France by Bicycle | PART 4: THE LOIRE A VELO: CHAMBORD

France by Bicycle | PART 4: THE LOIRE A VELO: CHAMBORD
We begin Chapter 4 by visiting the Chateau De Chambord, a tourist spot that graces many a travel poster, although Roland and Julianna opt to tour the grounds instead of the full tour, which is what Victor and Nadia choose. then we ride north back to the Loire A Velo, and the Eurovelo 6. We follow the Loire to Blois, a magnificent city with an equally magnificent history and an awesome bridge over the river. From there, its up the Loire Valley to Amboise, another in a long string of amazing French cities, with a great Chateau and ties to none other than Leonardo Da Vinci.
Music:
Accordion and Glockenspiel Comedy - JK Productions
Pond Five
081716572-accordion-and-glockenspiel-com
a href="www.pond5.com/royalty-free-mu..."Stock Music/a provided by JK_Production, from a href=“www.pond5.com/"Pond5/a
Arabesque No. 1 Andantino con moto - Claude Debussy
Creative Commons
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Mimicking Your Breathing - Harper Ray
Epidemic Sound
Affectionate Writing - Howard Harper-Barnes
Epidemic Sound
Streak of Light - Candelion
Epidemic Sound
Paris In Spring - Trabant 33
Epidemic Sound

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

Bonsoir à vous deux, Time flies at an accelerated speed watching your videos, you start watching and then, it’s finished 😕and 20 minutes are gone without realizing it. Native French speaker here, for Bois, you got the final “oi” sound with the silent “s”, perfect. For the”Bl” sound, just like in Blue😉 Bl-oi. Then, listening to you wrestling with the local names adds to the viewer experience and, for a native speaker is very charming.😘

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks for your understanding! It's a big reach to sound out French words, but it's always fun to try on a new culture. (And it's such a great culture.)

[@CityWalks]

Wonderfully beautiful!

[@CityWalks]

Funny that you talked about "monotony" in this one as that thought had just crossed my mind. -H

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Hmmm

[@donelliott9201]

I just realized that Juliana is pictured on page 19 of the Adventure Cycling Cyclosource catalog for Spring 2023. Chapeau!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yup. She's a star!

[@juliannahenley4921]

Yes they have used that pic a few times already. I love my Da Brim!

[@deidrewallace9056]

I look forward to your Friday posts each week. Thanks again for taking me along. Such beautiful countryside and towns.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

France is such a beautiful place. I can't get enough of it. So glad you can join us!

[@RichardWright3450]

Hi folks; Loved it again. Made for great watching for a Sat morning breakfast. Snowy and 2 deg C here so great to see the sun in France. And just watched the battle of Agincourt on Net flix last night so somewhat Appropriate.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yeah, I heard the reports from Mt. Washington. Sounds brutal. We've seen some serious cold here this year too. Stay in and stay warm!

[@Biking360]

Such a beautiful place to cycle. Loved this. Great ride and video guys :)

[@TheBicycleTourists]

France is amazing by bicycle. thanks J!

[@colinwellman9480]

Nice ride, we did a similar one some years ago. France is a beautiful country and i love it here. Like you I never went into the chateau, just admired it from the outside. I believe it was a bit of a white elephant and cost much more than thought to build. Lovely building but no wonder there was revolution with the peasants living in poverty compared to the show of riches by the aristocracy. I look forward to the next episode, thanks for sharing.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yeah, the crazy wealth in some of these places of royalty just makes me think about the inequity of the society in those days. These are architectural gems, but at what cost? I still admire them of course. But there is a sociological lesson in them as well.

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

Chambord and every other chateaux, Versailles is a case in point, were political statements, and a showcase for wealth, refinement, fine arts, architectural prowess and craftsmanship. The statue of Liberty is a political statement which symbolizes our friendship between French and Americans.

[@julien4331]

Another fantastic video thank you so much. Looking forward to being back there later this year. The meadow of flowers was breathtaking but I especially loved how you describe the joy of this kind of touring. It is difficult for someone who hasn't done this sort of ride to grasp the sheer pleasure of rolling along through such a beautiful place. Thanks again.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

You're right; there are few things that bring you more overwhelming joy as bike touring in a wonderful place. I tell people what we do and they just look at me like we're crazy. If they only knew!

[@garyseckel295]

AMEN, what Julie said! "The Joy and Sheer Pleasure!" YUP!

[@JaqueParisien]

Wow! Breathtaking scenery and bike path. I have heard so much about it. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

It is an amazing route, every day brings something amazing and new. I hope some day you can make it out there. you would love it!

[@dondonner1095]

Wow, another beautiful video, beautiful people and beautiful scenery. France is calling everyone watching this.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

France definitely has a pull!

[@williamlee7262]

Thank you for taking us along on your awesome bike journey. 🚲

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks for coming along!

[@dennispiciullo8060]

Beautiful riding in France, love these videos, looking forward to next week's video! Thanks guys, eating snails, not my cup of tea, lol!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks Dennis. I didn't think I'd like the snails. But I've come to believe the French can make anything taste amazing!

[@eff6582]

Bonjour ! (Vous aimez tellement le dire!) Je suis français (comme vous le constatez) et j'ai habité à côté d'Orléans pendant 15 ans. J'aime regarder les vidéos des étrangers qui visite mon pays, la vision que vous avez me conforte que vivre en France est une chance! (J'espère que la traduction sera correcte) Have a good trip, see you soon on the french roads😉👍

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yes, we do love to say "Bonjour!' So much warmer than "hello" or "good morning". Your country is so beautiful, and you are indeed lucky to live there. I could live very happily there!

[@garyseckel295]

Very beautiful video that is very much fun to watch! Thank you for sharing, and for taking me for a ride!!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

So glad you can join us!

[@chrisgreenwood6010]

Glad you point out the issues with bike baggage security, I often travel alone and it’s a big problem

[@TheBicycleTourists]

We try to do more touristy things on rest days when we can move around without the bike.

[@dooley-ch]

Excellent as always. Thanks once again.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks James, and of course, you're welcome!

[@PumpkinVillage]

That was some beautiful riding. Great to have good friends along. Thanks for the video and take care, Al

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks Al, It's a blessing to be able to share these experiences with good folks.

[@letsseeyoutravel8364]

Your welcome.... I plan on biking in France in the Spring of next year...Starting in Strasbourg and working my way to the Loire river valley. Your Videos inspire me and give me ideas for where I want to go. Just one thing, Im doing my trip on an ebike, so it will be a bit easier on my legs.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Have fun!

[@kenmcclow8963]

I always worry about leaving the bike somewhere. I have three locks. If I am just leaving for a few minutes I use a basic cable, otherwise I have a lock of flat bars connected by large rivets that unfolds into a ring that hopefully will fit around the bike and something durable. I don't think you can make a bike impossible to steal, but just making it look harder than other bikes is my goal. I try to have all my important things in one bag that I carry and everything else is dirty clothes, or replaceable things in other bags.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

I would say that I'm more comfortable leaving it in places like Europe, but we rarely let them out of our sight, unless a hotel has a locked garage and even then, they are locked and the bags are with us. It's one of the very few negatives of bike touring.

[@e-BikeLife]

Chambord is so stark. Not nearly as beautiful as Chenonceau. But, as you alluded, the ostentatious display of wealth at a time when the lowest 40% of earners held about 14% of the wealth in France, where the top 20% of earners held a whopping 60%. Hmmm... compare that to our circumstances here in the US where according to the Census Bureau’s 2018 report on Income and Poverty in the United States, the lowest 40% of earners in the U.S. were worse off than 18th century French peasants. They held just 11.4% of wealth. And our top 20% of earners held 52% of it. Don't want to turn your lovely trip all political or anything, but it is striking how we are letting history repeat itself. Ok, enough of that.... You are bringing back so many great memories of our time in places like Blois. What a great town! The Chateau d'Amboise is just one of two in town. Did you make it to the second one, Château du Clos Lucé which is Leonardo's former home? So looking forward to your remaining videos! How many do you expect there will be?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

I agree, the loss of the middle class is a huge problem these days. A strong center is what makes a stable society. Shame to say we missed Leonardo's chateau. Chalk it up to always being on the move. I'm still working on the videos so impossible to say how many there will be. Maybe 20? 25?

[@josephb7128]

Just an FYI for others, Chambord has storage at the entrance of the chateau where you can store your Paniers. They have a good helpline to call in advance with any questions. The Loire is the most bike tourist friendly place in France so it’s worth asking if in doubt

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks!

[@thefloodtower4866]

I am really enjoying your tour. So engrossed I forgot to like and subscribe. Fixed. Getting enthused about my European cycle tour later this year

[@TheBicycleTourists]

That's great to hear! Where are you headed?

[@lesleykenwood2715]

You mentioned in an earlier video that Nadia got her bicycle in Amsterdam. May I inquire which brand? Loire is always stunning.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

I had to look that up. It's a Koga.

[@ricardoarocas]

Great video !! What camera did you use?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you! We both used GoPros and iPhones, that's it.

[@letsseeyoutravel8364]

Great Videos you made of you trip so far...did you use google maps to find you way around France or did you use an app?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

I do sometimes use Google maps but mostly rely on Komoot, especially in Europe.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

And thank you for the compliment!

[@letsseeyoutravel8364]

When did you do this trip,Spring or Fall?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

This was late summer/fall of '22.

[@jacqueline23788]

security in chambord ? for bikes chambord burglars (i think french police and private police have siome better things to do

[@TheBicycleTourists]

I would think so!