3 weeks cycling in France

Magical Cycle in the Loire Valley

Cycling Canal de Garonne and Canal de Midi

FOR A ONE OFF PAYMENT OF ONLY US$2.95 GET ALL THE INFORMATION ON THESE 2 FANTASTIC CYCLE TRIPS SO YOU CAN EASILY ORGANISE YOURSELF

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1. 3 weeks cycling in France
   1. Magical Cycle in the Loire Valley
   2. Cycling Canal de Garonne and Canal de Midi
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Introduction

Travelling has always been a passion since I got the bug in my early 20’s. As many young New Zealanders did I embarked on my OE ( overseas experience) through Asia, Europe and Africa in the 1980’s. Check out my travel blog for past travels.

http://www.travellingretirees.com

With our children we had some great family holidays mainly in Australia, NZ and the amazing islands in the South Pacific.

Since the children left home my wife( Helle) and I have pursued our love of discovering other places with trips to Cuba, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Nuie.

On retiring in 2024 our goal is to travel to rediscover old destinations and discover new ones for around 3 months each year. Turkey is our first destination along with France , Spain and Portugal.

Our type of travel is to organise everything ourselves. We don’t like “tours”. We like to hire cars and bikes to give us flexibility to get off the beaten track.

We love exploring some bigger cities but our preference is to find smaller towns or villages – enjoy their history, architecture, culture and food.

We are not “resort” people. We are not interested in finding beaches and lounging for hours with hundreds of others. We enjoy staying in the older more historic places and love to just wander and soak up everyday life.

Being retired we do enjoy our comforts. Our preferred accommodation are apartments or houses which are more homely and where we can cook and prepare our own meals. If we stay in hotels we don’t like big chain 5 star hotels – more 2 – 3 star and boutique in nature.

Research and Preparation

I love researching new countries and places to visit. It’s great fun reading about different destinations and other travellers’ experiences.

Today, with the internet, it is so easy to find all sorts of different views on where you want to head. I like to read other travel blogs or talk to friends who have recently visited to get a number of independent viewpoints.

Once you have a good feel of where you want to go jump on http://www.skyscanner.com (for flights comparisons) and then use Booking.com and Airbnb.com for accommodation options. If you are looking to hire a car we use Carflexi or Booking.com. These sites all search and compare the available options and costs.

Flights

We usually lock in international flights 3 – 6 months before we go. The main reason is that we then have specific arrival and departure dates to then start planning where within each county we want to go. I love that part and building up to the anticipation of departure date!

Our trip to France and our Loire Valley Cycle was part of a 3 1/2 month trip – starting in Turkey, then heading to France to cycle the Loire, then Bordeaux to Sete. We finished with a 6 weeks road trip through Spain and Portugal.

We use skyscanner.com to search for the best flight options and then will book with the airline on line directly.

Bike Hire

We hired bikes through Detours de Loire.

View website https://www.detoursdeloire.com/en/home/

They have outlets in a number of different locations along the way so we were able to pick up from Orleans and drop off in Nantes.

Accommodation

With Booking.com and Airbnb.com most of the accommodation has the ability to book and cancel before a certain date. You pay a bit more but it is best to choose this option as you never know what might happen and your plans may change. If you cancel before a certain date (usually a week or so before the actual booking) then you can cancel without any penalty.

I always look at the reviews for each place we book. Not always absolutely accurate as everyone has different tastes and standards. The more reviews the better!

Money

We use a Wises travel money card, also called a currency card.It is a type of a card which allows you to keep multiple currencies, and use the card while travelling the world with no hidden fees to worry about. You can hold up to 40+ currencies in your travel money card, and convert them at the mid-market rate with the free Wise app.

Unlike travelling with cash, you don’t even need to have the money converted beforehand — simply use the travel money card in stores, coffee shops, online or withdraw from ATMs, and it will convert the amount automatically for a low fee.

Travel Insurance

An absolute must – just make sure you have it and read the fine print. I normally take out insurance with our bank and ensure you can actually get hold of someone if things go wrong! If hiring a car make sure the insurance covers the excess.

Mobile Phone

We purchased a data only e sim(Airalo) for our travels. This allows you to connect to local networks as soon as you arrive to your destination. We purchased 50GB for 90 days to Europe for $US100. Unless you download a lot of stuff this is ample capacity.

Airalo have lots of different plans and options to suit individual needs.

Navigation

The cycleway is very well signposted. It follows the river however a number of times it does divert. Just keep a good eye out on the Loire Valley signs. If all else fails use Google maps to get you back on track! Google maps is so much more than navigation. We found it very useful if you need to use public transport – put in the address where you want to go, click direction and then the icon that looks like a train. It gives you real time options for trains and buses and how to get there. Also if you want a supermarket just put in supermarket and all the options then come up on the map and even tell you if they are open or closed! Great if you travel on a Sunday as most supermarkets are closed so its very useful to find one that is open near by.

Packing

Travel light! Everybody will tell you this. You can always buy stuff on the way. For 3 1/2 months my wife and I had 25 kilos in total.

1 x check in bag – 15 kilos and 2 small backpack carry on bags ( 5 kilos each).

We had our own panniers from NZ. These consisted of 2 side pannier bags for the rear carrier and a bag that attached to the top which was also a small backpack. We purchased a large soft bag which was able to fit the side panniers( one check on bag for the airlines) and then we used the two other bags as our backpacks and carry on luggage.

For cycling – apart from shorts, teeshirts and trainers it is important to have a good wind and rain jacket in the event of foul weather. I never wore long pants for our entire 3/1/2 months and definitely not needed for cycling.

Before your cycle trip buy a couple of thermal drink bottles and a small soft chillybin. We strapped it over our panniers at the back. It is great to put any cheese, smallgoods, butters and fruit into.

When to go

Avoid the crowds and heat of summer – so go in the shoulder season before or after summer. We started at the very end of August – mainly through September. The conditions were perfect and the schools were back.

Loire Valley Cycle Itinerary

Bordeaux to Sete Itinerary

FOR A ONE OFF PAYMENT OF ONLY US$2.95 GET ALL THE INFORMATION ON THESE 2 FANTASTIC CYCLE TRIPS SO YOU CAN EASILY ORGANISE YOURSELF