A cycling route through rural Anjou in the Loire Valley

Discovery Cycle Tour

£795 per person

What’s included:

6 nights en-suite accommodation
6 continental breakfasts
1 lunch with wine tasting
6 evening meals with wine
5 planned cycling tours
Full support whilst cycling
Free laundry facilities & WiFi

Optional Extras

Hybrid bike & all equipment (£60)
Return station transfer (£25)

Not included

Entry to Chateaux and attractions
Travel insurance

Cycling Holidays in France: Loire Valley Discovery Cycle Tour

Experience the famous chateaux of the Loire Valley, whilst also discovering hidden gems with fascinating histories. You will not believe how empty our roads are - this is a cycling paradise for any level of cyclist!

New for our 2012 season: a leisurely cycle down to the Loire river, where you will enjoy wine tasting and a relaxed lunch with our partners at “Le Tasting Room” - all served in a most unusual location!

The cycling routes on this self-guided bike tour can be extended if you wish and you are free to travel at your own pace and enjoy! Each route has detailed instructions and accompanying maps so navigation is easy and fun!

Short on time? On certain dates we are able to offer a Mini Discovery Tour - ideal for guests who only have a few days to cycle the Loire Valley. Come and join our main Discovery Tour for 4 days of great cycling! Click here for more information, dates & prices.

Day 1 Arrival

If required, we will meet you at Saumur railway station and bring you back to our base and your home for the week, Gue de Ray. Unpack and settle in, before meeting fellow guests over an aperitif and enjoying a hearty evening meal with wine and coffee.

Day 2 “Le Tasting Room” (45km/30 miles) - New for 2012!

A morning’s ride following L’Authion river, a placid and beautiful tributary of the Loire. You re-join and cross the Loire at Rosiers-sur-Loire via the impressive bridge at Gennes, cycling along the south bank to a tiny hamlet perched above the river. Here in Cumeray, English couple Nigel and Cathy Henton of ‘Le Tasting Room’, will host you for a lunch and tutored wine tasting and will enlighten you to the world of Loire Valley wines and wine-making. Enjoy your lunch and wine - as you will benefit from a minibus ride back to base! View this day in more detail

Day 3 “Vines, Wines & Markets” (35km/21 miles)

An atmospheric morning’s cycle through misty forests, before emerging into the sunshine and heart of the Bourgueil vineyards offering stunning vine-filled views. Arrive in Bourgueil for the weekly market - a truly traditional French experience and a great opportunity for assembling a picnic lunch - to be eaten on the banks of the Loire or under a tree in the vineyards.

There is a chance to sample the local wine at the tasting cave and wine museum - hewn out of the ‘Tuffeau’ sandstone above Bourgueil. The route then heads through the vineyards to Chouze-sur-Loire, an old river port on the banks of the Loire river. The route home takes in the vineyards of St Nicholas de Bourgueil, before entering the shade of the forest for the final leg back to Gue de Ray.

Day 4 “The Loire Chateaux” (50km/30 miles)

What the Loire is world famous for! This bike route takes you back in time to the ancient town of Langeais and its impressive 11th Century fortress, before crossing to the southern bank of the Loire river. From this point you can choose from a selection of routes and cycle to some or all of the chateaux of Villandry, Ussé or Azay-le-Rideau each one individual, but all stunning in their beauty.

Your day is finished with a mini-bus return back to Gue de Ray.

Day 5 “Rural Anjou” (30km/18 miles)

The route takes you through the local hunting forests and a local nature reserve (spotting the kingfishers and otters), before breaking at the Chateau du Lathan, owned and lived in by the descendants of Napoleon I’s Treasury Minister . After the exertions and chateaux of the previous day, today is more relaxed, cycling through a medieval history of ruined abbeys, knights’ chateaux, water mills and an un-spoilt rural landscape that time forgot. Lunch can be taken in a small hamlet where you can partake in the lunchtime ‘Menu Ouvrier’.

After lunch the route then dives back into the forest taking you to the town of Gizeux with a Chateau becoming famous for 17th century wall paintings - paintings that were hidden and forgotten about at the time of the Revolution.

Day 6 “Saumur” (38km/23 miles)

Today you head south of the Loire again, crossing the river near the picture postcard town of Candes St Martin and the river-side Chateau of Montsoreau (one of the few chateaux that actually sits directly on the river bank). The route then offers you two ways to cycle onward to Saumur.

The first route takes you directly to Saumur via the ‘Loire a Velo’ cycleway, past mushroom caves and through Troglodyte dwellings and vineyards whilst leaving ample time to explore Saumur itself.

The second route enables you to cycle via Montsoreau and Candes St Martin to the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, where the English kings (and rulers of much of France) Henry II and Richard the Lionheart are entombed.

Once again, we provide a mini-bus pickup from Saumur to bring you back to base, along with any souvenirs you may have picked up!

Day 7 Departure

After breakfast we take you to Saumur railway station before saying farewell and bonne route!