Chabris sits on the left bank of the Cher where three landscapes meet: the sandy woods and ponds of the Sologne to the north, the open chalky fields of the Berry to the south, and the soft valley of the river itself, wide and slow, lined with poplars. It is a village of around two and a half thousand people, the sort of place you pass through on the way to somewhere else, which is a pity, because it rewards half an hour.
The church of Saint-Phalier is the reason to stop. Phalier was a hermit who lived here in the fifth century, and his tomb in the crypt drew pilgrims for centuries, especially women hoping for children. The building is Romanesque at heart, and the carved stones set into the outer walls, some of them older than the church itself, show strange animals and figures that nobody has ever quite explained. Stand by the south side in the afternoon, when the low sun brings the carving out.
This is goat cheese country. Selles-sur-Cher, a few kilometres downstream, gives its name to a flat round cheese dusted with ash, and Valençay, a short ride south with its grand Renaissance château, has both a cheese, shaped like a truncated pyramid, and a small wine appellation of crisp whites and light reds. Ask for both at a market or a café and you will have eaten the region in one sitting.
The riding is relaxed rather than technical. The road along the Cher follows the valley with long bends and good visibility, and the side lanes into the Sologne are narrow, flat and shaded, with ponds glinting through the trees and the occasional pheasant running out in front of you. South towards Valençay the land rises a little and opens up, and you can see weather coming from a long way off. Spring and autumn are lovely, summer can be hot and still in the valley, and morning mist on the river is common in October.
For anything bigger than a village shop, Romorantin-Lanthenay is about fifteen kilometres north-east, a proper town with supermarkets, fuel and a pleasant old centre on the Sauldre. Chabris itself has a bakery, a café or two and a bridge over the Cher where it is worth pausing to watch the water.