Saturday, July 12, 2008

Bike Tour #2 - The Loire Valley

We picked the Loire Valley for the bike route.  They have laid out a network of backroads and bike trails along the river through a UNESCO historic site.  250 miles or so of Castles and vineyards.  The bike route is flat and scenic with lots of campgrounds along the way.  It was so delightful to follow signs from town to town with almost no cars along shady roads.

We started off with a hectic train adventure to Orleans.  Like New Orleans there is a huge river as big as as the Mississippi. Thanks to a 6:30 am train combined with a very late night and many bottles wine on our last night in Paris, we were very tired when we arrive in Orleans (we had made some friends from Texas & they BBQ'd for us - delicious!). To add to our difficulties it was Bastille weekend, which is the French equivalent of the 4th of July.  Everything was closed.  We needed food and rest.  We found a cafe and made like the locals having espressos and smoking a cigarette (when in Rome!).  We biked along the river for a while and stopped at the first campground we came to.  
Checy is a small medieval  town.  After we set up or tent and took a 4 hour nap we biked around to find food.  This of course was a holiday and so we ended up eating at an McDonalds on the outskirts of town! A "Royal with frites" was a remarkably expensive and gross meal! But it got us through the wild goose chase that ensued as we search for a grocery store.  We finally found one just as it was closing.  We didn't have a corkscrew yet, and so we had to get a bottle of wine with a screw cap (sorry Dad!).  As we biked back through the town  we past Joan of Arc's house and the church that she went to as a girl.  The campground had a nice view of the bell tower.

No comments: