Sunday 31st August to Thursday 4th September, 2014.......on our bike ride in the Loire Valley.......great fun........all sorts of roads and tracks to bike on...lots of sunflowers ready for harvest, corn, lovely little French villages but never a soul in sight....we always get the dogs in the villages going  though....Châteaus and castles and the French countryside in general, so lovely and one can't really describe it and do justice to it......18 in our group with 6 from Australia and the rest of the group from NZ.....we are certainly having good food and wine and we just hope like hell that each day we peddle we burn some of it off....you have to give it to the French, they certainly do food and wine well!!!!!  A real mixture of hotels for our accommodation but some beautiful old buildings we have been lucky enough to experience.......rural France has to be experienced!!!!

The restaurant we dined in, in our last night in Blois and talk about fine dining.......

Dining in the restarant in Blois...real fine dining and this pic just doesn't do it justice!!!

Our desert in the above restaurant...how about the plate!!!!

Toilet stop in a village......

Typical of the villages we ride through....

The Chateau of Chambord......

More of the Chateau which we explored but being Sunday half France seemed to be there.....

View from inside the Chateau.....

As above and more cyclists coming in......it was busy, busy......

Biking into our accommodation on our first night on the road......just beautiful.....

Our bedroom...we had 2 bedrooms, an entrance hall and a gorgeous bathroom.......

The view from our bedroom window and we had drinks in this area before going into dinner.....

Again fine dining that evening in the above accommodation.....

Typical sight in the French villages.....

Another French village.....the flowers are beautiful and we are blown away by the vegetable gardens they have.....

Another French village....

Chenonceaux Chateau on the Cher River.......we did a tour here but Michael and I were at this Chateau in 2005....

The Chapel in the above Chateau.....

Another French village.....

And again...so pleasurable biking in this part of France.....

And again.....

We stopped to view a Roman bridge built 2,000 years ago.....in the background and covered in grass now... 

The Chateau at Loches....

The view from our hotel window in Loches looking down at where we dined that evening in the court yard.....

Dinner in the court yard at Loches....

The market the next morning in Loches...those black buns were actually cheese cakes and they tasted delicious.....

The market at Loches.... 

As above....the fruit and veges here are just fabulous......

As above...those big rounds are cheese.....

Lunch stop at a restaurant......

Typical view as we bike the roads of the Loire Valley in France.....

Pre dinner drinks at Sainte Maure.....

Sorghum growing...used for human and animal consumption....

Yours truly on the road....to date we have been lucky enough to have 24, 25 or 26 degrees every day.....

The girls at the goat farm due to give birth this month.....we visited a goat farm and they took us to the pregnant girls, as in this pic, and then to the milking goats.... 

Milking goats and oh those udders!!!!!

Then we went into this cave to taste the goat cheese and the wine....the older parents breed the goats and the daughter and husband produce the wine....

The daughter pouring our wine...good wine and the cheese was  divine!!!

No we're not in Africa but oh those guinea fowls again....bred here for  the table......and oh the noise of them.......

The daughter then took us to her vineyard and picked us some grapes and also  tomatoes out of her garden....

Picnic lunch again....

The Chateau at Chinon which we visited......oh boy, have we climbed some steps and after a days peddling we feel we have earned our wine at dinner......

Having a beer at the square in Chinon in front of our accommodation.....

The Chateau at Chinon.....

The view from the Chateau.....

As above.....