One Third Loire Valley Tour

by Gary Haynes

Following my abandonment of the Paris-Brest-Paris, Ella and I stayed a few days in a couple of one-star hotels in Paris. The Telemaque, with its warped floors and no elevator, has a good location. On the other hand, the old Port Royal looks like it should be at least two-stars although it fronts a noisy street. We were satisfied with the Telemaque - room 24 is good. Then we set off on a bike tour of the Loire Valle.

Day One: We packed our bikes, stored our excess luggage at the Telemaque and rode the mile to the train station. We checked the train schedule for a train that would take our bikes (these are indicated by a little bicycle symbol in the notes). We rolled our bikes into the baggage compartment, in our case the front of the train. It took about an hour to reach Chartes, the starting point of the tour. Chartes is really not a very large city. The cathedral was not busy or touristy and we enjoyed its stained glass windows and intricate stonework. After an outdoor café lunch I stopped off at a bookstore for a Michelin map, essential for navigation. We stocked-up on supplies at a supermarket on the way out of town. Suddenly we are pedaling through open flat farmland, the weather was perfect and no traffic. We followed the route from the book "France by Bike" by the Whitehills pub by The Mountaineers. This first day we went 58km to Chateaudun. The terrain was easy, mostly vast farm fields interspersed with tiny villages or house clusters. I was glad to get away from the commotion of Paris and see something different; Ella thought it was a bit boring. We passed a couple riding small wheeled bikes with little daypacks (more on this later). The last few miles were uphill and more traffic into Chateaudun where we quickly got a hotel room. That evening dining at the one good restaurant in the main square we met up with the couple we passed earlier. Sonja and Jeff were from Oregon and were riding folding Bike Fridays, which are produced in Oregon. We were amazed at how little stuff they had. How did they do it? They were on the same route we were and had even read the same trip stories on the Internet that we had. We would cross paths several times in the following days.

Day Two: We rode out of town through more cornfields and villages. Arriving in Meung-sur-Loire on the Loire River, we bought what looked good at the bread shop, which we ate, then took a nap on the grass in the park. Meung has winding, narrow old streets, all well kept and it has an old abbey where during the Inquisition the Bishops devised some sort of forced water ingestion torture, this was considered ok techniques for monks to do. After a false start down a dead-end riverside road, we rode the six miles down river to the charming town of Beaugency. Riding uphill from the river level we checked out the hotels (we had no reservations). The roads were paved with square stones and everything including the old had a clean look. The abbey had been converted into a hotel and the former monk’s cells are the rooms, but we took cheaper lodgings. We had ridden about 50 km on this second day.

Day Three: After buying some food we headed out and ran into Sonja and Jeff going the same route. The directions got a little fuzzy after we reached same gravel roads along the Loire. Despite my best efforts at navigation from the map and guessing we finally ended up walking a woodsy path into a farm field. Getting back to the road we soon realized we had gone in a circle. The trick turned out to be going around a gate that closed the road to all traffic "sauf bicyclettes" (except bicycles). We crossed the river and had an easy ride into the park surrounding the Chambord Chateau. This huge "summer home" for the King has a very elaborate roof with spires and towers that may have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci. We ate cheese and bread on the grass and studied the mansion then rode around the gravel paths with the other tourists. Then we finished the day’s 42 km ride into the large town of Blois which was having a rush hour traffic jam. We got a little lost but finally took a room at the hotel on top of the hill.

Day Four: We rode downhill and stopped at the "Packman" (French fast-food place) for a cheap breakfast. Then crossed the bridge and paralleled the river for a nice tailwind assisted ride to Chaumont. We took a café break then parked our bikes and walked uphill to the Chaumont Chateau where you get a fine view of the Loire Valley. The rest of the days 46-km ride had two moderate climbs onto a higher plateau with sunflower fields, then down to the Cher River and ending at Chenonceau. After securing a hotel room we rode the short distance to Chenonceau Chateau, which is notable for being built bridging the river.

Day Five: It was time to turn back toward Paris so although the prettiest parts were still west of us, we rode north to Amboise which has a huge chateau that was home to Leonardo in his last years. Crossing the Loir River we headed east against a terrific headwind. Stopping for picnic lunch along the river, I got a slight sting from some nettles (Watch out for those prickly things!) On the approach to the forest, which we had to ride through to get back to Blois (our stopping point for the day), I had the only mechanical problem of the trip. I broke a plate of the quick-disconnect type chain link. But I always carry a chain tool, so we make it back to Blois and found a little cheaper hotel near the train station.

Day Six: We rode back over the same bridge at Blois and then rode east along the Loire River. We met a couple of British cycle tourists. It seems they prefer to tour here better than the home turf. Sunnier, less traffic, less expensive, and of course the scenery. We continued our journey on a main road into the major city of Orleans. We hit a nice stretch of bike lane for a couple miles. The city traffic was really not too bad. Passing the cathedral, we got a quaint looking hotel near the train station. We checked the train schedule hoping for a lift to Paris sixty miles away, but unfortunately there was no train that would take our bikes. We decided to get up early to ride the thirty or so miles back to Chateaudun where there was a morning train to Paris that would take the bikes.

Day Seven: We left about 7am through light traffic out of the city on a straight shot to Chateaudun. We must have had a pretty good workout because we got to the station with an hour to spare. We boarded a sleek looking two-car train that has vertical hangers for three bikes. Ella caused a minor incident when wine leaked from her bike thermos bottle. Otherwise we had no problem getting back to Paris.

Maybe some time we will return to do the whole tour; we covered only about one third of it. Hotels were about 35 dollars per night, one or two star of course. We had no problem finding a room at the end of Aug.-early Sept. If you can travel light, unencumbered by bike boxes and such, this could be a real advantage. I’m also interested in the S & S coupling system to make a "travel bike". This tour might make a good open paced club ride!