Cycling La Loire

23.05

On route to La Loire after yet another stop at Big Macks to send off emails and a blog.

A bit of a stressful start to the trip with a few narrow roads to get through, the wing mirrors are in serious danger on days like this!!  Surprised we still have them!!

Passed through Dreux, Chartres, Chateaudun and Vendome on our way to a little country camp  “La Ferme de Prunay” in Seillac, 12kms from Blois.  From this base we are within biking range of most of the major Chateaux of La Loire.
24.05
Very pleased with our choice of camp, we have a huge plot with an amazing, unobstructed view of the endless wheat fields and farmlets.  It’s very quiet with only a few other campers here.  This is a working farm and has a pool and bar for our use and baguettes delivered to our door!  Each morning the local kids bus here for a tractor ride and a farm visit, they love it!

 A bike ride to Blois, a medieval city perched above the Loire, and to the Chateau de Chaumont all on glorious bike paths through the countryside and along the banks of the Loire.  There are over 400kms of waymarked cycle tracks here. 

Pam got a puncture 2kms out of Blois so we back tracked and had the repair done with a new tube for 13 euros.  She has to go without dinner tonight as she has blown the budget!

French dogs seem to enjoy the camping life too, although they are charged two euros.  They have their own camp beds, go cycling with their owners in their bike baskets or are towed behind in special carriers!  It’s a dogs life!!

To say we are “living the life” is an understatement.  If there is one thing to be done it is to come and cycle here, words can’t describe the endless beauty and the sheer “wow” factor!  You cycle along rivers, through forests, pass pretty hamlets and fields of wheat, poppies and rape.   The colours are amazing.  If this is not enough you then come across towns and stunning chateaux from centuries past.  Our lunches of baguettes, cheese, tomato and crisps eaten in this enviroment have become a highlight of our day!

Finally arrived home 63kms later and were very pleased to see Lefty!

25.05

Spent the day around the pool blobbing!!

                                                                                       


26.05

Travelled 35kms to Bracieux and another camp (Camping Indigo Les Chateaux) a little closer to Chateaux Chambord, Cheverny and Beauregard.



Chateau Chiverny

Biked a 25km round trip to Chateau Cheverny but were unable to enter the grounds gratis.  We sneaked a photo from outside the gates as did many others!  Heard the fox hounds that are still used by the owners being fed, a 5pm daily ritual.

We have selected Chateau Beauregard and Chateau Chenonceau as our two paid entry Chateaux, each Chateaux costs around 12-15 euro per person.

Has our first coffee from our new coffee maker tonight ...  perfect with pain au chocolat (12 for 1.50 euros).

27.05

Up early this morning to cycle to Chateau Chambord through it’s old hunting forest.  Hoping to see some wildlife but the closest we got was a ferrel cat!!

A stunning sight to come out of the forest and have the largest, grandest and most visited Chateau in the region appear before you as if time has stood still.  Begun in 1519 as a hunting lodge for King Francois 1, finished 30 years later with 440 rooms, 365 fire places and 84 staircases, it was the most ambitious and expensive architectural project ever attempted. Francois only stayed for a total of 42 days complaining it was too draughty!!  Spoilt bugger!!

We were able to cycle around the entire grounds and forest, fantastic!

In the afternoon we biked to Chateau Beauregard!  We deviated from the direct route and ended up biking via Cheverny.  A beautiful route through the countryside and the Forests of Cheverny and Domaniale De Russy.  By the time we arrived at the Chateau it had closed!  Damn!  35kms later we were back at camp!  Coffee and ‘pain au chocolat’ hit the spot!  A total of 60kms cycled today, we’ll have buns of steel soon!!

28.05

A cruisey morning, the bikes even got a clean.  Stopped at Chateau Beauregard en route to Monthou sur-Cher.

Well worth the second visit and now one of our favourites!!  (25 euros). Chateau Beauregard with it’s 40 hectares of grounds has a special charm of it’s own!  We followed a fun pathway through the grounds and into the Chateau.  In the early 16^th Century Beauregard was another of Francois I Hunting Lodges.  It’s always been inhabited and has been in the hands of the same family since 1926.

The amazing Portrait Gallery housing 327 medieval celebrities was fascinating.  We spotted Henry VIII of England, his wife Anne Boleyn, Catherine de Medicis as well as every French King since Philippe VI.  Lunch in the grounds overlooking the Carp Pond and a stop at the frog Lilly Pond!  


Onward to Monthou sur-Cher, about 35kms from our last camp in Bracieux.  It is a pretty village on the River Cher and on the ‘vignobles route’ (wine trail).  Our friends, Paul and Cynthia, live 4kms away!  We parked in the little Municipal Campsite situated in a wonderful park with lake, next to the village.  We have the whole camp to ourselves! 

29.05   

Walked 4kms to our friends Paul and Cynthia’s home (rented a Paris apartment from them in 2006) and spent an enjoyable day catching up with Paul and devouring his cheese supply!

This region is a large wine producer and has many caves as the tufa stone is soft and easy to tunnel through.  Great for wine cellars, garages and even homes.

30.05

Biked 40kms round trip to Chateau de Chenonceau, the Ladies’ Chateau!  (22 euros).

Built in 1515 it spans the Cher River via a series of graceful arches.

The design is largely the result of several women who occupied the chateau over the centuries.  The overall effect of the Chateau and it’s magnificent gardens is one of pure elegance and fantasy.  We spent a wonderful three hours exploring the chateau inside and out and of course the obligatory picnic in the grounds!  The most romantic and elegant of the Chateaux we have seen.

In the evening Paul and Cynthia came over to the camp to meet Lefty, then transported us to their home complete with  it’s own cave which they are transforming into a self contained unit.  Had a wonderful evening and a terrific meal of guinea fowl, ratatouille, sorbet and cheese.  Washed it down with champagne from Epernay, red wine from Bordeaux and Pastis from who knows where!  Delivered home in the wee hours as Col couldn’t stop talking!  Another amazing day!

31.05

 Woken by the church bells at 7am ####!!!  A slow start to the day as heads hurt a little.

Cycled to Paul and Cynthia’s to say our goodbyes.  Back to camp through the vineyards and hay fields for a quiet afternoon/evening.

It’s been a fantastic 8 days in the Loire and a real highlight, definately a place to return to!  We’ve now passed the 400kms mark on our bikes.  Next stop Burgundy/Beaujolais

Monet's Giverny

20.5



Said our ‘goodbyes’ to Paul our German ‘bouldering’ friend.  He’s was part of the ‘tent brigade’ from the German Alpine Club.  He explained ‘bouldering’ is a popular, fun sport thoughout Europe and Fontainbebleau is the perfect location due to it’s many weird shaped rock formations (and we thought they were here for the Chateau!).  Evidently you climb 2-3 metre high boulders (without equipment) then jump from the top onto mats! 


We hit McDonalds for the Internet and then followed mainly D Roads then the motorway around the outskirts of Paris to Vernon.  We headed to the nearest camp called Camping Des Fosses Rouges situated 5kms out of Vernon in the village of Saint Marcel.  Took a walk back to Vernon for a better look.  Vernon is a Mediaeval City which evidently played an important role in the history of Nomanady due to it’s geographical location.  We passed the beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral, the Archive Tower and Arts Garden to the huge River Seine.  Back to camp around 9pm.

21.5 

Today we got the chance to read our kindles and browse the maps!  Wet and cold outside!

22.5

Biked 35kms to Giverny and Monet’s Gardens which were just as beautiful as we remembered!  Monet’s expertise with colour and light is cleverly used in the interior of his house and gardens!  We loved the dining area which was filled with his amazing paintings and his striking yellow kitchen.  Irises and water lillies dominated the gardens!


 Leader of the Impressionists Monet was born in Paris in 1840-1926.  He lived in Giverny in this house from 1883.

Back to camp with a stop at Carrefour.  Bought an awesome stove top expresso maker for 11 euros and a large packet of expresso only to find they were whole coffee beans - bugger!  Will have to find a friendly cafe owner to grind them for us.    

Fontainebleau

16.05

Off to Fontainebleau today after a quick stop at McDonalds to check our internet and post a blog.  A two hour drive with a stop for groceries as it’s a public holiday tomorrow.

Found a cool camp site on the banks of the Seine River at Samoreau, 6km from Fontainbleau.

17.05

Woke to find our campsite a city of tents (it’s a long week end) and some brave souls sleeping on the ground just in sleeping bags.  It’s still very cold at night although the days are warm.

Off on a 55km cycle through the forests of Fountainebleau of which there are over 200 sq-km filled with oaks, beeches, birches and pines.  The ride, which was incredibly beautiful, was a mixture of forest tracks and D roads through small villages, it took us through the touristy village of Barbizon.  It was here in the mid 19^th century that  the Barbizon School of landscape artists was formed.  They were the first artists to leave their studios and work outside thus becoming the forerunners of Impressionism.  Theodore Rousseau and Francois Millet were the two most notable.  Toward the end of the ride two deer with their babies ran across the road in front of us.  The ride ended in Fontainebleau and we went into the amazing 1900 room Renaissance Chataeau, one of France’s largest royal residences, home to a list of tenants that reads like a who’s who of French royalty and aristocrats.  The Mona Lisa once hung here!  The Chateau and it’s grounds are just stunning, not unlike Versailles, it takes your breath away with the complete enormity of it all and the utter opulence. We walked around the huge grounds filled with lakes (some of the biggest carp we have ever seen),  statues and various gardens.  As time was getting on we decided to return tomorrow to explore inside.  Man you look forward to your food after a day like today.


Cooked a huge meal of pasta and spicy sausages.  Pam likes her sausages!  After dinner sat and watched all the goings on in the camp, interesting seeing the variety of different foods being prepared by the different nationalities.

18.05

Cycled into town this morning, the bikes were not our friends today!  Sore legs and bums!

Market day in town so spent an hour checking out the various stalls of produce.  The presentation and variety of the meats, fish and veges is amazing. 


Got our tickets to the Grands Appartements de Fountainebleau and Napoleon 1^st Museum (E20) with an audio guide and spent three hours meandering around the Chateau which was inhabited almost continuosly since the 12^th Century until the fall of Napoleon 3^rd in 1870.

Even saw the hat and coat Napoleon wore complete with his uniform, swords and boots.

The splendour of the various rooms is overwhelming and hard to take it all in.

19.05

A lazy day today spent around the camp with some French lessions in the afternoon and a walk to get groceries.

Had drinks with a Dutch couple, Will and Yans until midnight.  Most of the camp still up and about at that time.  Not getting dark until 10pm.  We head to the other side of Paris tomorrow to Vernon and a bike ride to Monets Gardens in Givernay.

   

  

Epernay

12.05

Enough of death and destruction, it’s time for some celebration and what better place to head for than Epernay, the heart of Champagne region!  As you arrive you pass a gigantic cork welcoming you.

Hotel Moet & Chandon

Beneath the streets in hundreds of kms of subterranean cellars, more than 200 million bottles of Champagne are being aged.  Only between 160 and 220 million bottles are produced here to maintain exclusivity and price.

All the names are here, Moet & Chandon, Verve Cliquot, Mercier but also over 5000 small scale vignerons in 320 odd villages produce most of the regions liquid gold!

Staying 2km from the Centre Ville in the Municipal Camp overlooking the River Marne.

13.05

Chatted to our Aussi neighbours  (we put up our kiwi flag) then off on the bikes for a 45km round trip exploring the Vallee De La Marne.

Sometimes the dream is not matched by the reality but this day lived up to our expectations and more!  Riding in the sunshine on quiet roads with nothing but pretty villages and their endless fields of grape vines all labelled with markers that read like a Who’s Who of champagne.  Passed the Abbey in Hautvillers where Dom Perignon is buried.

A pelaton of cyclists passed us as we neared a small village called Reuil.  As we entered the village many spectators laughed and joked that we were a long way behind the pack – bastards!  Had our baquette sandwich overlooking the Marne River where there was a street garage sale taking place.  Champagne was being sold for 2 euros a glass accompanied by a grilled sausage!  Pam likes sausages!

14.05

Into Epernay Centre Ville this morning and up the Avenue de Champagne where the elite Champagne Maisons are located - Moet & Chandon, Pol Roger, Mercier, Perrier Jouet, De Castellane to name a few. 

Visited the impressive cellars of Moet & Chandon as we did many years ago, some of the bottles put down back then would be ready about now!  Their underground cellars alone  could reach Paris (144km). 

Thought about buying a jeroboam (3L bottle) of premium Dom Perignon millesime (vintage Champagne) of 1998 for NZ$4200 but decided it would clash with our baked beans for dinner!  Got a flute of the bubbles as part of the tour though which was nice.  Our guide told us that 2002 was the last good season of grapes used for the Vintage Champagne and it could be up to 40 years before it comes out of the cellars.

15.05

Decided on another bike ride today through the Cote Des Blancs, the Chardonnay growing area of Epernay.  Got 15km into the 52k ride, as far as Cramant with it’s 8.6m high Champagne bottle before the cold wind and rain forced us to turn around.  As soon as we got back to camp our neighbours Paul and Mary (Peter was missing) asked us to join them on a tour of their favorite independent Champagne House called Breton Fils.  We sampled three glasses before buying two bottles of their product (28 euros)  We were also given a tour of the caves by the hospitable owner Renauld.  He told us that he exports 1,000 bottles per year to NZ.  Back to camp where our other neighbour John from Wales asked us over to sample his favourite Champagne, a Blanc de Blancs which is made only from the Chardonnay grape.  Another great day!