A small town just east of Saumur, Montsoreau features a little Sunday market and an historic château made famous in Alexander Dumas’ novel, The Lady of Montsoreau. Actually the events that inspired the novel were probably what truly made the castle famous!
Apparently Jeanne Chabot, the lovely lady (and heiress of the castle) had a lover, Bussy d’Amboise, an Anjou count – something that her husband, Jean de Chambes did not quite like (go figure), especially after Jeanne and Bussy had a rendez-vous or two in her bedroom. Not quite the modern man, her husband forced her to write to d’Amboise, inviting him to Montsoreau, where the two men dueled. Unfortunately for the lover, he lost, both the lady and his life. Evidently Jeanne Chabot recovered from the situation as she and her husband remained married and had 6 children. She is referred to as the “tragic lady”; evidently public opinion was and still is on her side. I’ll have to read Dumas’ novel to get his side of it (though he changed her first name).
Today the Château houses an impressive history of the Loire River and its role in France’s past. A combination of scenography (projected slides); models of barges, windmills, and watermills; holographs of fancy Renaissance balls; and exhibits of materials transported on the barges – salt, tobacco, spices and herbs, wine of course, limestone (for which the area is famous), river rock, and much else.
So to return to the title of this entry, yes we did indeed bike the 15 kilometers from Saumur to Angers, “we” being Tim and I as the girls stayed back, Abbey to do schoolwork and Emma to have downtime. Sans enfants, we set forth along the thankfully flat stretch of road to Montsoreau with the Loire on our left. Some of the road had designated bike paths, but the polite French drivers made the non-bike path portion comfortable. Biking is very popular in the Loire Valley, featuring trails for novices (a notch above ourselves!) and experts (through the hilly vineyards high above the road); therefore, motorists are accustomed to sharing the road. I proudly navigated the roundabouts and eventually learned to look in one direction at a captivating sight while keeping the bike headed properly in the right direction.
It was a lovely day with a slight bit of head wind as we left Saumur, and Tim remarked that we would then have a tail wind for the 15 kilometer return when we were less fresh. Along the roadside, people planted flowers – some perennial, some annual. We saw limestone homes, some built into the limestone-mined hills; intricate wrought iron gates and fences around properties, all with flowers in hanging baskets, pots, or in gardens; wineries, one after the other (no, we did not stop); mushroom places (in season); and suddenly appearing glimpses of the River around multiple bends. A pleasant hour later, we arrive in Montsoreau to a busy little market.
After visiting the castle, we had a lunch at a café in the town’s square, just off the confluence of the Loire and the Vivenne Rivers. Crew teams practiced, and families had fun with canoe-like boats. Feeling somewhat refreshed with the baguette sandwiches, we got back on the bikes, happy to have a tailwind home. But wait – the wind shifted as another front was coming in. No tailwind but instead a rather strong headwind, again. Only us, I thought – sort of like a trip that’s uphill both ways!
We arrived in Saumur pleasantly tired with behinds that were just a bit annoyed with the bike seats. How pleasant to sit in a comfortable chair for a lovely dinner at Place St. Pierre, enjoying fresh tomatoes with olive oil, basil, & mozzarella; seasoned chicken with mushrooms; pommes frites; and of course lovely Champigny wine, the local red that is smooth and dry.
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