Vive La France - 8PT2302

We are on our way! We followed the beautiful Seine river to leave Paris. Fortunately there is a nice cycle path, so we could stay away from the traffic most of the time. Of course we stopped for photos, coffee and lunch along the way. The further we got away from Paris, the more beautiful the scenery became. Now we are in Fontainebleau, relaxing a bit after the 57 miles that we rode today.

rest day in Fontainebleau... what a beautiful city this is. Only 16000 inhabitants, but with the vast forests and of course the castle of Fontainebleau. After breakfast, we bring our guests to the castle for an extensive tour. The Château de Fontainebleau is a former royal residence located in the Île-de-France region, the original personal domain of the French king. The client was Francis I of France. On the advice of his sister Margaretha, he surrounded himself with humanist philosophers, writers and artists. Around the middle of the 16th century, the castle became a benchmark for Mannerism, the dominant style in the visual arts. The castle was subsequently inhabited by Henry II of France; Louis XIII of France was born there; Louis II of Bourbon-Condé and Louis of France died there. The castle was used by Napoleon, the pope, Louis XIV, Gabrielle d'Estrées, Maria de' Medici, Christina I of Sweden (who had her unfaithful companion Giovanni Monaldeschi murdered there on 10 November 1657), Madame de Maintenon, Marie Antoinette of Austria, Joséphine de Beauharnais, Marie Louise of Austria, Marie Amélie of Bourbon-Sicily, and Empress Eugénie. The castle was the site of a Treaty of Fontainebleau five times. Besides the inside of the castle, we also visited the picturesque gardens and park around it. Here you can endlessly enjoy all the splendor for a whole day and you can dream away how prominent kings, emperors, queens and popes etc lived here during many centuries.

We're moving on - but with a little help from our support van. As today was scheduled to be the longest day of the tour with about 70 miles, we decided to cut that distance a little short. So we took the van to Montargis, the beautiful "Venice of the Gatinais", and started from there. First we explored the very beautiful oldtown with its many bridges, and then we began our cycling along the Loing river and the adjacent canals. No traffic, great pavement, a cyclists dream. Our lunch stop was at Ecluse 21, one of the many locks along the way, which has been converted into a café. 

Now we were ready for the second part of the day, which started with sightseeing at the Seven Locks of Rogny. Unfortunately, here we were caught by a pretty heavy rain shower - and a few miles later by the next one... We decided to use the convenience provided by the Edelweiss van - we called it and shuttled back to the hotel, which happens to be a small chateau with a great restaurant!

We arrived at the Loire today. Briare is known for the aqueduct "Pont Canal", an 800 m long bridge over the Loire, but not for cars, cyclists or pedestrians, but for smaller boats. Obviously this was our first photo stop. We then follow the Loire west through the Castle of St Brisson to the medieval hilltop village of St Gondon. Very nice, with a beautiful castle and beautiful streets. We make our coffee stop a little further in St. Florent, at Le Florentin, a cozy bar on the fishing lake. In Sully sur Loire we stop at the Castle of Sully. Now it's not far to lunch. Marko prepared a picnic at the campsite on the Loire. We enjoyed some French specialties. In St. Benoit sur Loire we then visited the basilica where the French King Philippe 1 is buried. Noel then took the group to Orleans. We had just enough time to see the city... highlights here were the Cathedral, the Quartier Bougogne (the entertainment district with the typical wooden houses) and of course the monument to the "Maid of Orleans": Joan of Arc, who can do that is still referred to as one of France's national heroines. We end another wonderful day with a delicious dinner in the city center. Satisfied we walk back to the hotel. Bonne nuit!

After a great evening in the beautful town of Orléans we continued our ride along the Loire. Once again, we decided to shortcut and shuttled the bikes to Beaugency. During our walk through the medieval city center, a slight drizzle started - and didn't stop anymore. We rode a little bit further along the Loire, but then decided to load the bikes back into the van. So we drove to Chambord instead of cycling, providing us with enough time to visit this spectacular chateau.

After our visit we continued in the van to our own little chateau for the night - not quite as pompuous as Chambord, but very beautiful nontheless.

Between the Loire and Cher, from Cellettes to Tours. Also today we shortened the route a bit, partly because of the light rain, partly because of the planned distance. From our beautiful chateau in Cellettes we set off early towards the Loire... to Chaumont sur Loire. The Castle of Catherine de Medici with the famous and luxurious horse stables from the 19th century was our first highlight. Today we also drove through the numerous vineyards of the Touraine Amboise region, which is best known for the fruity red wines and the white Chenin grapes. We leave the Loire for a while towards Chenonceaux where we follow the river Cher. We had lunch at the “epicerie du bon Laboureur” before visiting the beautiful castle there. Florence let us enjoy a delicious selection of local specialities... cheeses, pies, foie gras, wines... and for dessert: a delicious pear tart. We really deserve it! After visiting the 16th century Chenonceaux Castle with the famous gallery at the top of the bridge, Marko brought us to the hotel in Tours today. A short evening walk in the cozy old town was the wonderful end of another great day. Tomorrow there is another rest day on the program here in Tours... although... a rest day!?

The last riding day has arrived...didn't we just start yesterday? We had two options today: see more chateaux or visit the famous wine region of Vouvray? The decision was unanimous: wine tasting! But of course we rode first! A short visit of the beautiful cathedral of Tours, and then we cycled one last time on the very scenic bicycle pathes along the Loire. After a very informative tour of the caves we had the pleasure to taste a few of the local wines - delicious! To avoid any accidents after the tasting, we loaded the bikes into the van and returned to Tours. Now our tour is almost over, our last dinner together is coming up soon.