Stage 24 Montjean-sur-Loire to Ancenis
Stage 25 Ancenis to Nantes
Stage 26 Nantes to St Brevin-les-Pins (St Nazaire)
Appendix A Stage summary table
Appendix B Facilities summary table
Appendix C Tourist information offices
Appendix D Youth hostels and gîtes d’étape
Notre Dame church towers over Marillais hamlet (Stage 24)
INTRODUCTION
To best discover a country you need to travel to its very heart and do so in a way that exposes you to the life going on around you. The River Loire passes through the heart of France and there is no better way of experiencing life in this great country than mounting your bicycle and following this river as it flows from the volcanic landscape of the Massif Central to the Atlantic Ocean. Its length of 1020km makes it the longest river in France. Here you will find a gentler and slower pace of life than in the great cities of Paris, Lyon or Marseille; and although there is some industry, it is less evident in the Loire Valley than alongside France’s other major rivers. Rather this is a land of agriculture and vineyards. The Beauce, north of Orléans, has some of the most fertile arable farmland in the country, while the rolling hills of the Auvergne and Burgundy produce high-quality meat and dairy products. The plains of Anjou grow much of the fruit and vegetables found in the markets and restaurants of Paris, often consumed with wines from premier Loire wine-growing appellations like Muscadet, Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé and Vouvray. All this great food and drink can also be found in restaurants along the route.
Canal Latéral à la Loire at Chavanne (Stage 8)
Most French towns have weekly markets like this one in Vorey (Stage 3)
The Loire is known to the French as the ‘Royal River’ – a name it gets from the Loire Valley’s long association with the kings of France when between the 15th and 17th centuries successive monarchs developed a series of ever more spectacular châteaux. Blois and Amboise were great palaces where the royal court resided to escape political turmoil in Paris. Chambord was a glorious hunting lodge, from where the king would spend long days hunting in the forests of the Sologne, while Chaumont was a home first for the mistress and later the widow of Henri II. The preference of the royal family for life along the Loire stimulated other members of the court to build their own châteaux in the area, resulting in over 50 châteaux recognised as heritage sites by UNESCO beside the Loire and its close tributaries. Although most of these were sequestered, damaged and looted during the French Revolution, 20th-century restoration has breathed new life into them and many can be visited.
Château de Chaumont was the home of King Henri II’s mistress (Stage 18)
In addition to secular buildings, the Loire Valley holds a strong religious presence. Le Puy-en-Velay, with a church and iron Madonna each perched on top of volcanic spires and a great basalt cathedral, is the start point of Europe’s most popular pilgrimage to Santiago in Spain. Tours has both a great cathedral that took so long to build it is in three different styles (Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance) and a basilica built to house the tomb of French patron saint, St Martin, a Roman soldier who became an early bishop of Tours. Other French saints encountered include St Benedict (founder of the Benedictine order), buried at Fleury Abbey in St Benoît, and Ste Bernadette of Lourdes whose preserved body is on display in Nevers. Ste Jeanne d’Arc, a French national heroine who lifted the siege of Orléans and turned the tide of the Hundred Years’ War in favour of France, is widely commemorated particularly in Orléans itself. By contrast, the little village of Germigny-des-Prés has a church from the time of Charlemagne (AD806) that claims to be the oldest in France.
Tours cathedral is a mixture of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles
These châteaux, cathedrals, monasteries, churches and the countryside between them are linked by the Loire Cycle Route. This 1052km route starts beside the river’s source on the slopes of the volcanic plug of Gerbier de Jonc and follows a waymarked route, Vivez la Loire Sauvage, through a series of gorges downhill between the wooded volcanic cones and basalt plateaux of the Auvergne. After leaving the mountains it passes the Charolais hills and at Digoin joins EuroVélo route EV6, which itself joins a French national cycle trail, La Loire à Vélo, near Nevers. This is followed, mostly on level, dedicated cycle tracks, through Orléans, Tours, Angers and Nantes to reach the Atlantic opposite the shipbuilding town of St Nazaire. This is the most popular cycle route in France, followed by thousands of cyclists every year. French regional and départemental governments have invested heavily in infrastructure with well-defined waymarking, asphalt surfaced tracks, dedicated bridges over rivers and underpasses under roads. Almost every town and many large villages have tourist offices that can point you in the direction of (and often book for you) overnight accommodation that varies from five star hotels to village gîtes d’étape.
Background
The Loire passes through the heart of France. Modern France, the Fifth French Republic, is the current manifestation of a great colonial nation that developed out of Charlemagne’s eighth-century Frankish kingdom, eventually spreading its power throughout Europe and beyond.
Roman France
Before the arrival of the Romans in the first century BC, central France was inhabited by Iron Age Celtic tribes like the Gauls. The Romans involved local tribal leaders in government and control of the territory. With improvements in the standard of living, the conquered tribes soon became thoroughly romanised and Gallic settlements became Romano-Gallic towns. During the fourth century AD the Romans came under increasing pressure from Germanic tribes from the east, and by AD401 had withdrawn their legions from central France and the Loire Valley.
The Franks and the foundation of France
After the Romans left there followed a period of tribal settlement. The Franks were a tribe that settled in northern France. From AD496, when Clovis I became their king and established a capital in Paris, the Frankish kingdom expanded by absorbing neighbouring states. After Charlemagne (a Frank, AD768–AD814) temporarily united much of western Europe, only for his Carolingian empire to be split in AD843, the Franks became the dominant regional force. The kingdom of France grew by defeating and absorbing neighbouring duchies. In the Loire basin, Anjou was captured in 1214 and Auvergne was absorbed in 1271.
The Hundred Years’ War
One particular neighbour proved hard to defeat. Ever since Vikings settled in