France by Bicycle | PART 3: THE LOIRE A VELO: ORLEANS

France by Bicycle | PART 3: THE LOIRE A VELO: ORLEANS

Chapter 3 finds us leaving Sully-sur-Loire with its magnificent castle, along the Eurovelo 6 and the Loire A Velo, reaching our northern-most point in Orleans. Home of Joan of Ark, Orleans turned out to be a beautiful visit with a fascinating old town full of medieval charm. After leaving Orleans, we head for Chambord, the site of Chateau De Chambord, one of the most photographed sites in all of France. Incredible!

Music:

Accordion and Glockenspiel Comedy – JK Productions
Pond Five
081716572-accordion-and-glockenspiel-com
a href=”https://www.pond5.com/royalty-free-music/item/81716572-accordion-and-glockenspiel-comedy-short-version”Stock Music/a provided by JK_Production, from a href=“https://www.pond5.com/”Pond5/a

French Connection – Medite
Epidemic Sound

Clear Fresh Air – Headlund
Epidemic Sound

Princess Moon – Claude Signet
Epidemic Sound

Let Me Introduce Myself – Rune Dale
Epidemic Sound

Shifting Out – Gregory David
Epidemic Sound

Silver Waves – Track Tribe
YouTube Audio Library

A Dance In The Sun – Erik Fernholm
Epidemic Sound

Juliana’s drinking her Cherry Coke the drink of Champions right there So poor rolling he got a flat yesterday and now today we get up in the morning and get the bikes and he’s got another one we went ahead and patched the flat tire because we only have two when you put the newer in in there it’s kind of a

Bigger tube but we think it’s going to fit it’s just taking a lot of time and everybody went and had breakfast without us say good morning Merlin good morning how’s life without coffee oh it’s it’s painful but it’ll be all right but at least we got a place here

In the hotel where we can do all this yeah it’s true it makes a little easier and I used one of the dining room chairs so I don’t have to bust my back trying to do this that’s right frustrating morning after the flat last night and

The repair woke up and tire was flat again so we tried to replace it I had older inner tubes I didn’t replace the inner tubes for the new tires and so I had the wrong size and so it took several tries to get the bike back on

The road I think we’ve got it going now and uh late start but we only have like 30 35 miles to go to Orleans so it’s I don’t know afternoon one o’clock and uh can’t say good morning we cannot say good morning bonjour I guess that’s what we need to

Say from now on right yeah bonjour everybody always says bonjour like a little sing-song kind of thing how you feeling this morning babe this afternoon my back’s a little sore but I think yeah hard long hard day yeah my legs don’t hurt at all yeah and my

Body’s a little fatigued but now that I’m on the bike it’s feeling better with every petal so this way it always is takes a minute to warm up it does it’s definitely worth it and today is going to be an easier day so we’ll be as

Laborious but it’ll be good to get back on the bike and keep the muscles moving I had muscle cramps most of the night and it was uh just not being used to riding that long I think and they hurt a little bit but I’m doing doing okay got

The energy I need got nice views of who are to our left Buggy morning for sure should have brought Bailey’s little uh I know I thought I had brought it too I think did nice cool little Forest through here bugs are really out in Forest this morning the hatching little gnats and whatnot A whole lot of wildlife down there a ton of birds beautiful beautiful more River The Loire avello was more than a sightseeing route along France’s longest river it’s a route for cyclists to discover a slice of France that few ever see and while it’s by no means remote connecting cities like Orleans tour and nault and tourist centers like San Jose and the chateaus for which it’s famous

Most of the ride is through a Valley known as The Garden of France quiet Countryside of Vineyards and farm fields and common Villages giving the bicycle tourists a taste of the real France pretty little town here I love that our Lazy Sunday is 30. okay even better it’s a rest day

Right I love it yeah it’s hot today too it is very hot I like the clouds yesterday I would take that over this anytime yeah Hello hi I don’t have anything for you next time we’ll bring you something yeah we’ll be right back okay promise oh yeah a little bit a little bit rough and rowdy where are you going Where are you going thank you riding through the trails of France I don’t think it gets any prettier I feel like I’m in a Hobbit movie Trails a soft Pebble and then you got the road bikers that are balls out Missy uh-huh but they’re nice about it damn these people out here can ride they don’t sit in front of a TV and junk food they’re out on bikes enjoying this beautiful country that they live in

Different kind of people in a good way foreign Lived in one of those Villas I assume Way along the side of the river pretty Bridge crossing the bridge headed toward Orleans people are very friendly around out here around Cyprus they give you plenty of room they’re very patient and they usually give us the right away which is amazing so grateful for the respect although portions of the path deviate

From the river for long stretches for the length of the ride the Loire is the main feature bird watchers don’t know what they’re looking for but along here there’s lots of birds settled by modern humans as long as thirty thousand years ago it has been a

Major trading route used by the Gauls as far back as 600 BC in 56 BC Julius Caesar conquered the region and became Roman chateaus cover the length of the river’s route over a thousand built anywhere from the early medieval to the Renaissance period in a rocket now it says to the right here

Looks better hot day here in the middle of France I don’t know how hot it is but we’re all baking sucking the energy ahead of us only about 10 15 more miles to early on will cool down nice bottle of wine of course Juliana’s drinking her Cherry Coke the

Drink of Champions right there Tons of bicycle tourist groups evangeloa Nadia taking pictures of the poochy if you look at this view you can see where the Loire is kind of supposed to be very very low here during this drought still get a little bit of kayaking it looks like This is the Loire River and if you can see you can appreciate this the water level is so low but warming going on and this Grand beautiful river is just drying up and it’s just heartbreaking it really is foreign Ergy with ever increasing users on the trail early on is famous for a particular episode during the 100 Years War when Joan of Arc led a resistance against the English Siege freeing the city and becoming one of France’s best-loved Heroes we appreciated the dynamic energy of orlion as well as the

Calm of the bed and breakfast that awaited us doors to our bed and breakfast not bad and then if you look down the street up the street very nice so this is our room this little Chateau this is our little French Room go out our bedroom this is

Going to be nutty in Victor’s room they get the couch tonight pull out couch we alternate in these bnbs hi Nadia hello here we are here we are cute little place and there’s a little kitchenette here coffee just very simple all you need and then

There is one bathroom that we all get to share I’m coming in pull your pants up she’s coming in throw your pants up don’t be dropping no nothing anyways you can kind of figure out the rest but it’s a beautiful little place you know it’s just old and extremely Charming okay

Have a nice evening here tonight I love France as we get ready to go out for the evening story behind this brush I have two of them one I used it on my cats guess which one I grabbed when I was leaving yes this whole trip I’m using the cat brush

We understand there might be sushi at the end of the street so let’s hope for the best there was indeed sushi but in a land known for the world’s best cuisine this was probably the worst Sushi any of us had ever tasted oh well you can’t get everything right store

We explored the Old Town until weather forced us back to the Cozy confines of our bed and breakfast little rain on the way home to our uh Airbnb Laughs just leaving our little Chateau packing up getting ready to go that was our room the top corner here’s our fearless leader I’m preparing to save the day our Courtyard here in Oregon at our Airbnb on the way out nice and secure building there look at those

Beautiful doors we’re on our way to a sports store to get some what tubes shorts absence yeah we’ve got lots of stuff together so time to hit the road let’s go beautiful morning here on the Loire in Orleans and then a beautiful start Tour day Or still following the law hoping we can get every support it’s a good shot another crossing of the Loire one of many awesome looking Bridge here what a great bridge look at this wow this is so cool route took us a while to get going today we had

A few errands to run and some things to pick up so I’m glad we just got it all done out of the way and so now we can just ride but it’s it’s cooling off a bit looks like we’re gonna get some rain again today got quite the downpour last night and

Actually it looks like the wall the wall has a little more water in it so I think that rain was helpful just get to riding the in the shade of the cloudy day so it kind of feels good so good morning good morning from early on morning Nadia bonjour

UE La Victor somewhere back there Victor says good morning too got some beautiful wineries over here got some beautiful hot houses these are empty but the other ones had chili peppers and grapes everything’s a growing here it’s a beautiful beautiful day hot as all get out but a beautiful day nevertheless Some Orchards going on here they’re cherries right and pears Thank you take a right our goal for the day was to reach the Chateau of Chambord one of the most well-known and most photographed sites in all of Europe Number one chateau yeah we’re getting fairly close to the castle at Shamburg Schaumburg I I think I’ve got it wrong a little bit but it’s the name of a certain I believe raspberry apparati here in Europe and probably the most picturesque Castle on the Loire gone to that Chateau I’m thinking Clouds are starting to pick up could get some of that rain that we got last night so we’ll keep an eye out on the skies but it definitely looks like we’re in for some thunderstorms wouldn’t be too bad here we’ve got nice Woods a lot of

This Trail is all on Levee and very exposed and miles between a tree or any kind of shelter it’s a fairly open somewhat desolate stretch to be honest there’s not a lot out here well we’ll just uh see how it goes One of the hard things is trying to find a place to fill up your water bottles but we finally found this here a little spigot it seems to be doing the trick thank God for strong immune systems Pleasure it’s amazing how many days you have while riding this awe-inspiring Trail where you can’t believe how beautiful the riding is how perfect the day is how incredibly beautiful life can be all day long you’re surrounded by the sights and the sounds and the smells of this sweet French Countryside never

Knowing what’s around the bend or over the bridge or what tomorrow will bring foreign Towns along the river here River seems a lot more full as we go further Downstream that’s a good sign for sure for now the threat of showers has passed we got a little bit of a shower just enough to to get our rain gear out and then it was over Should we wait for Victor okay let’s wait for Victor the woman on a mission well that shade feels amazing on a hot day like this so humid isn’t it yeah and then it just starts right Yeah it’s a pretty part of the trail through here really nice but there’s the river right there every once in a while it pops out more nuclear power I guess probably what that is not quite as high as the corn in Illinois booked a room a couple of kilometers

From Chambord it’s Chambord which is the name of the castle It’s sunny now still pretty humid and hot but we got some storms coming looks like heading for Chambord Chambord We’re into that clean energy reactors everywhere sure beats coal they told everyone in France the government said you all need to decrease your energy consumption so everyone out here is trying to be more conscious of it here goes Victor flying to the front the panther that’s his spirit animal Pretty Bridge don’t get to go under it though It’s the second one of those I’ve seen it’s a front recumbent and a back regular bike tandem because they can both see yeah I also wonder if one of you has a back issue or any kind of whatever what a great combo that is that’s great certainly better than a

Regular tandem I’d say a regular tandem the lighter person is usually in the back and then they just that’s usually the woman and they just stare at their Partners back I like my own bike I like my own bike too I like the freedom I put my Koga Touring

Bike to the real test of touring how’s it performing like a charm yeah and this is the one you picked up in Amsterdam like a little Cadillac of yeah it’s a little heavy and cumbersome but man it’s smooth but it reminds me of mine not just the butterfly handlebars but

Just the overall heaviness of it the just the power strength of it I wouldn’t want to do too much heavy climbing on it yeah fully loaded yeah but well you know what I did I got a smaller chainring and that makes the climbing much easier to do that with Juliana’s

Uh it’s why it’s got nothing to do with anything else it’s a seven to ten percent grade hey me too I was pretty happy about that myself Pass this by really hard to kill there’s the cloud it’s fun to watch the weather I wonder if you’re going to get a day lose or not we found a hotel just outside of Chambord in the small town of Mosley a bit off the Loire of Lo and decided to

Stay there saving a tour of the castle for the morning it’s always so cool riding into these towns it’s like what’s here what’s gonna what are we gonna see gush I think we’re this way but it could be no hold on I think our hotel’s back

There all right here’s our place for the night the left left at our hotel restaurant we enjoyed an excellent meal and met Helga a bike tourist from Nuremberg Germany who he invited to join us for dinner we shared stories and got some ideas for our next Bike Tour of Europe um Foreign