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We spent the day riding around the city on our bikes (38km).

A highlight was the Loire a Velo fete concert on the riverbank – a free concert put on by the regional council to promote the bicycle route.  The performances were on a floating stage, a lovely atmosphere at dusk on the river. We had a picnic supper while we listened.

The first bands were not really to our taste, but the final act was great – a percussion group called ‘Les Tambours du Bronx’ who used mainly old oil drums to make their sound (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Tambours_du_Bronx).

We took a more leisurely ride today to Orleans, with a number of stops along the way. Altogether we did 95 km.

Yesterday we saw a handful of bicycle tourists on the route and today even more. You could see some were doing overnight tours like us, but at least half were doing day trips.

Our first stop was at nearby St-Gondon where we sought out the bakery to buy some breakfast. I had a piece of ‘flan’ – which is very much like milk tart but without the cinnamon.

Our next stop was at Sully-sur-Loire, where we marveled at the chateau – it looks just like a fairy tale castle with several turrets and a moat around it. The town is right next to the chateau, so we stopped to have coffee (outdoors, next to a table of very noisy men who were smoking a lot – they smoke a lot here). We didn’t spend long in town as it was congested, being a busy Saturday morning.

After a lovely stretch right alongside the river, we came to St-Benoit. We stopped here to visit the Fleury Abbey, where the remains of St Benedict lie in the crypt. They were brought here from Naples by the monks in 672. There is an impressive porch tower, built in 1020 with sixteen columns, all with stone sculptures at the top.

The monks were dispersed during the French Revolution, but full monastic life has been restored here since 1944. There were a few of monks around (talking to a group of children, manning the gift shop) in their distinctive brown habits. We bought some of the chocolate that they have been making since 1878 in the gift shop. (see www.abbaye-fleury.com)

Our next stop was at Chateauneuf-sur-Loire, at the marine museum which displays the history of boating on the Loire. The original boats were flat bottomed sail boats. Later there were steam boats, until the railways came in and put lots of mariners out of work. At this stage steel manufacturing factories were opened in the area to make use of the ready labour force. There was also some information on the canals, which is what Kris particularly interested in, but disappointingly not much on the actual construction of the canals

From here we pressed on to Orleans, about 30km away. We had some nice fast straight runs along stop banks. The ride coming into the city is beautiful, along the river with some small lakes and parks on the other side of the track. There were off road bike paths right into the center of the city, what a pleasure!

The Office de Touristme is right next to the magnificent Salute-Croix Cathedral. We visited the Cathedral after sorting out our accommodation (since tomorrow is Sunday and there will be a service on when we are sight seeing). This is the biggest Cathedral that we have seen – really awe inspiring. There is an alter hanging and stained glass windows depicting Joan of Arc (in fact, there are many references to Joan of Arc all over the city). The organ began playing towards the end of our visit – making a wonderful noise. We quickly left when we saw very smartly dressed people coming in and realised a wedding was about to begin.

We are staying in a bed and breakfast close to the city center. It looks onto a busy street but has a nice big garden out the back. The furnishing is old fashioned (but comfortable).

Our first day’s ride on the Loire valley bike route. We were lucky to have nice cool overcast weather.

We were impressed with the quality of the bike route – most of it is tarred and totally off road. The whole bike route is almost 700km long (from Nevers to the Atlantic). We have bought a (French) booklet detailing the whole route. It was relaxing to be able to ride side by side for much of the time without worrying about traffic and on flat terrain.

Long stretches of the route are along river stop banks. About 8km were through the Réserve natrelle du Val de Loire, also along a stop bank – lots of trees with glimpses of the river. We stopped for a coffee at la Charité-sur-Loire at a crossroads hotel bar – without crossing the bridge into town.

We spent a while riding in circles around St-Satur, as the track signs through the town were so misleading. The Canal latéral à la Loire joins the river here, and the next part of the bike route is along the canal. There are a number of house boats docked at St-Satur, and some tourist house boats here and there on the canal.  The route leaves the canal at Bannay to ride alongside the river, through farmland again. We stopped to sample a few grains of wheat and found they were absolutely ripe – nutty and quite edible.

We passed a large power station with huge cooling towers just before Belleville, where we very briefly joined the canal again. Kris enjoyed racing a tourist house boat to the bridge.

Our next coffee stop was at Bonny-sur-Loire – quiet at this time of day – we had coffee at a bar in the town square. We decided to stop for the day at Briare, about 12km away. However, once we got there Kris suggested pressing on to Gien (another 11km), to make the next day’s ride to Orleans more manageable.

There is a pont-canal (a bridge taking the canal across the river) at Briare, which we crossed. It is not as large as the pont-canal at Agen, but still impressive.

Some of the track to Gien was a bit rough (untarred) with some up and down stretches – to wake us up at the end of the day.

Gien is beautiful to approach, it is on the other side of the river, with an arched bridge and a large church and chateau on a hill in the middle of the town. Jenny didn’t enjoy crossing the river as there is a lot of traffic bottlenecked on it.

We found a hotel on the side of the river overlooking the town and paid extra for a room with a river and chateau view – it was worth it as we enjoyed the view while eating our picnic and later on as the sun started to set.

We did a record distance today of 137km – possible due to the flat easy terrain and cool weather (I was exhausted but Kris still perky!)

We spent the day sight seeing in the city (on foot) and having lunch. It is very hot.

The highlight was the Cathedral of Saint Cyr and Sainte Julitte that has marvelous modern stained glass which reflects different colors on the walls. This was replaced as large parts of the Cathedral were damaged in the Second World War.

There is also a Dukes Palace and medieval city ramparts. The city is known for it’s ceramics and there are shops with hand painted porcelain (we saw some actually being painted in one shop).

We made good time today on a long ride to Nevers, where we plan to have a rest day tomorrow.

Our itinerary took in the towns of Villefrance de Allier, Cosne de Allier, Le Vilhain, Cerilly, Cauleure, Lurcy-Levis, Neure, Mars-sur-Allier, Sancarze, Gimoullie and then the canal to Nevers.

We mostly had gently rolling countryside or flat wide open farmland to ride through. Again lots of silage, maize, wheat and some cows and sheep.

The navigation all went according to plan and we had a big breakfast, so there were few stops. We had a coffee at Sancarze.

The ride into Nevers is the best we have had for a city, as we were able to follow the Loire canal all the way in. The bike path next to the canal was excellent and we hope this is indicative of the conditions we will find on the rest of the Loire velo route.

We identified a hotel (with the help of tourist info) on the side of the city closest to the Declathon sports store. We went to the store after checking into the hotel (a few kilometers away).

Kris was relieved when the bicycle manager agreed to fix the defect on his pedal bearing (ie replace it) immediately. We hung around the mall looking at the shops for about an hour while it was fixed. Good customer service from Declathon.

Altogether we did 129km, including around 10km sorting out the bike.

By our reckoning we are now in the middle of France!

Kris and I both feel remarkably well today after doing 103km to Doyet (small town near Montlucon).

Our route took in Alleyrat, St-Medard-La-Rochette, Issoudun-Letreix, Peyrat-La-Noniere, Chambon-Sur-Voueize, Budeliere, Montlucon, Doyet. We deviated from our planned route as we left town on the wrong side – so Alleyrat to Peyrat was unplanned.

We had excellent cycling conditions again today – overcast and warm with no rain or wind. We were on small country roads that twisted and turned and went up and down and sometimes straight. We saw a lot of silage being made again and cows lying in the fields (they seem to lie down more here then in NZ).

We were sidetracked at Peyrat-La-Noniere into hunting down a nougat factory that was advertised in town. This took us about a kilometer out of our way, to a small factory in what looked like one of the stone houses dotting the area. Here we bought some if the best nougat either of us have ever had. We think it is so good because they make it with honey as well as sugar. See www.nougatdulimousin.fr.

We stopped briefly at Chambon-Sur-Voueize to look at the Cathedral. The bells there were ringing for midday when we arrived.

Montlucon is a large center and it took some time getting into the city center. There is a medieval city there and a tourist office which helped us book our accommodation. We stopped to eat quiche, a filled roll, pizza bread, coffee and apple pastries at a popular city bakery. We also bought some more food and wine for our evening meal.

The ride from Montlucon to Doyet is around 15km, including a 3km hill out of town. We had to backtrack a few kilometers as we rode past the accommodation on our way to Doyet.

The accommodation is lovely after staying in hotels the last few days. It is in a farm setting and very spacious – we have a kitchen and living area opening onto a porch as well as bedroom and bathroom. The view from the porch is of the fields. The hosts house is in a converted church and there is a small castle, with a moat, next door, which people are living in.

Our route today took us through the ‘Parc Naturel Regional de Millevaches en Limousin’, from south to north. We went through the towns of Soudeilles, Maussac, Meymac, St German Lavolps, Sornac, La Courtine, Felletin and Aubusson.

It was overcast for the whole day and threatening to rain at times, but never quite raining. We rode mostly through forests and some farms with lazy cows and calves spotted along the way. Even though it is a park, there is some farming and logging activity. We had very pretty, quiet, country type roads most of the way.

We stopped at the supermarket at Maymac to buy some breakfast (bananas and pastries) and stopped for a coffee at Sornac. Locals in the Sornac cafe were eating huge lunches of meat and potatoes. It was tempting, but we knew we wouldn’t be able to ride the bikes after a meal like that.

We did 97km, the distance eased greatly by a long mainly downhill run of about 20km dropping from a plateau. This was from about 5km past La Courtine to Aubusson.

Aubusson is an large attractive town on a river. It is known for tapestry making. Unfortunately the tapestry maker in the tapestry house wasn’t working today, so we didn’t go through it. There was an outdoor exhibition on beautiful French landscape photos near the museum which we enjoyed viewing from our bikes.

Our hotel is in the town center and has a bar at the bottom. After cleaning up we spent some time riding around and exploring the city, before having some food and beers at the hotel bar. We tried a Croc Monseur (toasted ham and cheese sandwich) for the first time, it was very good.

The route for today passed through the towns of Tauriac, Liourdres, Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne (coffee stop), Argentat; Saint Martin la Méanne, Mariellac-la-Croisille, ending in Egletons. Altogether we did 95km, including around 8km riding around looking for a hotel in Egletons.

The nicest part of the journey was a long stretch alongside the Dordogne river this morning, from Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne to Argentat. It was shaded and the reflections in the river were beautiful. Especially of the old houses in the river when we left Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne. We also saw a few parties setting off to canoe on the river which looked lovely. There are many camping grounds here alongside the river too.

We did a supermarket and bakery stop at Argentat, as we knew things would be closed later due to it being Sunday (good thinking as it turned out).

The hill climb out of the river valley onto the plateau after Argentat was long and tiring (about 6km). The plateau road took us through forests and a few more hills. The towns we passed through up here were all very quiet, being a Sunday afternoon.

Our destination, Egletons, is a larger town but was also quiet. The first hotel we located was all closed up (though seemed operational). We spent ages riding round and round looking for another hotel or bed and breakfast. The town seems to be a bit off the tourist route and not doing that well as there were a few businesses closed or for sale. We were almost ready to drive on when we found another hotel/restaurant, also closed up but with a phone number on the door. The owner arrived in a few minutes to open up, saying he had only closed up the restaurant an hour earlier. It seems we are the only guests.

Today we traveled from the Lot river north to the Dordogne river, although we are still in the Lot region. Most of the trip was through areas of natural scrub land interspersed with grassland, where silage was being produced. We saw many rolls of silage dotting the fields. We had some long hill climbs and also some lovely downhill runs. We only did 67km.

Our route took in Saint Cernin, Labastide-Murat, Carlucet, Couzou, Rocamadour, Alvignac, Miers and finally Carennac.

Rocamadour is a very unique place and we spent some time sight seeing here (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocamadour for pictures). We first caught sight of the village built into the cliffs on the other side of a steep gorge we were descending. The road took us right to the bottom of the cliff and we had to make our way up again to the village. There is a little train that takes tourists up there (cars have to park at the bottom).

It is very much a tourist town. The village has one main street that runs along the cliff where we enjoyed an expensive coffee. There are lots of boutique tourist food and clothing shops along here. All the buildings are pretty stone buildings with high pitched roofs.

We then climbed a steep stairway to the chapels built into the cliff above the village. The back wall of the church is natural rock and the shape is squat and wide to fit into the space. There is also a chapel devoted to Mary that has a black virgin statue, it is filled with candles and people at prayer.

These churches were built from 1152 and it has been a place of pilgrimage since then. The pilgrims used to kneel down to pray on each step of the Great Stairway that goes up to the church.

It was a steep climb back up out of the valley with our bikes to the neighboring town of L’Hospitalet, the site of hospitals built to accommodate the pilgrims. Here we found a food shop and the tourist office. So we arranged our accommodation and bought some food for supper before setting off for Carennac.

Carennac is rated as one of France’s most beautiful villages (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carennac). All the buildings are made of stone and it has an 11th century church and cloister at the center. It is on the Dordogne river. It is a small village and we are staying in a hotel here.

Today we set off on small country roads again. We are now in the Lot region of France, named after the Lot river, which we did follow for part of today’s route.

Our route took in the towns of Saint-Daunès, Bagat-en-Quercy, Sauzet, Saint Vincent Rive-d’Olt, Luzech, Dovelle, Cahors, Vers and finally Lauzès.

All the villages are very picturesque with narrow streets, flowers and trees. Kris and I were most taken with Saint Vincent and decided that we would come here if we ever move to France. It has a river and canal that run through part of it with fish and ducks in it and an old mill. It is immaculate with willow trees and beautiful gardens all around.

We stopped for a coffee at Luzech which we drank at a cafè overlooking the Lot river.

Our route followed the river to Cahors, a large town where the traffic picked up. It has a special old bridge called the Valentré Bridge – it has guard towers along it and a cobble stones – only cyclists or walkers on it.

After the bridge there are cliffs on the river and the road becomes very narrow. The route out of the city was very congested and we headed out at the first opportunity. We found ourselves on a busy road going in the wrong direction. As soon as we could we turned onto a small country road – that seemed to be going in the right direction. After this we took a series of country roads through a lot of wild undeveloped country. We rode for a long time on top of a ridge with little roads causing us to segway left and right. Eventually we found a small road that took us through a tunnel under the highway and down a very scenic hill pass, single lane only, with a cliff on one side and the river below on the other.

Getting to the bottom we crossed a bridge to the attractive town of Vers (also on the Lot with cliffs on one side). We planned to spend the night here, but there was only one (expensive) hotel in town. There was also a campsite without bungalows and a beautiful place advertised as a Chamb de Hotes, which only took women (we think it was a nunnery).

We still had the energy to go on so decided to try our luck in Lauzès, about 10km away. The route there was fairly easy, along a river valley of a tributary to the Lot.  Lauzès seemed like a large town on the tourist maps, but when we got there found it was really small. It only had one shop with few goods and high prices. No accommodation. A Chambres d’Hotes was advertised on sign posts and Kris got some directions to it from some old ladies in the town. It is on a farm a few km’s out of town. We got here at around 5.30pm. The farmhouse is situated amongst a set of dilapidated farm buildings. We were greeted by a sheep dog and a small elderly lady who could only speak French.

She led us to a large apartment with a separate entrance at the top of the house – kitchen, dining room, huge bedroom with single and double beds. Her price is very reasonable. Kris also managed to buy some tomatoes from her to go with the bread, cheese, salami and wine we had with us.