Getting Ready: 16 - 23 May 2006

I had arrived in France armed with a list of Bicycle Vocabulary, with the help of Jerôme and Leisha. I knew how to ask for a bike with brakes that were easy to reach. I knew how to ask for three struts on the panier rack. And most importantly, I knew how to ask for a comfortable women's seat! J also told me that in France he had had a very good touring bike of the Peugeot brand and that these were widely available. Also he said Gitane had good touring bikes. So, I felt all ready now to get into it. All I had been waiting for was some good weather, and mid-May it got hot, and seemed like summer was around the corner. (It wasn't quite, as it turned out!)

On Monday 15 May I arrived in Orléans on the banks of the Loire River. A very helpful woman in the Tourist Office gave me a map and marked on it where all the bicycle shops were.

Getting Ready
Week 1: 24 -30 May
Week 2: 31 May - 6 June
Week 3: 7 - 13 June
Week 4: 14 - 20 June
Week 5: 21 - 28 June

Had my bicycle paniers in the bedroom Tuesday night. And like with all new endeavours, I had some anxious lack of sleep. What if I get a puncture in the middle of nowhere? (My experience of the French so far is definitely that someone would help me) I don't know where the camping grounds are. (Tourist Office was very good and gave me several pamphlets.) Is there a train I can take so I don't need to go all the way to Monique's on my first ride? Yes. Can take the train to Paris then can take bike on RER B to end of line at St-Rémy-les-Chevreuse, then just bike the last 13km to Bonnelles. In the midst of these worries, I travelled to my friend's place with my big backpack.

Then came my first real ride, of 13km from St-Rémy-les-Chevreuse. This route was marked in green for scenic on my map and it really was. The bike handled beautifully, except for the seat sliding down a bit which I think I have now solved. I have to admit I walked up a few of the long hills at the beginning of this ride. I took some quieter roads and passed crops etc, everything I had imagined the countryside would be. I discovered that what they say about French motorists and cyclists is true: they really do take great care around cyclists. I was given plenty of room, especially by trucks, and if there might have been oncoming traffic, the cars waited patiently to pass.

The wind has been an issue in the last few days though! A bit windy on the Friday I came here, and you could see threatening storm clouds but I stayed dry. Friday night though it really blew and the ground next morning was carpeted with leaves, twigs and some bigger branches. It looked like the weather had eased a bit but this morning the wind came back. All I can say is that if it is windy tomorrow, I hope it is a tail wind!

The "relaxation" hit a hitch this afternoon when I unexpectedly found that the camping ground 3km from town by the river in Orléans does not open until 1 July! Am able to stay in the cheap hotel I was in last week though, so that is good: they have an enclosed courtyard for the bike. Tomorrow I will move onto a village ground that did open in April!

Week 1: 24 -30 May

It was a 30km ride from Orléans and I have to admit it was wind-assisted. I have an awful feeling though that the wind may blow upstream as its prevailing direction so I will have some headwinds before long!

I am in a superb camping ground here in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire, right on the banks of the river. I was made incredibly welcome on arrival, I think especially so as I had arrived by bike! A New Zealand passport also impressed a bit. My tent looks out straight onto the Loire. I have taken a few photos en route of the view "as seen from my bedroom" and added the tent view to the collection. It is so nice here in the camping ground that I will use this as a base for a few day trips without luggage on the bike. Tomorrow is a public holiday here for the feast of the Ascension and it looks like there are a few things happening here in town.

Yesterday was the feast of Ascension, a public holiday in France and a special "jour de Loire" fête here in Chateauneuf. In the early evening a whole lot of traditional boats arrived at the quay, and then a French folk group entertained with traditional marriner's songs. Lots of people listened appreciatively. Later in the evening the boats processed up the river as a "Hellios" creature went by land, complete with acrobats and some incredibly skilled people on sort of bouncy pogo sticks (that they used as easily as legs!) The music accompanying this creature was a composition worth listening to just for its own sake. My favourite bit of the whole evening though was when the fireworks display happened. It was magnifique!

This morning I woke to another grey day but it was time to get out on the "velo". I headed out to St-Benoit-sur-Loire, about 11km on the cycle computer from the camping ground. Lovely views of the Loire as I got closer. Had a large cup of hot chocolate before visiting the monastery church. This church holds the actual relics of St Benedict in a crypt that the whole church has been built around. It was mainly Romanesque, just blending into Gothic, but a harmonious whole.

En route back I stopped at Germigny-des-Pres where the church also has interesting features. I stopped in the village for lunch before heading back to town and my haircut. I hope I don't hear you all groaning about the relaxation of my days! Console yourselves with the thought that I might be packing up the tent in pouring rain in the morning!

I spent several days based at the campsite in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire and it is a campsite I would heartily recommend to anyone travelling in this area. It is run by some very friendly people and is very clean. My tent-site right on the riverbanks was just superb and I loved sitting there just watching the river.

The day after my last posting I took a daytrip to Sully-sur-Loire. Didn't realise the "fairytale" Chateau was closed for renovations until 2007! But it was good to go 20km without any baggage on the bike anyhow. Called back into the Benedictine Abbey on the return journey, just in time to hear them singing Gregorian Chant for the midday Mass.

Saturday evening was the most superb sunset. From the campsite you just looked straight down the river to see it. Magic.

Sunday morning I woke to rain and decided to stay put and have a rest day. As it happened, it did fine up later. Monday morning I woke to even heavier rain! By 11am it had stopped though so I decided to take a punt and pull up the tent. Luckily I struck it fine on the next leg.

Monday then was a journey to La Ferte St Aubin. I was really pleased with the route I managed to work out using the 1cm: 1km map. The last section of my route (on a white road on the map) took me downhill through lovely forest. France still has big wild areas left with plenty of trees and this I love. It was just over 36km on this route, but the bike is so good it felt like less.

Being Monday, the shops in La Ferte St Aubin were all closed. In NZ we think the shops need to be open all the time but in many places in Europe they are not! In fact it can be tricky cycling to get meals as restaurants only open for lunch and dinner at certain hours. They might serve drinks in between, but not food, and you can't buy 'junk food' at any hour like we can at home.

Tuesday I rode to Beaugency, about 26km. Another lovely campsite beside the river. These municipal campsites are incredibly good value. For a tent and one adult I have only paid 4 to 5 Euros a night so far. There is a small charge per day for a car, but not for a "velo". Last night in the camping ground I met up with a German family, also here to cycle in the Loire, though with less time. It was good to share notes. And good to discover someone else who had assumed there would be an open camping ground in Orléans only to find there wasn't! I have since discovered that if I am back this way, the Paris train passes through Beaugency (and Blois and a few other places) so I don't need to return via Orléans in any case.

OK time to brave the cold outside again!

I am getting a lot more confident on the bike everyday and feel fitter. The 1cm to 1km maps are my guidebooks and I have enjoyed working out some lovely routes using them.

From Beaugency I went to Bracieux which is very handy to the chateaux of both Chambord and Cheverny. The camping ground at Bracieux was twice the price of others I have stayed at but I thought the toilets etc were comparable to what I have had elsewhere. The extra cost is for the summer facilities like the pool which is not open yet! The whole area around there is very well organised for cycle tourists and there is a map accompanying various itineraries which take cyclists onto safe quiet roads and some special cycle tracks. They have been well thought out and cover a variety of landscapes and pass through villages etc. Lots of Dutch people are in the area at present with bikes on the back of their camper vans, taking day trips. Also some large organised groups taking advantage of good cycling country. It was a bit of a shock to arrive in bus-tourist land at Chambord after quite a few days of wending my way through villages and country landscapes.

Brilliant weather here today and hope it continues!

Ever since I first learned some French I have wanted to see the Pont du Gard, and Chenonceau. I saw the Pont du Gard last trip, and this time, today I got to Chenonceau!

It was about a ten km bike ride from the camping ground to Chenonceau and I decided to get on the road before 8.30 so I could be there when it opened at 9am. Good move. There was barely a person there when I arrived, but people were pouring in by 10.30. When I arrived I was the only bike parked there, but when I left the bike racks were full of people with all their luggage on the back in paniers. So far I have only met up with one German family carrying all their gear on the bike same as me. There are lots of Dutch around at present doing day trips with their bikes carried on the back of a campervan in between places. And I have seen some organised groups where people are getting their gear transported to the next hotel. But I have yet to meet others carrying their tents etc. Maybe when I get onto the more touristed stretch south of Tours I will meet up with them all in the camping grounds!

Chenonceau has a very interesting history being tied up with royalty etc. It was given to Diane of Poitiers who was the King's mistress. After the King died, Catherine (?) de Medici got it back for herself and ruled from there for a while. Diane put a bridge over the Cher from the chateau, and Catherine added a big gallery on top to turn it into a ballroom. In WW1 it was used as a hospital to treat the wounded and in WW2 it provided a route across the river Cher from Occupied into Unoccupied territory.

The first thing I did when I approached the Chateau was head over towards the gardens to see the famous reflection of the Chateau on the River, before there was a chance of the wind getting up! Inside, what I found most interesting was the whole kitchen area, which had a huge area for butchery of game, as well as the cooking area. And there was a place for delivery of provisions to happen by boat from the river.

I had a hot chocolate before leaving the chateau and now I am back in Montrichard where I have had a delicious lunch. I am getting better at structuring my days around the very set French eating times: if you don't, you tend to go hungry! Now I am going out to explore a bit more of Montrichard on another warm afternoon. Tomorrow I plan a rest day for my cycling muscles: there is a pilgrimage here that I plan to see at least some of, though I might get a bit lost with all the French after a while.

The weather has been great since June arrived. Long may it continue!

The Monday after Pentecost was treated as a holiday and I decided to have a day off the bike as well. Jour de congé. There was a pilgrilmage in Montrichard, as the church at Nanteuil had a beautiful new statue of John-Paul 2 with Our Lady. It was carved in wood. There was some wonderful singing from some seminarists from St Martin's and a quartet of brass players. A couple of processions and lunch under some trees with trestle tables, French style.

Next day I headed off for I wasn't quite sure where, but keeping south of Tours. I wasn't sure where the next camping grounds were as each tourist area usually only has the booklets for their own area. When you are going sideways across an area you soon reach the end of a tourist area! I ended up in Montbazon, by the river Indre, after a few hills along the way. Montbazon is an interesting old town, but the main highway runs right through the middle of it, destroying the calm somewhat. So even though the campsite was very pleasant right beside the river Indre, I only stayed one night. I am getting better at thinking nothing much at all of a 45km bike ride, especially when it is largely flat!

From Montbazon I collected some pamphlets for the Touraine part of the Loire Velo ride, and a list of Touraine camping grounds, and headed across to Savonnieres. Beautiful new camping ground right beside the River Cher. No restaurant open! But survived quite well from boulangerie and fruit /alimentation shop. There were some College pupils here with a group of teachers and I enjoyed their company in the evening. I would have loved the pasta and salad they threw out for my dinner but wasn't quite brash enough to admit I hadn't eaten properly!

It was warm in the afternoon but I took the cycle path along the Loire which had a bit of a breeze and had lots of people using it. Went to the gardens at Villandry. Unique. The decoration in the gardens is huge and very interesting to contemplate from above. I then continued along to see the confluence of the River Cher and the River Loire. I had grown quite fond of the River Cher beside my campsite in Montrichard and was a bit sad to see it disappear. On the way back I made a visit to the caves near Savonnieres. Seeing the way calcite was deposited was fascinating, and the tour guide was very animated, but the tour was a bit long with the commercial selling bits of their stone-objects. Good choice of a place to hide out though, a cave at 14 degrees when outside it is in the high 20s.

Next morning I took to the road with baggage again along the Loire River path. Travelled just past the turn off for the Chateau at Rigny-Ussé, where the bike path became unsealed and a bit rough looking so I took to a few quiet roads. Took me a little while to find the cycle track again at Avoine, but was soon in the superb campsite at Savigny-en-Veron. Not much else in this village though. Boulangerie was closed for the day. Finally found a restaurant serving mainly men's lunches. Made sure I had a heap of potatoes etc from the buffet! (Today I plan to eat up large at lunchtime in Chinon! - and yes I am losing some weight - a combo of all the cycling and the way French eating places have limited opening hours, especially in the villages and small towns!)

In the afternoon I went to see Candes-St-Martin which a French person had told me was a must-see. It is a beautiful village, and you can climb to the top of a hill to get a viewpoint of the confluence of the River Loire and the River Vienne. You also get a good view lower down beside the banks of the Vienne. The rivers stay their separate colours and don't blend straight off. The church there is St Martin's and this is where St Martin died back in 397 so it has been an important place of pilgrimage in the past.

Now I am in Chinon. From what I have seen it still has quite a large medieval section and it lies on the River Vienne. I have been using the internet though, and next I am going to go in search of a large guilt-free cyclists' lunch! Then I will see Chinon! Till next time! And yes, all you kiwis; I hope you are all surviving the cold back home!

After Chinon I took the next day to go to the Abbey of Fontevraud on the cycle track from Montsoreau. It must have been a magnificent complex in its day. The cloister was a lovely place to walk around. It was interesting to see the effigies of English royalty in the church, though it raised for me old questions about Christianity and the established power. Lots of cyclists on the trail.

I returned to Montsoreau for a relaxed lunch, then returned the 10km to Savigny along the quiet, tree-ed cycle route, then relaxed in the shade. I discovered that the local Church provided the coolest place to rest a while!

Yesterday I headed further along the Loire, through Saumur, to St-Mathurin-sur-Loire. I am on the right bank now. It was hot humid riding and I was offered a cup of iced water on my arrival at the camping ground. The restaurant where I ate lunch also offered to fill my water bottle so I guess I looked hot and bothered! This is a lovely section of the Loire though, with lots of sandbanks and lots of birdlife. Lots of cyclists as well.

Today I am in an internet cafe in Angers, having taken one of the few daily trains into the city. I was hoping to see the Apocalypse Tapestry but being Monday, I have realised it might be closed!