We Rode 30 Miles for This View | Midlife Loire Valley E-Bike Adventure

#zekeandterri #midlifetravel #travelover50 #loirevalley #cyclingfrance
🚲 Come ride the Royal Route with us from Amboise to Chenonceau!
We rented e-bikes in Amboise and set out on Bike Loop 47, the well-marked trail loop that winds 30 miles through vineyards, forests, villages, farms, and along both the Loire and Cher rivers… all the way to the breathtaking Château de Chenonceau (and back).

We couldn’t have asked for a better day—perfect weather, quiet roads, and constantly changing scenery. One minute we were riding past vineyards, the next we were dodging tree roots near the river… and yes, spotting chickens, cows and horses. 🐔

Highlights include:
✨ Stunning Loire Valley landscapes
🍔 A sunny lunch in Bléré with three construction guys living their absolute best French life—wine, espresso, and a mystery digestif
🌿 A surprise fish ladder sighting
🏰 That iconic first view of Chenonceau over the water (unreal!)
⛪ A quick stop inside a tiny village church
🤣 And Terri’s very real commentary on midlife cycling and the pain of a bike saddle at mile 28

Whether you’re planning your own Loire Valley trip or just riding along with us, this was one of the most beautiful cycling days of our travels.

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00:00 Amboise to Chenonceau on ebikes
00:25 Amboise, France
00:53 Loire Bikes, Amboise
02:30 Bléré, France
03:29 Fish ladders on the Cher River
03:49 Château de Chenonceau
07:05 Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste
08:02 Château du Clos Lucé
09:50 We made it!

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And the best way to avoid a sore butt when cycling is to cycle often. Subscribe to our channel for more Zeke and Terry adventures. Today’s adventure is a little uh cycling down the Lir Valley. We are in Ambis and right on the other side of this burm is the Lir River that is looking pretty big. And uh we’ll find some bike paths as well as some chateau and castles. Chatau and castles are the same thing. We’re going to find them both. Oh, I see. So, I just get excited every time I see guys with panyas on their bikes over here. Wait. And I was excited by the Embois uh castle that’s that’s over there. Anyway, so we might have uh diverging uh interest today, but I’ll try and keep the camera pointed on everything interesting. First, we got to go get some bikes. Okay, Zeke, this is going to be a balance. your happy place on a bike. My happy place in something old with a lot of history and a lot of stuff to learn. And they’re ebikes. So, we should be very comfortable today. And we’re going to go from Ambas down to Shannon. So, uh back to Ambis to hopefully go to the chateau and Ambis. Happy in the great outdoors. It’s a beautiful day because where we’re staying tonight is an enclosed space. The bike route from Ambosis to Shenen So is called the Royal Route or Bike Loop 47 and it is very well marked. I was a little nervous about the route despite being given a cute little map at the bike shop. Do you see that chicken? Chickens. I thought we were going to be riding along the Lir River, but in Ambis we quickly made a turn into the neighborhoods and started riding through vineyards. And after seeing chickens, I wondered what other animals we could expect to see along the way. I was actually pretty excited about it. The route was beautifully marked and constantly changing. Paved stretches, gravel roads, and later even some bumpy root covered trail along the Sher River near Sheno. That variety kept it from getting too tedious for me. Cycling is always a challenge because I prefer to go fast or chase tennis balls. We couldn’t get over how fortunate we were to have such an incredible day for the ride and there were very few other people out on the road. It’s probably much busier during the summer. Given the amount of space at Sheno for bike parking, this is a really popular spot for cyclists of all levels. Bike Loop 47 is stunning. The vineyards, farms, forests, villages, and every time we made a turn, we said, “Okay, this is the Lir Valley.” Here’s to a lifetime of cycling. [Music] Well, we stopped briefly here in Blair Blare Blare for a beautiful burger at La 20enti and uh sitting right in the courtyard with a church that looks really cool from the outside. Uh it’s it’s simple but beautiful on the inside. Has some nice uh stained glass windows, some vated ceilings which were quite lovely and the weather is so perfect. Right. We went about an hour and 10 minutes, nine miles according to my watch, but who knows when it actually started the the actual ride. And we have about 25 minutes till we get to Shannon. So all right, and we’re off. At this point, I was getting a little nervous as I looked at my watch. I wanted to have enough time to wander leisurely around the chateau and gardens at Shenano and visit Chateau Dumbo. It was interesting to see a fish ladder up close on the river share. I often read about them, but don’t typically see them in person. We continued riding towards Shenono on what turned out to be a rough trail, which had me concerned for Terry on the bike. She was not happy, but it was fun to see how excited she was the closer we got to the chateau, especially after getting the first look of that iconic view, including the reflection on the water. What a money shot. I was hoping that the payoff of the chateau would be worth the rough ride on the trail and the ride in general. Well, it was for sure. I was slightly annoyed that we couldn’t access the chateau from that side of the river and we had to ride further up to cross the bridge and then head back to the chateau, but that was all paved once we got on the bridge. We are now paying guests inside the Shenen So Chateau. Chatau Sheneno. Look at all the supplement all around. That was all outside of where we stayed last night. So pretty. Very cool. But uh yeah, so we have to walk through this treelined prominade. There are gardens over there. I’m hoping that we can get to it. You’ve done the math. How long do we get to stay here? I would say 2 hours would be a comfortable number. Well, let’s talk about the most important thing, which is the bike ride to get here. That was beautiful. Top quality pavement. Well, there was some there was some rocky stuff. Yeah. But that just makes it, you know, that type two fun that we get to talk about later that we survived. Well, one of the things that I’m thinking about because you’re thinking about cycling and I’m thinking about the chateau is I was last here as an 18year-old. I’m just wondering, is this one of those things that I should have left in my memory? Should we leave now? No, we’ve already paid. It was uh €18 a person to get in. Steep. Um got to pay for all the gardeners around here. Well, we better like it cuz we’re going to do a hot hot air balloon ride on Sunday over this place. Do you think that’s real? [Music] What? What do you think, Zeke? It’s a popular spot. And this is off season. I can’t even imagine what it’s like during the summer. It’s probably insane. The thing that struck me the most were the absolutely gorgeous flower arrangements all throughout. They were tied into the tapestries and I love tapestries. Didn’t live up to the hype from what I remember, but you know, does anything. I don’t know. Did you enjoy it at all? Was there anything you enjoyed about that? I enjoy the outside of it. Its place in the in the world out here. Beautiful from the outside. When I get inside, I’m not usually claustrophobic, but then a bunch of people and you’re sort of ping ponging around in there and you get a couple of school groups and So, do you need something to snack on and a little coffee before we get back on the bikes or do you just want to get on the bikes and see what we see? Yeah, let’s get on the bikes and see what we see. Okay. Well, this is Disneyland concessions here, so I’d rather go find something. Well, thanks for humoring me by coming here. Alonzi. Alonzi. After our visit, I was happy to be back on the bike. The weather was still amazing and we had plenty of battery left, which is always a concern with long ebike rides on rentals. And then I spied with my little eyes the church in the village of Shenano. So, of course, I had to take a peek in. I was not sad that there wasn’t going to be enough time for Chateau Demois, at least not that day. But I was super sad about how much my butt hurt at that point. I don’t typically ride this far and I was like a horse heading back to the barn. I couldn’t cycle fast enough. It turned out the ride really wasn’t a fitness issue. It was a butt versus saddle issue. If you just spent more time cycling. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the landscape continued to be gorgeous, but I was definitely distracted by the pain in my butt, how far we had left to ride, and the time. The sun was definitely setting, and I did not want to be riding in the dark. It was fascinating and surprising to see the logs piled up along the trail because it didn’t look like an area that was being logged for lumber. [Music] My poor butt. Welcome to the life of a cyclist. Uh I I don’t think I’m signing up for that. Well, that was an hour and 25 minutes. Basically 14 miles. We’ve we’ve got 2 km to get back to the bike shop. It’s only 520. They close at 7. And what did we come by? Terra, the final home of Leonardo da Vinci. And the grounds are absolutely gorgeous. It doesn’t look too busy. It’s 1950uro a person. It’ll be a nice little break before we return the bikes. Maybe it’ll give my butt a chance to feel a little bit better. Although, that’s probably going to be worse when I get back on. Huh. I’ll give you a treatment later. Chateau decl is a beautiful 15th century manor house where Leonardo da Vinci spent the final three years of his life. He used the rooms in the manor as a studio, workshop, and living space until he died here in 1519. Today, the chateau is part museum, part immersive invention playground. You can walk through Leonardo’s bedroom and studios. And in the basement, there were models of his flying machines and engineering ideas. The gardens were not just beautiful, but they also showcased many of his designs that had been brought to life at full scale. This was my favorite part of our self-guided tour. First seeing the models in the basement and then seeing them in the gardens. Yeah, it was absolutely fascinating. [Music] How you doing there, T? My knee hurts. It’s been a day. Your knee hurts and your butt hurts. My butt does not hurt right now because I’m not sitting on the seat. Well, we’re going to go turn these bikes in and go check into our next weird place. Yay for two chateau in one day. I was definitely happier as we made our way down the hill to return the bikes before the deadline and get off the damn bike. Okay. Okay, the bikes are returned. We’re all done. We got to get back to our car. Hope there’s not a parking ticket on it. Yeah, that was a bit of a challenge with that earlier. and then get to our Airbnb, which is in the mystery weird places to stay video. I don’t know which video is going to come out first. It’s the mystery. It’s a mystery for us, too. So, anyway, thanks for following along on today’s adventure. And uh the next adventure is going to be hot air balloon ride over Shannon. And the best way to avoid a sore butt when cycling is to cycle often. [Music]