2- 9 July Loire cycling with The Chain Gang Tour

We had a marvellous week cycling in the Loire, courtesy of the friends who dared to come, the new friends we met, the hotels, meals, wine, chateaux, rivers, and the few minor hills.   All made possible by The Chain Gang Cycle Tours (http://www.thechaingang.co.uk) whose owner/operator Bernard hides his competent back office organisation behind a facade of complete flexibility and randomness, and whose guide Toby King was hugely competent, charming, delightful, and attentive when it mattered.  Thanks Bernard and Toby for making it such a wonderful holiday, and 'we will return'.

What follows is a blow by blow account by Mrs M, typed on the go on her Blackberry.


Sat  2 July
Up at 4 am to set off at 4.30 to pick M and A up at 5 am. Lovely day and empty roads. Arrived Folkestone terminal at about 645 and Hudgells arrived soon after. Coffee and croissants then on the 8.06 train.
6 hour drive to Loire. Arrived Montreil Belay at 330 pm. Hotel with pool. And overlooking the chateau and church.  Sat and drank beers.  Chris and Linda turned up having caught the ferry at 830.

Visited the chateau with wine tasting - fizzy white and pink. Animated and friendly tour guide. All in French. Beautiful rooms with celings painted and ancient furniture.

Meal down the hill by the river. 20 on the tour eating outside. David and Gill had arrived by train to Angers
Lovely group from US Canada Oz and UK

Pate, fish and cheese board and plenty of white wine

Marshall group T shirts and group photo

Room in hotel high ceiling with view of chateau

Sun 3 July
Slept well.  Phoned Nigel to sing happy bday. breakfast good. Hung around while everyone had bikes fitted

Sunny and breezy. Talk from Bernard setting the scene at about 1030.

Set off 11 .15  coasting through easy countryside. 

To Chateau Breze  with underground troglodyte caves silk farm bakery  etc
Then to the chateau rooms above ground huge deep moat

Lunch in little brasserie bar quiche lorraine yum but Stu not impressed with tripe sausage.

Easy cycling military camp cycle race sunflower lovely valley.  

Then Abbey Fontevraud, used to be a prison, tomb HenryII, Elinor of Aquitaine Richard Lionheart and Isabel of Angouleme. Gill walked the wooden roller coaster.

Beautiful cycle along the Loire in pm along rough track to Chinon. 

 Hotel de France in town Square. Lovely quaint stair case and floral wall paper. 

Beer in square the shower and walk to restaurant

 Long time to get served but nice local fizz and Chenin blanc

Stu fell asleep at restaurant.

27 miles:

Mon 4th July
Great brekka outside table
Steep cycle up cobbless thru town up to Chinon chateau. 

Then busy road the cut off to fantastic flat field and vineyards and sunflowers to Uze Sleeping beauty chateau. 

Coffee outside before fun viewing lots of mannequins dressed in period costume.

On to picnic by the Loire.

then flat idyllic by Loire to Villandry. 

Amazing formal gardens learned about Anne Coleman and Joachim who bought the chateau in 1904 and restored  the gardens to their original design.

Kir at bar in Villandry. The lovely cycle thru fields and woods then down hill to Azey de Rideau. 

Then our gear cable broke and stuck in bottom. And we snailed up the hill to hotel des Chateaux
Another kir non fizzy this time sitting outside in the garden unfortunately too near a busy roundabout.

Room and shower satisfactory. Hotel host very pleasant

7pm meet to walk half a mile down hill to quaint restaurant de Ridelloise with welcoming  staff our own room upstairs quick service lovely choices. Azey le Rideau appelation sauv. Blanc (4). Sancerre 2009(7) Touraine sauv blanc(6). Stu had red cab franc champigney(?) He liked it!

Food sald de geziers, Stu had rabbit pate and rillet. I had local fish- 'sandre' with sauce au beurre Stu had lamb leg slice - all very good- cheese then nougat glace Stu had sorbet.
Sat with David and Gill and Bernard with Malc and Anna and Paul Rivera ( Florida). Found out that Sue was a Girton 77 to 80 - engineering  and Paul at Downing medicine.  Stu went back to hotel as too tired to go to son at lumiere.  No son et lumiere till 7th July so walked back up hill about 11 pm only just dark and still warm!

32 miles:

Tues 5th July
Good brekka. Lots of home cooking. Chris and Toby (tour guide) went for a run. Stu stayed to get tandem repaired - he went to bike shop - moderate success we have most gears no the top 3 though so can't go so fast. 

I walked down to town and the chateau with Gill. 

 Lovely hot day. Chateau set on a lake-like moat. Oak-panelled rooms. Set off about 11 when bike was fixed. Very hot day.   Passed little old villages with troglodyte buildings set in cliffs.  Coffee stop at in a town square with interesting donjon with tower and statue on top. 

Lunch at 2ish by the Indre river - beautiful green tree lined area. 

Through more fields then a straight Romand road D25 to Loches arrived about 6 pm.  

hotel right on main street in the shadow of the medieval citadel. Thick stone walls - backing on to river. Room huge with fireplace and lance and axe over. View on to river. 

Had to take bikes through hotel to store at back.
Walked up to top of citadel and to look at tallest castle keep in France. 

Down to old town for a drink in little square.

Dinner in Hotel George Sand overlooking river. Amuse bouche asparagus puree with parmasan biscuit. Fois gras, cod, pineapple with coconut bisc. Excellent. Wines : Mentelous salon (like Sancerre but cheaper!) Vouvray demi sec (chenin blanc) , touraine gamay-Stu's red. Slept very well.


38 miles:

Wed 6th July
Set off about 9.30. Patrick was up early snapping piccies of hotel and river - very amusant pic of Chris at his window.  Stu adjusted gears so now we don't have the lowest 3,  but we can go faster.

Headed thru town. Beautiful 18thC architecture. Up hill onto Forest road then fields off road to ancient farmhouse with ducklings and cats very cute. 

More rolling very open country with dramatic black clouds but no rain. To Luzille for coffee at about11.15 and bright sunshine at theonly bar in the ville. Oatmeal gingers go down very nicely with coffee.
Carried on north to river Cher which we crossed and then turned right to Chennonceau. 

Had lunch while others visited Chateau where we had been last September. Dutch couple on recliners _ hers had electric assist.
Delicious lunch pate foie gras and salad and fizz
 Walked up through vineyards.

Back along this bank of Cher. 

Challenging path - grassy with ruts but river Cher wide green and unspoilt by human hab.
Arrived Montrichard about 4.30 and cycled through outskirts to reach the Monmoussant caves - very steep hill up- for a wine tour and tasting - disappointing fizz.

Back into town 5.30. Huge suite of rooms on first floor of annex of BelleView with view of river. And bridge.

Showered and walked around town. Large donjon (keep) dominates the town.
But closed by 6pm too late. Shops open bought foot cream - had run out. Little boutique selling Esprit!  Linda bought a dress!
Sat for a drink in town square. Gill H had changed rooms as bed not long enough for P.

Meal in hotel with river views. Amuse bouch - green with cheesy bits!  More pate frois gras, boeuf, cheeses, choc pud. Wines Muscadet from Nantes region - I don't like.  Touraine sauv more to my liking. Chris and Linda pink. Stu gamay red.  Paul Rivera 74 from Florida sat with us - a history teacher keen cyclist and Europhile.


27 miles:

Thu 7th July
Pink sky in the morning. Photo of bridge at Montrichard.

Brekka slightly chewy pain choc!  Gill Hughes Birthday.  Set out at 9.30 along river towards and past the wine caves and the mushroom caves - producer for all France. Up hill to forest and rolling hills. Sunshine with clouds rolling by. Fairly flat with wind behind most of day. Thru Fiengs and coffee at Fougere + lovely ancient chateau.

On to Cheverny (Capt Haddock's Marlinspike Hall) for chateau viewing. Perfect simple lines with 100 hunting dogs best interior with wedding dress and armory.

Lunch in snackery sitting outside atill sunny but drops of rain. Then final flat thru amazing forest tracks some gravel to Chambord arriving from south. 

Sat and imbibed at Hotel St Michel where we r staying with views of chateau while others went around as we visited last May. Shower and sleep then to dinner with view of chateau.

Sang happy bday to Gill Hughes.

 Cake for dessert. Duck for main. Sitting outside with sun setting on chateau.
Son et lumiere not open yet but some rehearsing going on, so to bed late.

33 miles:

Friday 8th July
Set off westerly direction. thru forest after breka. Stopped in outskirts of Blois for coffee. Carried on thru more forest with gravel for several miles towards Chaumont. 

Crossed the line of Tour de France at about 11.45. Picnic lunch by side of the road with hundreds of others as the build up to the tour went on.

Some of us did a side trip for coffee and loo stop down very steep hill to Chaumont. Had coffee on the corner as the caravan of the tour went by. 160 vans of advertising.

Cycled back up the hill around the chateau. Stu had to get off before me!
Back at the roadside waited til 3.30 for the tour to go by. They were mainly eating as they went by!

Hundreds of cyclists and support vehicles.

4pm continued on towards Amboise strong headwind and rolling road. 

Very tiring for everyone. Ice cream and coffee en route.  Then hill up to Hotel le Vinci in Amboise. Rose wine on terrasse after shower.
Meal downtown shrimp tartare, boef, choc praline and cheeses. Taxi back uphill thanks to the chef.


43 miles:

Sat 9th July
Coach back to Montruiel at 845 via train station at Gard de St Piere des Corps outskirts of Blois.  Tandem in hold of coach....just.  Loaded onto car and off at 11:30.  Quick and easy drive back to Calais, then had to wait 2:30hrs for next shuttle at 20:50.  So back to M&A's around 10 when we had a pizza and unwind, and 'so to bed' to sleep.  V. tired.