Leonardo da Vinci is buried in Amboise, in a small chapel in the grounds of the château, and he came here at the invitation of François I, who gave him the manor house of Clos Lucé, a few hundred metres away, and a pension. He died there in 1519, aged sixty-seven. The house is now a museum with models of his inventions, built from his drawings, and a garden where some are displayed outdoors. Whether the bones in the chapel are really his is debated, since the church where he was first buried was largely destroyed in the Revolution, but the place has its own quiet dignity.
The château itself stands on a rocky spur above the Loire and has seen a good deal of drama. Charles VIII, who rebuilt it in the late fifteenth century with Italian craftsmen, died here in 1498 after, the story goes, hitting his head on a low doorway. In 1560 the Amboise conspiracy, a failed Protestant plot to seize the young king Francis II, ended in a bloody revenge, with hundreds executed and hung from the balconies. In the nineteenth century the Algerian leader Abd el-Kader was held here in captivity with his family and followers.
The town runs along the river below, with a bridge, tidy quays, shops and cafés, and a narrow-street centre with half-timbered houses and tall roofs of slate. The stone is tuffeau, a soft, pale limestone quarried from the hills around, which gives the Loire châteaux their creamy glow. Many houses in the district are built into caves in the cliff, an old tradition in Touraine, and wine cellars are dug into the same soft rock.
On the bike, the Loire valley roads are some of the gentlest in France. The D751 follows the river on its south bank, flat and smooth with wide views of the water and the sandbars, and the lanes in the hills behind the town wind through vineyards and woods. Expect traffic and parking trouble at the town centre in summer, but early morning is pleasant and quiet. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, with soft light and fewer crowds.
Amboise is big enough to have everything a rider needs, including fuel stations, supermarkets and plenty of places to eat. Try the local goat's cheese, rillettes, a glass of Vouvray or Montlouis and a slice of tarte Tatin if you can.