Today, I wasn't cycling by myself on holiday for a change. My wife and kids joined me this time. But of course I couldn't get them to join me if we didn't get them some e-bicycles. So we drove to the city of Blois and rented three e-bikes and a regular bicycle (they somehow didn't want me to go in lycra on my road bicycle 😂).
On the campsite I already planned a cycling route that went downstream along the Loire river.
Most of the route we cycled on cycling paths, but some parts we had to share the road with cars. We're not really used to that, coming from the Netherlands. Cars passing by on the same road with 70+ kilometers an hour is a new experience for us Dutchies.
Most of the cycling paths were gravel like this
We cycled all the way to Chaumont-sur-Loire where we stopped at a lovely bar to get some drinks.
Lovely bar with picnick tables on the route
After our pause we continued our ride. In Chaumont-sur-Loire we had a serious 350 meter long climb with an average percentage of 10%. I really missed not riding my road bicycle while climbing that one, but the gears on the rental bicycle were quite good, so I managed to get up there.
I was lucky I already have done quite some climbing this holiday.
After the climb we mostly cycled through an agricultural area. There were large fields of grain, corn and sunflowers alongside the road.
The fields of sunflowers and the rolls of mowed grass are always such a typical French sight for us, so we just had to stop and take some pictures.
How French can it be; a field full of sunflowers!
And the macro photographer in me just couldn't resist taking a picture of this bee that was enjoying the sunflowers too!
And when we had the rolls and the sunflowers, what else did do we miss? Of course.... grapes for the French wine.... And they were also in abundance on our route!
After the agricultural area we cycled through some lovely villages, like Les Montils. This small town exists of just a few streets, but like every little town it has at least a church.
After cycling though the old portal above, we spotted the church, which had a picnick table alongside it where we stopped for another short break again.
After more than 50 kilometers we crossed the bridge over the Loire again to head back to Blois again.
When we arrived to the bicycle rental shop we had cycled more than 55 kilometers. It was a lovely trip.
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