On Sunday, 1st June, nine intrepid cyclists from the Midweek Wayfarers (Frank, Françoise, Cliff, Maureen, Tim, Alan, Ian, Pam and Gill) met up with 25 French cyclists at a hotel in Haute Goulaine on the other side of the Loire, south of Nantes. That morning, when we got off the overnight ferry at St. Malo, we had been greeted by Frank and Francoise, already in France, and FFCT leader, Gérard,
who very kindly transported us and our bikes to Nantes where we had a lovely picnic lunch sitting under cherry trees in the garden of Guy (organiser/FFCT leader) and his wife, Yolande (back-marker & tour supplies facilitator).
After lunch, on arrival at the hotel, each participant was presented with a bottle of Muscadet (local wine) and a complete set of maps for the coming days, with accompanying cross-sections showing the heights above sea level of the routes – it was definitely NOT going to be a flat ride! This was followed by a briefing on the tour, a ‘welcome drink’ during which we had an opportunity to exchange names with a few people – after this we relied on the name tags we had been asked to attach to our bikes. Dinner that first night was at a nearby restaurant, involving a cavalcade of cars and the van for us.
The first day of cycling, 2nd June, set the pattern for the next seven days – breakfast at 7.00 a.m.; on the road at 8.00 a.m. after depositing our panniers (large suitcases for the French) in the sag-wagon. (We moved on to a new hotel each day.) The two leaders, Gerard and Guy, took turns in driving the sag-wagon, stopping to guide us at tricky intersections and to provide us with coffee and tea breaks (a picnic table with thermoses, cakes and bananas!) – always a welcome sight after a long straight stretch or a strenuous climb. At lunchtimes, apart from two occasions, we had picnics which comprised ready-made salad trays picked up by the van driver. In the evenings, the routine was to check into the hotel, hopefully with time for a drink before briefing at 7.00 p.m. and dinner at 7.30 p.m. We cycled approximately 50-60 miles per day depending on whether we stopped to visit a château or winery and were extremely lucky with the weather, with showers on only one day and temperatures reaching 28 degrees by the end of the week – a bit too hot for comfortable cycling, but who’s complaining!
Day 1 was a 60-miler to reach our hotel at Les Ponts de Cé, near Angers. We followed the Loire first on one side, then the other. The flat sections were generally on roads on the levées beside the River Loire which is very wide and shallow, with lots of sandbanks and islands - not surprisingly all the boats we saw were flat-bottomed. Away from the river, the countryside is quite hilly. On the second day we stopped at our first château, Château de Brezé, renowned for its huge pigeon-loft. Being inland from Saumur, it had involved quite a detour away from the river and was followed by an afternoon of climbs to reach our hotel at Chinon on the R. Vienne, rather later than anticipated due to a second stop. This had been at Fontevraud Abbey, originally part of a mediaeval monastic city and in the 19th-20th centuries, a prison. There is a very fine Romanesque kitchen and the Abbey itself contains the tombs of members of the Plantagenet family, with effigies of Henry II, Eleanor of Acquitaine, Richard the Lion Heart and his brother, John’s wife, Isabelle – it’s amazing how closely our history is linked with the French at times!
Wednesday was the day of sunny periods and showers. We returned to the R. Loire and its tributary the R. Indre where we saw Château d’Ussé, famous for being the setting for the fairy tale ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, before crossing over to the R. Cher and Chenonceaux – home of one of the most famous of the French chateaux, built right across the river. It was on the last lap from Bléré to Chenonceaux that the heavens opened and we all got drenched! However, after hot baths/showers at the hotel and with the sun out again, most of us rallied and walked the short distance to this amazing château.
The next day the weather was fine and sunny again and once more we were cycling cross-country, with morning coffee outside Château du Gué Péan (privately owned) and a glimpse of Château de Cheverny (of Tin-Tin fame) before arriving at the Château de Chambord at lunchtime. This is the largest château in the Loire Valley and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, registered in 1981. After a picnic lunch in the car park, it was a group of the English cyclists plus ‘three French Musketeers’, who visited this royal château. All the rest went to see nearby Blois which they said was more important to them in terms of French history.
The return journey began on Friday – back along the Loire to Amboise where we stopped to visit the château. Leonardo de Vinci is buried in the tiny chapel in the grounds of the château and used to live nearby – another surprise! Shortly afterwards we stopped at the winery, Montlouis, high up in limestone caves, where we also had our picnic lunch after tastings. Reluctantly coming back out into the heat of a 28 degree day, we managed to bypass the city of Tours on paths beside the river, eventually crossing over to Villandry on the R. Cher. Here the hotel was almost next door to the Château which is famous for its gardens. They really do have to be seen – especially the vegetable garden!
We started Saturday’s ride with a visit to the 15th C. Château de Langeais. It was beautifully furnished and there was a short son-et-lumière in English on the political intrigues of the time. Today’s lunch was in a Troglodyte Restaurant. The meal was based on mushrooms which are grown in the caves. In the afternoon we mostly retraced the outward route back to Les Ponts de Cé, and was flat and fast (15-18 m.p.h.?) and hot!
Sunday was the last day of the tour and our first stop, which doubled as a coffee break, was at the winery at la Haie Longue (Côteau du Layon). The early hour did not stop us from sampling the wines on offer and some from purchasing! After this the morning’s ride was very strenuous, being fast and hilly. It was a relief to reach the lunchtime picnic spot – the same shady viewpoint about the Loire that we’d used on the first day. The afternoon’s ride had long flat stretches with a couple of hills and a never-ending climb all the way from the river to the hotel – a killer at the end of a 65-mile day! That evening, the last with our French friends was quite a party – a wine-tasting of Muscadet wines, followed by dinner at a nearby restaurant.
The next day we said our farewells and were transported to Guy and Yolande’s where we had tea and coffee before being led on a ride into the city of Nantes, using the many cycle paths provided. There are some fine buildings in Nantes built with money from the slave trade and we were shown a monument to the abolition of the slave trade. Today was a public holiday for Whitsun and everyone was out and about. In a huge square we came across a crowd of thousands waiting for two immense figures – the Grandmother and the Little Black Giant* - to be raised upright by cranes. We couldn’t wait as we had an appointment with a mechanical elephant – Le Grand Elephant – which you may remember visited London a few years ago. Carrying up to 50 people, it moves less than 1 k.p.h., trumpets loudly and sprays water on anyone nearby – the kids love it! We were treated to a ride on this and on a 3-tier carousel featuring all sorts of mechanical marine creatures. All this and the workshops are located on former shipbuilding yards next to the river.
After all this excitement, the noise and the crowds, we were happy to retreat back to the peace and quiet of Guy and Yolande’s where we made presentations to thank our hosts and to thank Marie-Joelle who had been our official interpreter.
The next day, after another hotel and a meal at a pizza restaurant (little choice on a public holiday), we were transported to Frank and Françoise’s home where we had a wonderful lunch before cycling back to St Malo with Frank as leader. Timing was perfect for the ferry despite delays en-route due to a spectacular fall by Cliff when his brakes failed on a steep descent. Thankfully neither he nor the bike was harmed. What a wonderful trip it had been – we had covered almost 450 miles, explored new territory, made new friends. The French organisers had done an amazing job and thanks, too, to Frank and Françoise for making the arrangements for us to be able to take part. We left them in Brittany as we sailed off into the sunset. Gill Finlay
*These turned out to be creations of the French Street Theatre Co., Royal de Luxe, and the 7.4m. Grandmother is to join a little girl and her dog in Liverpool on 23rd-24th July.
TOUR STATISTICS
Mileage:
FFCT Leaders/Organisers/Sag-wagon drivers: 2 (Guy Bourmaud & Gérard Cohen-Bacri)Backmarker/Supplies facilitator: 1 (Yolande Bourmaud)Participants: 31 (9 of which from the Wayfarers Section, the 22 others came from various French cyclo-touring clubs)
To keep everyone watered and fed at “coffee & tea breaks” during the week, the following was consumed:
Bottled water: 150 litres
Wine: 15 litres
Fresh ground coffee beans: 4 kgs
Plastic cups: 500
Bananas: 22kgs
Large Brioches: 5
Pains d'épices (family-size Ginger breads): 10
Photos:
Gill's Photos
Tim's Photos - Loire Valley
Tim's Photos - Nantes
