Cycling in France (Loire)

[oldmoondog]

Hi everyone,
we are of to France mid September for some recreational cycling for a week. We are staying in the Loire near Vouvray on the outskirts of Tours. I have been trying to find some routes to follow in the area without much success. Circular routes would be fine but we have the car so can travel to other destinations to leave from. Does anyone have any idea were I can find them?
Regards
Oldmoondog

 

[mjr]

Pointing the ? tool on openstreetmap.org at a cycle route in Tours found a link which led me to http://www.touraineloirevalley.com/rando-velo-canoe/la-loire-a-velo-et-autres-sorties-velo

Bonne route!

 

[Julia9054]

Miht be worth downloading the Loire a Velo app. Did some routes from it when we stayed near Saumur

 

[srw]

Buy an IGN Top 100 map of the area and make some up. Look for something you want to visit and point your bikes at it.

The IGN maps are at a good scale, are easy to read, and show both contours and cycle tracks as well as all the roads.

 

[mmmmartin]

You can take a train up, or down, the river. Get off and ride back along the Loire cycle paths. The next day you take the train to where you started and go in the other direction....... There are loads of cafes, restaurants, touristy places, and the Loire cycling is great. Just getting the train for half an hour or so in the morning is no hardship. Chateaux are worth a visit but a bit samey. Villandry is well worth a visit even for a non-gardeny person like me.
And heading north/south means you emerge from the valley (uphill, obvs) and are in a different type of France.
And while in Vouvray do visit the vineyard of the Brisebarre family, we bought buckets and buckets of the most delicious wine from them for years and years. Madame must be getting on a bit now, but she runs the place. Ask to see the cellars - they go back into the hillside for a very long way. I suspect a lot of wine was hidden from the Nazis behind "walls" during the second war. And probably the first one. And maybe the one before that, come to think of it.

 

[Julia9054]

http://m.cycling-loire.com/cycling-loire-map/whole-route/holiday-breaks
Here are some suggested circular routes from the website/app I suggested. We did a few of these last year

 

[oldmoondog]

Very many thanks to all of you. Some great ideas and will be working on some routes now.

 

[oldmoondog]

Miht be worth downloading the Loire a Velo app. Did some routes from it when we stayed near Saumur

Having difficulty finding that app .
Regards
Oldmoondog

 

[Julia9054]

Having difficulty finding that app .
Regards
Oldmoondog

It is showing as available to download on my phone (android) but not the App Store on my iPad
You can access the map and the rides on the website
http://m.cycling-loire.com/

 

[velovoice]

You can take a train up, or down, the river. Get off and ride back along the Loire cycle paths. The next day you take the train to where you started and go in the other direction....... There are loads of cafes, restaurants, touristy places, and the Loire cycling is great. Just getting the train for half an hour or so in the morning is no hardship. Chateaux are worth a visit but a bit samey. Villandry is well worth a visit even for a non-gardeny person like me.
And heading north/south means you emerge from the valley (uphill, obvs) and are in a different type of France.
And while in Vouvray do visit the vineyard of the Brisebarre family, we bought buckets and buckets of the most delicious wine from them for years and years. Madame must be getting on a bit now, but she runs the place. Ask to see the cellars - they go back into the hillside for a very long way. I suspect a lot of wine was hidden from the Nazis behind "walls" during the second war. And probably the first one. And maybe the one before that, come to think of it.

It is showing as available to download on my phone (android) but not the App Store on my iPad
You can access the map and the rides on the website
http://m.cycling-loire.com/

Stop! You're making me want to go! (And our Next Cycle Trip wish list is long enough as it is!)