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Loire Valley Bike Tour Itinerary

Day 1: Sunday

On your arrival at the railway station in Blois, a city occupied by the German Army during the Second Wold War and liberated by the Americans in the last two weeks of August 1944, we will meet you in our air-conditioned vehicle and transport you the short distance to the starting point of the tour close to the village of Cheverny. Once the ‘formalities’ of checking in and ‘fitting’ your bike are completed there are a few hours of leisure before dinner; an opportunity to mix and mingle with your colleague cyclists, a chance to swim off the tiredness of travel, partake of a restorative drink or perhaps a familiarising gentle cycle of the local countryside to Chateau Chambord. This example is one of the most recognised of all French chateaux due to its typical renaissance architecture and with a double-helix staircase designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

Day 2: Monday

The morning will start leisurely with a very short ride to the nearby Chateau Cheverny We may well be the first to arrive at the entrance gates, but the sight of waking hounds of the Cheverny hunt are well worth the early visit.  The spectacle of 90 dogs disentangling themselves from each other can be quite amusing and makes for some unusual photos.  Opened to the public in 1914, the chateau is one of the most popular with visitors due to its interesting decoration and furniture.  Fans of ‘Tintin’ might find the chateau instantly recognisable as it was used by Hergé to create his fictional ‘Chateau de Moulinsart’.

Upon leaving Cheverny, we will be heading in the direction of the Loire River and Chateau Chaumont where we will take lunch; you will have the option to visit the chateau should you wish to do so.  An additional attraction, depending on the timing of your tour, is that during the summer the chateau hosts a garden festival with a different theme each year.

The afternoon ride will take us to our hotel on the edge of Amboise, where the pretty town and Chateau of Amboise are merely a short ride or taxi ride away from the hotel.  You may well have had enough of chateaux by now, but the chateau at Amboise is one of the more spectacular chateaux and was once a favourite of French Kings, including Henry II and his wife Catherine de’ Medici and also Mary Stuart the child Queen of Scotland.

Day 3: Tuesday

Our morning commences with a short ride through the town of Amboise to Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life as a guest of King François I.  The chateau is open to the public and plays host to a collection of forty scaled models of his inventions made from da Vinci’s drawings.  

After a coffee, in the relaxing gardens of the chateau, we will “saddle-up” and head south towards the Cher River and Bléré where we will stop for lunch and a wander around the town.  
 
In the afternoon we will continue south heading towards Reignac sur Indre, a small village straddling the river Indre and our resting point for the night.  Our accommodation will be Chateau de Reignac, a property able to trace its roots back to the 15th century century and with all its rooms dedicated to illustrious persons who lived or stayed at Reignac. The decor and the chosen pieces of period furniture aim at recreating the atmosphere most familiar to these great names in history, whilst ensuring the guests all the comfort of a luxury hotel.

Day 4: Wednesday

A gentle ride through unspoilt countryside is on the agenda for this morning.  We will be heading north west and shadowing the River Indre along its peaceful banks as it meanders its way back towards Tours.

We will have coffee in the quiet town of Saint Branchs before continuing on to Monts where we will find a suitable venue to rest our legs and enjoy lunch.  
 
After lunch we’ll have completed the vast majority of our distance for the day so things should be a little more relaxed.  We’ll be heading towards the very outskirts of Tours so things do become a little busier, although by this we don’t mean traffic-wise, but the area becomes more populated as we approach our hotel in Joué les Tours.

Day 5: Thursday

We’ll be leaving Joué les Tours and crossing the Loire river at Langeais, one of the oldest towns in Touraine, and once seized by Richard the Lionheart.  We will have time here for a coffee-break and photo-call before heading off along the north bank of the Loire river.

Bourgueil will be our lunch-stop; having enjoyed our food, we will visit a vineyard of the Appellation d’Origine Controlée Bourgueillois and enjoy a spot of wine-tasting.  For those who are impressed enough with the wine to want to buy some for drinking at their leisure, you can do so; we will carry your purchases safely in the accompanying minibus.    

In the afternoon, after having had a little tipple, luckily we’ll have a reasonably short journey to make to our refuge for the night.  We’ll be re-tracing our steps along the North banks of the Loire river to arrive at our hotel in time to take a relaxing dip in the pool before dinner.

Day 6: Friday

Leaving Restigné, we take the quiet back-roads on our way towards our crossing point of the Loire River.  Having crossed the river we follow the road as it passes one of France’s eerily impressive nuclear power stations.

Upon exiting the forest, you might imagine that you are in a fairy-tale, as we will be approaching Chateau d’Ussé, which was the inspiration for Charles Perrault when creating the story of Sleeping Beauty. We will stop for a coffee-break here and get busy with the cameras.  

Back on our bikes, we will take a very pleasant ride that follows the banks of the River Loire towards Villandry where we will stop for lunch.  For the ‘green-fingered’ amongst us, the afternoon visit to the gardens of Chateau de Villandry will be something that you should not miss. The vegetable garden, originally planted in the Middle Ages by monks, consists of nine equal squares containing more than forty species of vegetables to create a multi-coloured chequerboard.

After this visit, we will be on our last leg of our journey.  We head back towards our hotel in Montbazon, located to the south of Tours, hopefully arriving in plenty of time to enjoy a cooling swim in the pool, a chance to wander the grounds or enjoy an aperitif before our final evening meal together.

Day 7: Saturday

Waking rested and refreshed we enjoy a final breakfast, in this one of the fabulous chateaux of the Loire Valley, before we pack and prepare to head home. We will transport you to either the railway station at St Pierre des Corps, the TGV station in Tours or the airport in Tours. If you do decide to take a later train and explore the city of Tours before your departure then the city is not short of interesting sights with its cathedral and half-timbered medieval houses.

Bon Voyage!

Loire Valley Testimonials

Cycling the Loire with this dynamic duo is too memorable for words. The fantastic food & wine, great routes, lovely accomodation are only surpassed by feeling on top of the world at the end of it. For the hearty as well as faint of heart cyclists alike. Can’t wait until my next adventure with Gary and Germain.
-Mary & Katie – London UK & USA

We can see why they call it the Valley of the Kings because we lived like a couple for the length of the tour. Great food, great scenery, great company and wonderful hotels. Will be recommending you guys to all our friends.
-Brad & Angela – Boston, USA

Thank you Gary for looking after all our needs. Love this place and your team made it all that bit more special. Would love to try one of the other tours…………we’ll be back. We’ll miss those beautiful hotel rooms and those fantastic meals…………oh, and the wine!
-Jeff & Margaret – Toronto, Canada

Europe was magnificent, but the highlight was definitely joining you for the Loire Valley tour. How did you find such beautiful places to stay?. You’re right, why shouldn’t a cycle tour be a deluxe experience. Great food, wine and people. We won’t forget this for a long time.
-Bob & Brenda – Christchurch, New Zealand