The early days of May always take me back to the year I graduated from U and set off with 3 buddies, on a 4 week #cycling tour.
The main destination of the trip was the Loire Valley. The first day we flew to London (Gatwick) then cycled the southeastern English countryside towards Dover (from where we would take a hovercraft to France):
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Cycling the English countryside in early May.
(These images are not-very-high-resolution scans of slide film, so excuse the quality).
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When I took my first hovercraft trip across the English Channel it seemed to futuristic - looking back now, it seems so archaic.
Once in France, we explored Calais and the next day took a train to Paris.
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Statue of Jeanne d'Arc. #Paris
This statue was created in 1874, so this year is it's 150th anniversary!
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An outside view from a tower of Notre Dame (#Paris) and a view from inside:
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It was early on a Sunday morning in May (very many years ago), that we rode out of central Paris, on our loaded touring bikes, into the peaceful countryside, headed to Chartres.
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On that Sunday in May, after about 100K of cycling we did reach Chartres, but too late to visit the interior of the Cathedral.
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The next morning we did visit the interior of the #Chartres Cathedral before setting out on an 80K cycling day:
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I'm filled with warm memories of cycling quiet French country roads at this time of year:
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Once we reached Orleans, we started #cycling down the Loire Valley, visiting many chateaus over the next week.
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View of the Loire River from the Chateau d'Amboise
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More views from Amboise - in the castle, looking up at the castle, looking down at the neighbors:
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Chateau de Chenonceau in France's Loire valley (actually on the Le Cher river) (1982):
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A photo that I actually took on that cycling trip, even though it feels like from another era:
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@RandallTT I was five when I took my first one and it seemed like goddamn space magic at the time.
@RandallTT
Preeeeety! 😍
@RandallTT
And then the dragons arrived?
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My favorite of those I've seen.
@RandallTT I saw this in person, stunning! Wish I had a nice camera back then.
A couple of photos with interesting processing, while on the road towards Dover years ago: