Easter was early this year, its true, but as we had experienced some warm (16 degrees) sunny days towards the end of March, we were hopeful of some friendly weather for our Easter guests - primarily cyclists. Unfortunately, it was not to be!
Our first guests of the Easter break were Karen and Chris, who would (I think) describe themselves as from New Zealand, although Chris was born in the UK and both have been working there for a while. Their break started off hopefully, a sunny first day's ride to medieval Chinon. I'm afraid it all went a bit downhill from there - with two days of wind and rain and although there were some sunny intervals, those of you who are regular cyclists or aware of the Law of Murphy, will guess that the heaviest rain showers occured when they were on a section of the route entirely without shelter! Thankfully the weather was slightly better for their last day - a lovely ride along the Loire river to Villandry chateau and gardens.
Our second cyclists of the weekend arrived on the shower-filled Thursday - although we did manage a welcome drink in the sunny courtyard. This group arrived from the Isle of Man, although only Georgia is a true Manx - Lynton and Marc are originally from South Africa and Charmaine from Ireland. As a break from the weather, they had booked a day's wine tour with Mark on the Saturday so on that day were mostly wet on the inside! They spent the day with Catherine and Elizabeth, American visitors taking a break from their textile studies in the north of France.
Of course the day the final Easter guests left, the sun came out and has been shining every day since! This did mean we could take Sebastian, our German exchange student, to visit Langeais chateau in dry weather. I have posted some photos of the chateau and gardens on our facebook page.
