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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A couple of photos with interesting processing, while on the road towards Dover years ago:
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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Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau - from the grounds and and a couple of interior shots. Although we did tour the grounds and interiors of most of the chateaus I didn't get too many photos of the historic inside details.
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Royal Fortress of Chinon, #France in mid-May (years ago).
This place was a bit in ruins.
The first photo shows a slot in the thick walls through which archers could have fired arrows down upon attackers.
Colorful peacocks were wandering the grounds.
25K down the road in the Loire Valley: Chateau de Saumur
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@RandallTT
Preeeeety! 😍
@RandallTT
And then the dragons arrived?
@RandallTT
My favorite of those I've seen.
@RandallTT I saw this in person, stunning! Wish I had a nice camera back then.
@AverageCitizen Yes, very impressive to see in-person and I too wish I had a modern digital camera back then. I would have taken so many more photos if I wasn't limited by the number of rolls of film that I could carry (and afford).
@AverageCitizen Nice one, it certainly captures the beauty of the place.
@RandallTT Ummm... were you being semi-mooned??
@NoahPaulLeGies Hmmm? Are you referencing that window on the caravan? 😄
@RandallTT Yup. :) It is a bit suspiciously bulged.
Paris on a day in early May, 42 years ago:
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