Loches to Chenonceau

June 14, 2024

An Adventurous Ride

Let's wing it today. What could go wrong?

The ride today, which was predicted to be easy and quick, wasn’t easy or quick, but it was fun. The above route was NOT the Komoot ride I originally planned. As you'll see below, we decided to vary our route from the planned course. The consequences were interesting, to say the least.

Last night I had studied the Komoot route and made some adjustments. There was a French Velo Map in our Loches B and B that showed a route between Loches and Chenonceaux and I lengthened our Komoot ride a bit to match it, since we had a short day. We got a later start because Dave and I went down to a cute kids store in Loches to buy a few items for our grandson. Eric and Melinda go back on Monday and their offer to carry goodies back for us was gratefully accepted and we jumped at the opportunity to finally do a bit of shopping.

After picking up a tractor for Nick and a lamb for Eloise (my stepdaughter’s new baby) we packed up and headed out. We had a funny challenge getting out of town, missing a turn on steep cobbles which caused trouble, turning us all around on the narrow windy streets. Once we were out of Loches, Komoot put us on a narrow track through farm fields and eventually we wound up on a gravel road through the Forest of Cinq Mars. My quick research show this is part of the Loches National Forest, managed by the French government in some fashion since 1790. Fun Fact: 30 oak trees were carefully selected and used from this forest for the reconstruction of the beams at Notre Dame.

Things began pretty much as usual and this forest was magical.

It was glorious riding in a mysterious-feeling place and our spirits were high. The gravel road was flat so riding was no problem. After a few km, Komoot directed us to peel off onto a busy road. We saw a bike route sign allowing us to go ahead and continue in the forest. Since cool gravel roads in a mysterious forest seemed more interesting than a busy paved road we opted to follow the bike route sign. Pretty soon we realized why Komoot had not suggested this route in the first place. The gravel deteriorated into narrow overgrown single-track and we started to get some dicey rollers. This turned into pretty hazardous riding (at least for me) and I skidded out on some mud from last night’s rain. Then the narrow track meandered onto the side of a hill making it even more hazardous, so there was some walking and pushing from some of us. It was clearly a mountain bike trail, not suitable for even adventurous bike trekking. I have to say, Eric and Dave were digging it.

The area marked in red indicates the forest intersection at which we were supposed to go left on the V49 and connect with the Route Loches Bieré and then ride it to the town of Saint-Quentin. We opted to keep on the same path through the forest.

We eventually emerged out onto a beautiful paved road, huffing and puffing, on the top of a plateau, thinking the tough stuff was behind us. However, in a few km and as we approached the town of Saint Quentin sur Indrois, the designated cycle route, in an effort to avoid putting us on a busy highway, dropped us below the road onto a tiny, narrow overgrown trail which then canted steeply upwards about 15 percent, and there were thorns from the nettles in the overgrown brush stinging our legs as we attempted to ride up. I eventually stopped and Dave had to go down and help me push my bike up. Unfortunately by stopping, Eric and Melinda, who were behind me, had to stop as well so they wound up pushing their bikes up too.

Some clambering and bush wacking was required.

The skies were dramatic and for Jill and me, a bit ominous. Was rain in our near future?

The last 15 km ride into Chenonceaux was uneventful but we had to scramble to find a place for lunch before things closed up at 2 pm (per French custom). That turned out to be sort of complicated but finally a restaurant called Le Relais Chenonceaux took us and we enjoyed our spritzes and beer with lunch to celebrate a fun and adventurous day in the saddle. It was our last day of riding together and I was happy we had this day at the end, and not the beginning. By this point Eric and Melinda were seasoned cycle tourers and could handle anything we threw at them!

We checked into Auberge du Bon Labourer, our splurge hotel for the week. More on it and the town of Chenonceaux tomorrow, as we are spending two nights here.

Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,610 km (1,000 miles)

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Rich FrasierGood choice on the hotel. We stayed there a couple of years ago and loved it!
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6 months ago

Rachael AndersonThat sure looked like an awful trail you had to ride!
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6 months ago