Lower Loire Valley

When we booked our hotel in Nantes it was late in the evening, with crappy internet, a low battery on our tablet, and in 30 degree heat. So we weren't too surprised to find it was about 7km from the centre of town - something we hadn't registered when booking. The hotel was nice enough though; and we were stoked to find our new tent poles had arrived.

Château des ducs de Bretagne in Nantes

We had two nights booked so we took a bus into the centre of Nantes the next morning and started the day with a visit to our first château. We walked around the walls of the 500 year old castle admiring the views of Nantes before exploring the city properly, by way of a self-guided walking tour which followed a neon green line painted on the ground around the city.

Public art showing refugees in Nantes

After the tour we visited 'Les Machines de l'île' (The Machines of the Island) on an island in the Loire. This is a giant artistic project in the former shipyard warehouses that has been producing massive 'machines' that can be riden & operated. They include a giant spider, a carousal full of sea creatures and a huge elephant that actually walks around the island.

The elephant of Les Machines de l'île

The next day we began following the well-signposted 'Loire a Velo' trail as we made our way towards Paris. After some tedious scenery coming up the Atlantic Coast, it was a nice change to cycle past the interesting architecture and cutesy villages of the Loire. We ticked over the 4000km mark at some stage during the day and made sure to take a few pics. Our aim for the trip was to get over 4000km so we were happy to have achieved this about halfway through our trip!

Total distance - 4000km

Loire river

Over the next two days we cycled past wheat-fields, vineyards and château towards the touristy (but nice) village of Amboise. The weather was overcast and drizzly much of the time but we weren't complaining - it wasn't enough to get us wet and was far better than the 30 degree heat we'd experienced further south.

We're making sure to sample all the different baguettes; here's Sarah with a particularly big one.

We cycled through a network of tunnels in limestone caves on the banks of the river

Villandry vege gardens

From our camp at Savonnières we visited the Château de Villandry - a château know for it's extensive and meticulously manicured gardens. The château was pretty good, but the gardens were the star of the show; the geometric shapes of the vegetable garden were a highlight.

Early morning light on Château d'Amboise;

We arrived in Amboise to a big campground with heaps of fellow cycle tourers - they even had a special section for us all. The town was busy with tourists but we managed to find a terrace seat at a bar to watch the sun set over Château d'Amboise.

  -  David