The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

CHÂTEAUX OF THE LOIRE VALLEY 2024, Section 2

September 16th to September 28th

Ride Director: Steve Saxe
Ride Co-Director: Kim Kasabali
Ride Driver: Peter Kepfer
Report by: Muriel Rose

Just ask yourself if beautiful country roads, gentle bike paths, fabulous Chateaux, amazing food and wine is your thing.  If your answer is yes, then this is the tour for you.  The Loire Valley is one of the most popular places to cycle in France due to its extensive velo routes, gentle grades, amazing food, delicious wine and incredible Chateaux to visit.  The Loire Valley was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2000 and now that I’ve visited it, I can see why. 

Our tour was led by seasoned tour leaders Steve Saxe and Kim Kasabli with Peter Kepfer as our intrepid van driver.  The overall itinerary was to start in Angers and make our way along the Loire River stopping along the way at Saumur, Azay-le-Rideau, Amboise and our final destination of Cour-Cheverny.  We stayed at all of these locations 2-3 nights with lots of opportunity to explore on rest days.  Doing a 2 week trip with only 4 mandatory travel days is quite a treat.  So please come along for the ride!

In Mid-September, all 30 of us arrived in Angers to begin our tour.  There was much anticipation for our group from CA, CO, OR, WA, NC, WY and NY.  Angers was a perfect start to the trip with our first chateau experience.  There were many more to come.  The Angers Chateau is known for its moat garden in the classic French style, and it also houses the Apocalypse Tapestry from the 14th century, completely preserved.  There is a beautiful municipal garden called Jardin Des Plantes that I strongly recommend checking out. Our first day was a day to get rental bikes in order and beat off jet lag for new arrivals. 

The next day we all set out for Saumur, cycling one of the longer days of the tour at 42 miles.  This would be our first glimpse of the Loire Velo route, which is what we will be following for all of this tour.  The routing was a combination of Velo routes and smooth Departmental or D roads.  The scenery is incredible with the river often in view, vineyards, corn fields and huge fields of sunflowers.  We soon arrived in Saumur and ready to settle in for 3 nights.  During our time in Saumur, we had opportunities to visit Fontevraud Royal Abbey (necropolis for kings and queens), troglodyte villages, Chinon and Breze.  Many did all of the above and some of us chose a few.  The Abbey was quite interesting having been built in 1101 and at one time housed 700 people. Eleanor of Aquitaine is buried there along with her husband Henry II and her son Richard the Lionheart. Before we knew it, another travel day was upon us.  Our next stop would be Azay-le-Rideau.

Our agenda for the day was an ambitious one with a total of 45 miles for the day and 35 miles to our first stop for lunch in a cave at Le Gosier Sec.  The lunch was amazing, the rain not so much; but we all managed to enjoy ourselves.  After lunch we rode a quick 2 miles to Chateau de Villandry for a guided tour.  It is the last of the great Renaissance castles built on the banks of the Loire. The gardens are spectacular and considered some of the most beautiful in France.   We then rode the last 7 miles to Azay-le-Rideau which would be our base for the next 3 nights.  Azay-le-Rideau also has another magnificent chateau; yes they are everywhere so just get used to it!  During our stay in Azay-le-Rideau there were more chateaux to explore, more riding and some amazing food.  Some of us rode out to Chateau D’Usse which inspired the story of Sleeping Beauty.  There was also Chateau Langeais with a beautiful bridge approaching it.  Soon it was time to pack up again and head for our next destination of Amboise.

Amboise was our home for 3 nights and included a ride to Chateau Chenonceau for a guided tour.  This was followed by a river tour down the Cher River and under the arched bridge of Chenonceau we had just visited.  Many of us also visited Chateau Clos Luce on a rest day which was the home of Leonardo Da Vinci 1516-1519 until his death.  This Chateau was a highlight and highly recommended. It has expansive grounds in a park like setting with reproductions of many of Leonardo’s inventions on display.  There was also the Chateau Amboise to visit, which has a spiral staircase that allowed horsemen to ride to meet the king and is believed to be where Leonardo is buried.  We wrapped up our day with a 2-hour wine education in a cave followed by wine tasting and a generous charcuterie board.  What more could you ask for. We would be leaving Amboise and making our way to our final stop of Cour-Cheverny where our tour will end.

Our final riding of the tour included one more chateau. This time it would be a tour of Chambord which is considered the “king” of chateaux.  It is very dramatic and one of the largest in the Loire Valley.  It was built by Francis I.  After seeing all these incredible chateaux, the concept of the French Revolution makes lots of sense; but it is nice that the general public gets to appreciate these amazing sites. If you spend any extra time in Cour-Cheverny at the end of the tour, make a point to visit Chateau Cheverny (I know one more), but it has beautiful grounds and is famous for 100 hunting French hounds that are incredibly friendly and photogenic.  There is even a 1st growth Sequoia on the grounds. 

We were all sad for this amazing trip to end, but it is inevitable.  It was time for us to all bid farewell and a bientot.

If you would like to read more about this tour, see below a link to a blog I published of my travels. 

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/OurtourFranceandLoire2024