dossier

Level of Difficulty

Grade A (generally easy cycling, some hills). Day stages 37/23 mi  to 45km/28 mi. The terrain is relatively flat, with short climbs of 200 feet or so out of the river valleys onto the intervening level plateau areas. This makes cycling easy and enjoyable.

The Bikes

On this tour bike hire is included in the tour price and no security deposit is required.

The bikes are 21-speed hybrid bikes equipped with saddlebags, pump, repair kit, water bottle and key lock and map support, helmets. The repair kit contains patches, glue, tyre levers, spare inner tube, and spare cable for brakes/gears.

The bikes weigh around 15kg and frame sizes are in the range 45cm to 60cm V-brakes. Wheels can be removed without tools. The bikes are delivered to the first hotel in Amboise and collected from the final hotel in Saumur. Before traveling, we will need to be advised your height and inside leg measurements, so that we can organize for the correct bikes to be available for your arrival.

Maps & Route Notes

We provide  a set of 1:100,000 (1cm = 1km) road maps (6 A4 sheets) with our cycling route marked on them, and for a more general overview, the Michelin 1:250,000 road map (1cm to 2.5km). We also provide specially researched route descriptions.

General Information

Baths: it is not normal for your room to have a bath, the main reason being that it takes up a lot of space, some hotels/guesthouses may have a separate room in the house where a bath is available to guests, but in the main it is showers.

Breakfast: in countries such as France/Italy/Spain/Greece etc are usually coffee and toast/croissant, if you want more for breakfast then we would suggest you purchase some food the night before. It is important for you to tell us if you have any dietary requirements when you book your holiday so that we can inform everyone that you are staying with.

Single Supplements: are payable on most of our tours. 1) The single supplement guarantees the privacy of your own room, however, rooms can at times be small and in some places may not enjoy the same facilities as double/twin rooms. 

Luggage: When staying in hotels, sometimes your luggage will have been taken to you room awaiting your arrival. However don’t be surprised if your luggage is waiting for you to take it up to your room.

Accommodation & Meals

Hotels normally with en suite shower and toliet. Half board (dinner and breakfast) on 5 nights, B&B only on 2 nights. Picnic lunches are not included in the tour price but are available from hotels or local shops. We indicate in the route notes where there are suitable restaurants or cafes for lunch stops, or recommend you carry food if there are none convenient to the route.

An upgrade to a 3* hotel is possible in Chenonceaux.  Supplement $60 per person/per night in a double room.  This charming hotel, where your hosts will kindly welcome you, is located 150 metres away from the Chateau de Chenonceaux.  Celebrities such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Churchill, Rockefeller and many others stayed under this very roof.  You will enjoy the swimming pool in a peaceful garden and taste all the local delights at the restaurant.

       Night 1. Amboise. A fine provincial wood beamed 2* Logis de France hotel at the heart of the historic town of Amboise, a short walk from Le Clos Luce, Leonardo da Vinci's last residence, which contains a museum of models based on his designs. Half board (dinner at restaurant L’Ecluse).

       Night 2. Chenonceaux. Our 2 star Logis de France accommodation has a magnificent fire place and exposed beams. Half board.

       Night 3. Loches. From the centre of a quiet landscaped park, overlooking the historic town, this hotel offers an exceptional panoramic view.  It has also a large terrace and a swimming pool..

       Night 4. Montbazon. A well-appointed riverside annex of the Chateau d'Artigny, one of the famous 'Relais et Chateaux' group of hotels. Dinner and breakfast in the chateau itself, which is situated on a bluff with a fine view over the river Indre. The dinner has to be seen to be believed: an amazing assault on the senses! Shirt and tie are seriously recommended. Breakfast is generous with a wide choice.  Half board.

       Night 5. Azay-le-Rideau. The hotel is set in a semi pedestrian street in the heart of this charming village and just 50 metres from the elegant chateau.  You will find here, the charm of the past combined with the comfort of today.  The 18th century house was built in a style typical of the Tours area.  One of the features of the hotel is the 19th century school, situated across the flower decked patio and which, like the rest of the hotel, has been tastefully transformed into delightful accommodation.  Bed and breakfast only included; there is a choice of places to take your evening meal. .

       Night 6.  Chinon. The hotel has the charm of an authentic dwelling-place built in the fifteenth century and modified in the eighteenth century.  It is just a few hundred metres from the town centre, the medieval quarter and the chateau.

       Night 7.  Saumur. A small hotel in the centre of this fashionable town on the banks of the Loire, close to the old town and the chateau. Bed and breakfast is only included; there is a wide choice of restaurants nearby for that final dinner.

Arrival

The starting point of the tour is at Amboise. Amboise is reached by direct non-TGV train from Paris Gare d'Austerlitz (2 hours). Gare d'Austerlitz is reached by RER and metro from Paris CDG airport. These rail tickets are not included in the tour price. You will receive up-to-date train times for your date of travel, or alternatively you can visit Rail Europe's website at www.raileurope.com.  At Amboise it is 15 minutes walk or (if you are carrying heavy luggage) a taxi ride. Car parking is available in Amboise free of charge, but not guarded.

Alternatively, there are direct TGV trains from each of (a) Paris Montparnasse (1 hour) or (b) Paris CDG airport (1hour 45 mins) to Tours St Pierre des Corps, from where there are local train services to Amboise.  Seat reservations are obligatory on TGV trains and a supplementary fare is payable.

Relevant French National Railway timetables can be obtained from the Internet, either at www.sncf.com (text in French or English), or at www.bahn.de (text in German, but a very fast and efficient site, with all changes of train detailed).  Alternatively you can check out the Rail Europe’s site at www.raileurope.com

Itinerary Guide

Time is allowed to visit chateaux and other sites of interest along the way, but entry fees are not included in the tour price. You will probably not have time or energy to visit them all! Fans of Leonardo da Vinci’s s futuristic gadgetry will not want to miss Le Clos Luce. The more feminine attractions of the Chateau de Chenonceau, built on a bridge over the River Cher, are definitely not to be missed. The gardens at Villandry are incomparable (I never knew cabbages could be so colourful); and (even if you don’t usually go in for that sort of thing) the “promenade avec son-et-lumiere” at Azay le Rideau is a unique experience.

       Day 1.  Arrive Amboise, a picturesque town on the south bank of the Loire. Amboise boasts the still impressive remnants of what was a magnificent chateau as well as Le Clos Luce, a redbrick manor house that was the home of the polymath Leonardo da Vinci for 3 years until his death in 1519. Chateau and Le Clos Luce (which incorporates a museum of models based on da Vinci’s designs) are both open to the public, each visit requiring approx. 1 hour. There will be time to visit either of these before departure on the morning of day 2. Entry fees: Chateau d’Amboise approx. 6 Euros(Approx US$10); Le Clos Luce approx. 6 Euros (approx US$10).

       Day 2.  Before leaving town try to find time to visit Le Clos Luce, where Leonardo da Vinci lived as the guest of Francois I from 1516 to 1519. Then on to the Chateau of La Bourdaisiere, built under the orders of Francois I for his mistress Marie Gauelin.

After following the Loire valley downstream for a few km, we turn off to visit the Chateau de la Bordaisiere, before continuing following the Cher Valley upstream to Chenonceau and our overnight stop. You could visit this famous chateau today, but we would recommend going tomorrow after breakfast (see below), before the tourist hoards arrive. Entry fees:  Le Clos Luce approx. 6 Euros (approx US$10); La Bourdaisiere approx. 5 Euros (approx US$8).

       Day 3.  At Chenonceau, where you can easily spend two or three hours visiting one of the very finest of the Loire chateaux, the ‘chateau shaped by women’, including its early 16th century designer Catherine Bricennet as well as Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici, which ‘stretches across the River Cher in a perfect harmony of water, greenery, gardens and trees in a fine natural setting’. After the visit and maybe lunch continue over the low hilly watershed to Loches on the River Indre. Entry fee: Chateau de Chenonceau approx 7 Euros (approx US$11).

       Day 4. Time to visit the chateau of Loches in the morning before an easy ride down the peaceful Indre valley, stopping en route at Cormery, where the now ruined abbey stood for 100 years until 1791. Then on to Montbazon where your destination is Port-Moulin in the grounds of the Chateau d'Artigny, now converted to a hotel. Entry fee: Chateau de Loches: approx. 5 Euros (approx US$8).

       Day 5. Today we ride from Montbazon to the celebrated gardens at Villandry, one of the wonders of France with the opportunity to visit the former home of the novelist Balzac in the small chateau at Sache. From Villandry it is about 1 hour’s ride past the confluence of the Rivers Cher and Loire and along picturesque woodland tracks and quiet roads to Azay le Rideau. Both Villan­dry and Azay are awarded the highest accolade of ‘worth a jour­ney’ by the Michelin Guide. The son et lumiere display at the Chateau of Azay, set on an island in the Indre, is highly recommended for a delightful and memorable, if relatively expensive (11 Euros/approx US$17) stroll after dinner. Entry fees: Villandry gardens approx. 5 Euros; Chateau d’Azay le Rideau (daytime) approx. 5 Euros (approx US$8), Son-et-Lumiere approx. 10 Euros (approx US$16).

       Day 6. There is time for a daytime visit to the chateau of Azay, one of the gems of the Renaissance, before continuing our ride via the wonderful 'sleeping beauty' (la belle au bois dormant) chateau of Usse and on to Chinon itself, a medieval town on the north bank of the Vienne domi­nated by the walls of its ruined mediaeval fortress and the centre of a well-known wine-growing region. Within the fortress is a museum illustrating the career of the Maid of Orleans (otherwise known as Joan of Arc). Entry fees:  Chateau d’Ussy approx 10 Euros (approx US$16); Chateau de Chinon approx 5 Euros (approx US$8).

       Day 7.  After crossing the river Vienne you ride through the Foret de Fontevraud to the celebrated abbey of that name, the most exten­sive set of monastic buildings in France. The 12th C abbey church houses the tombs of several Plantagenet royals (Kings and Queens of England in the 14^th and 15^th centuries). The way continues past vineyards along the steep south bank of the Loire to Saumur, famous for its white wines, its caval­ry school, and its chateau overlooking the Loire. Entry fees:  Chateau de Saumur and Museum of Decorative Arts approx. 6 Euros (approx US$10).

End of Tour

The tour ends at Saumur on the morning of day 8. The bikes will be collected from your hotel in Saumur. Return by train from Saumur Rive Droite station (10 minutes walk or short taxi ride across the Loire bridge from the last hotel). Local train to Angers (30 mins) or Tours (1 hour). There are direct TGV services from both Angers and from Tours to each of (a) Paris Montparnasse (1.5 hours or 1 hour) for ORY airport) or (b) CDG airport (about 2 hours) Seat reservations are obligatory on TGV trains. There is also a non-TGV service from Tours to Paris Austerlitz. Check times on the Internet and locally before travelling.