Touring - Bicycle Tour of the Loire Valley?

Have you done a tour in the Loire Valley? Who did you tour with (tour company) and what did you think of your experience? Thanks.

I passed through the Loire Valley a few times and it is certainly a first-rate destination for a cycling tour. Really, you can’t go wrong cycling anywhere in France, it is a magnificent place to ride. Spring is my favourite time to be in the French countryside and when I cycled in that region I felt like I was cycling through a garden and with the flowers blooming everything was full of colour and smelt wonderful. The vistas along the top of valley can be breathtaking, however along the river is not as appealing. The region is bursting with nice cities, towns, villages, castles, historical sites and friendly and helpful people. My approach to cycle touring is not to make a plan and let everyday unfold as it will. I travel with camping equipment and use the municipal campgrounds as well as camping rough. I also used hotels and the traveler’s hostels every few days. There are also many other accommodation options depending on your needs and wealth. Conversely, some of the B&B’s offer first class accommodations with exceptional cuisine, something very welcome at the end of a day of cycling. The Michelin maps are seconded to none and are found everywhere. It is easy to plan your route by studying the topography, the roads/paths and by the sites you want to see. Often I would just cycle down the road that looked the most appealing, not worrying about where I would end up. The C-roads are pretty much paved footpaths just 2-4 metres wide with almost no traffic! As far as tour companies go I imagine there are many and I know that Trek Tours offers a hand holding package providing everything you need: bike, sag-wagon, celebrity tour guide, to the minute schedule, staged food stops and I believe they even sing a lullaby to you at the end of the day. The Loire Valley route is about 700 km long and if your holiday is only a few weeks or a month long I would recommend traveling light. Stuff you pockets with Euros, take a few changes of clothes, and load your handlebar-bag with a compass, camera, corkscrew, cheese knife, toothbrush, comb, etc. and just go!
Gordon P. :thumbup:

I agree with what was said above. On one of my European tours I followed the Loire right to its source, near Gerbier de Jonc. I have a photo of some of this trip on my webpage. In any case, any tour in France is worth it. (Except the Tour de France...thats too much work!!!!

:)

Roughstuff

just for my tuppence worth, we were in s. portugal/south-west spain over christmas (having been in northern france in the summer) - we much preferred spain, for so many reasons. food, historical stuff, roads, friendliness, hotels/hostels, citites/towns so much more lively, etc

just my opinion tho.