TGV back to Paris

Bike hire in Nantes

Alex was not too enthusiastic even although it had a comfy saddle!

Update from Alex - Yaaay!!!!!! 14.30 hours - we have made it to Nantes! More details to follow, but the last hour was pretty hard going into the breeze coming off the coast , and the bikes are safely locked up in the car park. Going for a rest now! We are getting the train back to Paris in the morning!!!

Update from Alex - Friday morning. Made a crackin' start from Montjean this morning, so we are now in Anciens having a break. So, in the region of 700 kms done so far, and only 39kms to go to Nantes. Someone looks pleased about that below!

Update from Alex - another picture from the troglodyte caves - for the ladies following the blog, a picture of the domestic arrangements, and some nice soft furnishings.....

Update from Alex - Wednesday. Oops, I think I am getting my day numbers mixed up, so some info from yesterday (Wednesday). Our bike route took us through the caves of the troglodytes, very interesting, even though David insisted wearing his sunglasses in the dark tunnels because he said they look "cool man!"

Update from Alex - Day 6 - I would honestly say that tonight's accommodation in Montjean is the best accommodation we have had, nice room, nice people, and a honking great church bell to use a a door knocker - this one set all the dogs in the neighbourhood barking earlier when I gave it a good clang!!

Update from Alex- Day 6. We have made it to Montjean, and did in good time, which was helpful due to the temperature getting pretty high today. I thought I would include a picture of the signs that we have been chasing after for the past few days - this time helpfully located to a old British phone box ...... Hello!! England calling!!

Thursday lunch time

We are currently in La Point where the Loire and la Maine join. Weather is excellent and progress has been good with only 30kms remaining to Montjean. B&B last night was excellent the lady and gent who owned the house were retired prof anglais! Bones and muscle are holding up and we have not ran out of Arnica or Deep Heat yet!! We have seen our first signposts for Nantes which is where our trip will finish tomorrow. Will update you all again when we get to Montjean.

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Sunset on the Loire

Wednesday morning

Escape from Chateau Arrrrrrrrgh!
An early start and a great getaway. Currently sitting in Saumur having lunch with only 20kms more to cycle today. That hotel last night was like buying a Citroën - you would never make the same mistake twice!
Weather is excellent and we are in good spirits!

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Fawlty Towers!!.. This hotel near Langeais just gets better and better, so I thought we just had to share it. Dinner was chosen by using Google Translate to make sure we didn't choose anything too extreme, but not to fear, the lamb gougons were out of a packet, the crinkle cut oven chips were just great, and the white beans were straight oot of a can. The greatest fun was got from the random vegetation spread around the room (photo below) which made us think it was Fawlty Towers. Where was Manuel we wondered, as a bearded lady had already checked us in, and she turned out to be the chef!! Still, out of here at 730 in the morning. Can't wait!

Update from Alex - Fawlty Towers

Update from Alex - Day 5- We thought this would be a great place to stop today, seeing as we are both very fit and enjoy doing lots of sports......... Well ones you can watch on the TV anyway!

Tuesday afternoon

We have arrived at 'langeais' .. The hotel is not the best in the world but thankfully breakfast starts at 7:15am so we will be going again toot sweet! We have in fact found wild life inside the room so the sooner we move on the better!

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A coffee break

The best formula during a coffee break!

Tuesday lunch time

Early start out of Amboise. Weather is cooler today but starting to warm up so hopefully get better as the day progresses. Had to get some bike repairs this morning in Tours. The rear brakes on the Canyon were..well...gone to be honest! So we had them replaced and picked up a replacement set just in case we need them further down the route. We are more than half way across the trail now, the distance around 230 miles (will calculate in kms once we check the GPS later).

Monday night

We made it to Amboise. After a slow start to the day the weather picked up and our energy levels did too. Cycling on the roads between Amboise and the hotel is crazy but we have all our lights on and the luminescent jackets! My rear brake disk came off the hub today which was a surprise so we are going to drop by a cycle shop tomorrow when we get to Tours. Hopefully we can get the brake pads replaced since the are still noisy. There are no problems withe the brakes it's just a precaution to have em checked.

Update from Alex - Day 4 - Finally, proof that the Loire valley is a wine producing region.... only taken us 4 days to find some vines!

Update from Alex - Day 4 - Reached the hotel in good time, although todays signposts sent us on a few detours... as the picture shows!

Monday linchtime

Having lunch at Chaumont sur Loire. Feeling much better after the poor start this morning.

Monday morning

Slow start to the morning due to not getting a good sleep. Currently we are in Blois and this afternoon we are aiming for Amboise which is another 43kms away. Weather is not as good as yesterday and it has been raining a little. Temperature is a bit lower and more comfortable for cycling.
More later..
OMA Factor: thee

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Update from Alex. Ahh.. The long & winding road...... Well long anyway (don't worry, it definitely got winding later on!

Update from Alex (Day 3) - 175 miles so far, and still smiling!

Update from Alex - Day 3. Follow the path from Sully-sur-Loire until....... It runs out where they forgot to build it....... Oops!

Update from Alex.... I know the plan was to keep going West until our feet got wet, but this is ridiculous!!!!

Update from Alex... I don't understand this..... It was only flat at the bottom!!!!!!!!!!

Update from Alex...... Looks like the French Electricity company had prior warning that we might need a LOT of hot water for a shower at the end of the day!!!!!

Update from Alex.. I've not been able to get connected until today, so here are a few photos - so the first one at the station in Nevers,.... It's 9am, we've got 2 bikes, some Vitamin C tablets, and we might wear sunglasses.......... Let's hit it!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday

We made it to Beaugency. Most of today bright sunshine and good weather. The last 5kms the rain poured down! The trail signage is much better so we did not loose any time as a result of taking the wrong route. The distances in the guide book are still on the conservative side! We cycled 87kms today and the guide stated the distance as 75kms! We managed to average 25kph over some of the stages today which for a couple of blokes who are largely unfit is not too bad. We have found that the gearing between the two bikes is different! Tomorrow we are heading to Amboise so we plan to get an early start.

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Not a bad sight to see on Day 1!!!!

Well, this should have been an action shot, until David stopped...... D'Oh!!!!

Update from Alex

Saturday

Today we cycled 85kms due the signpost problem but we remain in good shape. Arnica oil works!! Weather has been hot and we had our first puncture on my rear tyre. We replaced the inner tube quickly though and kept going. Our average speed on most of the trail (when we don't go down the wrong track!) is around 20 kmph which is not too bad. Tomorrow we have 75km to cycle.
OMA Factor today: three

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Guide book not that accurate

Oops.. The trail has a missing signpost!!

Chateau Sully sur Loire

Gien

Funny directions

We think we were on the right route when we saw directions for 'Les Chasson Crapotte'

Saturday

Hello folks,
Our first day was tough after an early start. The train journey down to Never was good. Discovered that SNCF have the most over engineered coffee cup on the earth. Weather has been excellent so far. No mobile signal last night so we were not able to update you before today. As I write we are in Bonny-sur-loire. My bike has a bad squeak coming from the front brake which driving us mad but once we get to the next big town we shall try and get that fixed at a bike shop. The hotel last night was good and after a calzone and two bottles of water we called it quits. The guide book is not perfect and we have gone down the odd wrong turn but nothing that could not be corrected quickly.
Will post again later today when we get to Sully sur loire.
Best wishes to all!!

OMA Factor yesterday 4 stars

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Introduction

Welcome all!! This blog is a real time capture of our Loire a Velo cycle adventure! This will be our main way to keep friends and family updated with our progress by sending posts and pictures from our mobile phones.


The Loire a Velo trail in France starts at Never in the center of the country and follows the river Loire right to the Atlantic coast covering a distance of 800kms.


More details and a map of the trail can be downloaded from the official Loire a Velo website:


Loire a Velo website in French
Loire a Velo website in English

Loire a Velo Brochures (download the first pdf)


For obvious copyright reasons we are unable to put any maps on the blog but the above brochure has a map that shows the places below.


Our itinerary is:


Friday 29th April 2011

• Up at 4:50am, train from Acheres to Gare du Lyon 05:25
• Train from Paris Bercy 7am arriving in Never at 9am
• Stage 1 - Never to La Charite-sur-Loire (42 kms)
• Stage 2 - La Charite-sur-Loire to Sancerre (25 kms)
• Stage 2 (and a bit) - Sancerre to Bannay (9.5 kms)

Saturday 30th April 2011

• Stage 3 - Bannay to Briare ( 35.5 kms)
• Stage 4 - Briare to Sully-sur-Loire (32 kms)

Sunday 1st May

• Stage 5 - Sully-sur-Loire to Orleans (45 kms)
• Stage 6 - Orleans to Beaugency (30 kms)

Monday 2nd May

• Stage 7 - Beaugency to Blois (35 kms)
• Stage 8 - Blois to Amboise (43 kms)

Tuesday 3rd May

• Stage 9 - Ambiose to Tours (28 kms)
• Stage 10 - Tours to Langeais (31 kms)

Wednesday 4th May

• Stage 11 - Langeais to Chinon (38 kms)
• Stage 12 - Chinon to Saumur (35 kms)
• Stage 13 - Saumur to Gennes (19 kms)

Thursday 5th May

• Stage 14 - Gennes to Angers (42 kms)
• Stage 15 - Angers to Montjean (40 kms)

Friday 6th May

• Stage 16 - Monjean to Oudon-Champtoceaux (38 kms)
• Stage 17 - Oudon-Champtoceaux to Nantes (30 kms)
• Stage 18 (if time and energy permits) Nantes to Saint-Brevin-l'Ocean (52 kms)

Saturday 7th May

• TGV from Nantes back to Paris