Day 08 - Savonnieres to Amboise

Day 08 Savonnieres to Amboise 54.2 km
First, breakfast in the park in Savonnieres alongside Le Cher river. Then back down to Château de Villandry (N47.34062° E0.51450°) to tour the chateau and gardens. The chateau was nice but there are better chateaus along the Loire. The gardens are amazing, plan at least two hours to walk through. From Villandry we headed back up the Cher to Tours, where the cycleway crosses from the Cher to the Loire river valley. We cycled in one side of Tours and out the other. A busy city with lots of traffic. Shortly after departing Tours on the opposite side of the river is the town of Vouvray and the Vouvray wine region. If you are a wine aficionado you may want to detour to try some wines. The cycleway follows the Loire to Montlouis-Sur-Loire where it climbs out of the river valley and up into the vineyards on the bluff above the river. As the cycleway takes a hard left hand turn and starts to descend back to the river keep your eyes out for Domaine de Montory (N47.39349° E0.91734°). We couldn’t help ourselves and had to stop as we read the sign written on a chalkboard in front of the wine cave, “ CYCLE FRIENDS, Tasting, Visit a troglo cellar.” So we did, a great experience. A short tour through the wine production and aging cellars and then a wonderful tasting of 6 varieties. We bought one bottle of wine. We would have bought more, but the panniers are heavy enough. From there it was a short ride into Amboise and our hotel. There is a campground on Ile d'Or (N47.41766° E0.98768° ) with great views of the Chateau; however, we opted for a hotel.