There are no gardens to visit today but there is a prescribed bike ride of 100Km. That’s twice the distance of previous rides. It’s supposed to rain and I hope it does so I don’t have to ride. I want to see the house where Da Vinci lived and died.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have ever lived.
In 1516, De Vinci entered François' (Francis I) service (e.g. moved to France), being given the use of the manor house Clos Lucé (see photo on right above) near the king's residence at the royal Château d'Amboise (see photo on left above). It was here that he spent the last three years of his life, accompanied by his friend and apprentice, Count Francesco Melzi, and supported by a pension totaling 10,000 scudi
Left above, Leonardo’s garden. Right, concept bicycle – with belt drive!!!
WHO’S RIDING?
Jane Holahan (“Saint Jane”)
Our tour leader, Jane, lives in Dallas, TX with her husband Michael. Jane completed her undergraduate work at UT-Austin with a degree in English and History. She later did graduate work at UT-Arlington in French. She has been leading trips since 2001 for Dallas Arboretum, private clients and Bicycle Adventure Club in the regions of Normandy, Provence, Brittany, Alsace and Loire. Combining her French language skills, love of history and gardens, she lends a special charm to her tours.
Her only child was born in France on June 13, nearly 50 years ago, when Jane must have been 12.
Before turning her talents to leading tours she raised money for PBS programming and also was head of the Fine Arts Department at the Dallas Public Library system.
In addition to living in France for a couple of years during her early married years, she also lived in London for 3 years.
Thank you Jane for arranging a delightful tour and sharing special gardens with us. The special tours with the Duke, Elsie and the Countess were exceptionally enjoyable.
John McManus & Brenda Cole 
(Written by John McCoy)
John McManus and Brenda Cole are veteran Bicycle Adventure Club riders and leaders. John estimates that he has ridden 98 bike tours with approximately 60 being with BAC. Brenda estimates that she has ridden or lead more than 55 trips with BAC. They both retired in 2000 from Mobil Oil Corporation. John was on the Board of Directors of BAC from 2003 - 2007 when he help start the Ride Leader Training Program.
Currently they live north of Dallas in a garden home near White Rock Lake where they can warm up with a 10 mile loop that is mostly on bike trails and quiet residential streets. They escape the hot Texas summer months by residing in Frisco, Colorado which is west of Denver. Here they get their high altitude training in to be ready for the fall riding season.
John and Brenda also belong to and lead tours for a tandem bicycle club, DATES (Dallas Area Tandem EnthusiastS). If you want to visit with them after a ride, John prefers red wine and Brenda white.
”All good things must come to an end.” And all bad things I suspect, also. So the Gardens of Touraine blog comes to an end. Tomorrow we take a taxi to Tours and the high speed TGV train to Charles de Gaulle Airport. On Wednesday we have a direct flight from CDG to DFW. We’ll find similar weather to France in Texas; hot but with intermittent thunder showers.
Unless something unusual happens, this blog won’t resume until our “Huff and Puffers Ride Again” tour which starts in Connecticut on September 14. This tour is a recreation of the original tour, 50 years ago, of the International Bicycle Touring Society which morphed into Bicycle Adventure Club.
If you want notices when the blog is published either sign up in the FOLLOW BY EMAIL window on the right of the screen near the top of the blog or “friend me” on Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment