Monday’s cycle was planned to be Amboise, a shorter 63km cycle. We had arranged to meet Sligo friends, Caroline and John, who were in France for dinner in Amboise.

We set off from Saint Patrice and the cycle route took us through Tours where I was able to take some quick pictures. Lovely views over the Loire as always on our cycle. I was interested to read that Macron did well in Sunday’s parliamentary elections. It was interesting to see – Last Saturday when we stopped in Ancenis for coffee, there was a group of about eight to ten older people standing in a circle of silence for an hour in support of immigrants and against the fundamentalist right. (There was a sign explaining its purpose.)

We lost the Veloroute for a while and once again ended up with some interesting cycling terrain! We arrived in Amboise early after clocking up 70km on Strava. We had picked Amboise purely on distance, unbeknownst to us, it was an especially lovely place. We arrived early and so we were able to do some sight seeing.

We visited Château d”Amboise in town. According to the literature this château was the heart of royal power in the Renaissance … a place to live and stay for the king … the stage for numerous political events in the kingdom and ensured the royal family’s safety.St Hubert Chapel in the castle grounds houses the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci.Its beautiful stained glass windows.The final resting place ofA beautiful Lebanese Cedar tree in the groundsThe bust of Leonardo da VinciCaroline and John arrived later by trike – I had to get them to sit up on it on our way out to dinner.We had a great evening – We were celebrating our 30th anniversary. As it happened Caroline and John’s 30th anniversary had been in April when they had both been away, so we celebrated all 60!