Cycling the Loire part two

Place St Pierre, Saumur

Here is part two of our cycling trip to the Loire, you can read part one here. 

Despite our packing being very minimal, (even the hotel owner was surprised by our lack of luggage), we had packed a change of clothes for an evening in town and I even had a pair of flip flops to wear with my sundress too. Saumur was a lovely place to stay and after a stroll around town we enjoyed a spot of people watching over a refreshing beer in the Place St Pierre before eating in an Auberge in Rue St Nicolas where we sampled the local speciality of fouées for the first time. This is a bread cooked in a wood fired oven that puffs up to form a pocket you fill with local delights including goats cheese, white beans, garlic butter, lardons, rillettes and a confit of onions and blood sausage. It was delicious and full of carbs, which was ideal to replace our energy.

Fouées, a local speciality

As cyclists, the following morning we were allowed cheese with our French breakfast – an option not given to the other residents at the hotel and one we made good use of. It was then time to head back towards Tours, taking the river route past some interesting cave houses to Montsoreau, where we stopped for morning coffee. I have to admit it wasn't much further on when we stumbled upon the delicious aromas coming from a patisserie - it really wasn't an option to cycle past!

Cave houses

The Chateau at Montsoreau

Looking back to Montsoreau

The patisserie, a girls best friend

We again found ourselves cycling towards the beautiful chateau at Rigny-Ussé where we left the Loire and followed the road to Azay-le-Rideau eventually finding somewhere willing to serve us a croque-monsieur for lunch – we seemed to have our invisibility cloaks on again! Despite the chateau at Azay-le-Rideau being very beautiful the view from before the ticket office isn’t so great and we really didn’t have time to pay to enter any of the chateau on this trip. The run back to the Loire at Villandry was shady and cool and by the time we reached the car we were delighted to have clocked up 200km in our two days.

The Chateau at Rigny-Ussé

We were lucky that the weather was lovely and warm, sunny and more importantly dry, as we really are fair weather cyclists only. I suppose ideally a little cooler may have been nice, but the sun really gave our two days a proper holiday feel and much of the route was shaded by trees. The architecture is so different to where we live it was difficult to believe we were only a two hour drive from home.

What struck me a lot along the way was the number of cyclists we saw who were many years older than us, often with their panniers and trailers full of camping equipment and still with a friendly smile, nod of the head and a bonjour to share with us. The Loire really is a cycle friendly area that I can recommend to anyone with an interest in cycling in France, not just serious cyclists. As well as the Loire, Cycling Southern France - Loire to Mediterranean by Richard Peace also has many other great routes from the Loire down to the Mediterranean and was a very useful book for us that we will use again.

If you fancy a Loire break with or without your bike, I have a couple of friends with holiday accommodation and there are many others on our Special Places in France website. My friend Nicole (we grew up in the same road in Surrey in the 1970’s) and her husband have three beautiful gites to the southeast of Tours. We visited them a few years ago so have seen for ourselves how special their place is and you can see details on their website here. To the west of Tours, Facebook friends Le Chant d’Oiseau, have gites and a campsite (see website here). We haven’t visited them (yet), but we have seen the tasty photos of the soirées they hold where they cook pizza and fouées in their wood fired oven, the stuff holiday dreams are made of.

I hope you have enjoyed our Loire holiday pictures; it really is a very beautiful place in France. Now where to take our bikes next?

Cycling the Loire Tours to Saumur

This time last week, having eaten our fill at the Quick Palace hotel buffet breakfast in Tours we set off for two days of cycling along the river Loire with a bit of Chateaux spotting. Since getting back I think I have spent most of the week in the kitchen as we found ourselves somewhat over run with cherries, raspberries and courgettes. I have baked quiches and cakes and started stocking the cupboards with chutneys and relishes, however it meant neglecting the blog.

After the madness and excitement that was The Tour de France in Tours it was with a little reluctance that we headed out to the west of the city on Friday morning. The further out of town we got and the more peaceful it became, the more we knew we had made the right decision not to stay with the buzz in Tours awaiting the lunchtime departure of the cyclists. The Tour might have been over for us but we still had a good few kilometres to tackle on our own little tour of the Loire.

Morning coffee in Savonnières

The plan was to follow the river Loire from Tours to Rigny-Ussé, cross the river Indre, then loop down to Chinon before following the river Vienne back to the Loire and on to Saumur. This route is well documented in Cycling Southern France - Loire to Mediterranean by Richard Peace, however we didn’t have the space to carry the book with us, but following big rivers, on the flat, how difficult could it be? Well, despite the Loire being a cyclist heaven with over 800km of marked cycle paths and many cycle friendly hotels and campsites it wasn’t actually as easy as I thought. It wasn’t long before the path veered away from the river and then horror of horrors, became a cobbled track. I am a 41 year old body cycling a 30 year old road bike and neither of us do cobbles. The benefits of heading back to the road were that tarmac is a much faster surface for our thin tyre bikes and we followed the route Le Tour had taken the previous day, so the villages and roads were decorated on a cycle theme.

Cobbles are a no no!

The bridge over the Loire in Langeais

We lunched on pasta and tinned fish, perfect energy food, having seen Villandry (from afar), the lovely bridge at Langeais and got a great view of the Rigny-Ussé chateau that morning. The afternoon took in Chinon, where we stopped for a beer, some lovely shady cycling by the river Vienne then the beautiful village of Montsoreau. 

Chinon

The Vienne river

Pretty displays in Montsoreau

We were only about 16km from our overnight stop in Saumur but tiredness and the heat were starting to show. When given a choice of a 14km route via the river or a 12km route via the vineyards, we decided to head uphill and save a couple of kilometres. Well, the views were superb, but unfortunately the signage wasn’t. We must have covered at least an extra 10km with lots of hills and lots of heat that necessitated a walnut break under the shade of a tree. The final zoom down from the Chateau in Saumur to our hotel was a fantastic feeling and we felt rather pleased with ourselves having covered 95km.

The Loire vineyards

Saumur

The Cithotel was very welcoming with a safe storage area for the bikes and a clean and comfortable room. Never has a short bath in a two-tone peach hotel bathroom seemed so welcoming as that night!

Bliss!

Do join me again tomorrow with part two of our adventure.

My Tour de France highlights

The blog has been a bit quiet as we have spent a few nights away from home on a cycle themed break. First stop (after dropping Mum, Dad and Ed at the station to make their way to UK) was the city of Tours in the Loire, our base for the night and where we caught up with some Tour de France action. Here are some photos of the publicity caravane, which is a real carnival atmosphere, the cyclists themselves and our evening in the lovely city of Tours.

At the 1km to go marker

The caravane begins

The LCL Lion

Cochonou saucisson 

PMU BIG HANDS

My hands - very useful when you have arrived by bike

More booty to try to get back to the hotel

Mark Cavendish and Chris Froome at the 500m to go point

An evening beer in the city of Tours

Tours old town, a very pretty little square

A Tour de France themed dinner at Courtepaille

The Courtepaille Grill chain of restaurants are the official 'grillade' of the Tour de France. They have a publicity team handing out vouchers and games in the caravane, their staff wear Yellow Tour T-Shirts, their menus are yellow and #TDF themed and even their terrace umbrellas match the colours of the winners jerseys. As we had picked up a few 'buy one get one free' vouchers we thought it appropriate to eat there in the evening and we weren't disappointed. We had a delicious steak and chips, the perfect energy packed meal for the night before our own cycle tour along the Loire river. The restaurant and our hotel were on an out of town estate and also happened to be where many of the caravane, press and other Tour officials were also staying, which just added to the party atmosphere of a very exciting day.

The Courtepaille floats staying in the hotel next door

Tourteau Fromager, our local cheesecake

Tourteau cheesecake from Deux Sevres

I will forgive you if you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say ‘tourteau’ as it is one of our very local food specialities and like nothing else I have come across. The Tourteau Fromager is a baked cheesecake that is specific to the areas of Lezay and the Melle district in our tiny southern tip of Deux Sevres. Ed has never been a cheese fan, but right from his first taste (when he was four) he has loved a slice of tourteau so it has become a favourite in our house. It is an almost round, moist sponge (made with fresh goat or cows cheese) in a thin shortcrust pastry shell base. As it is baked the sponge develops an unusual dark (burnt) crust that adds to the flavour. According to our local guidebook it is derived from a very basic cake that was eaten to celebrate country weddings and should be accompanied by a glass of red wine or a cup of coffee (how versatile).

Another interesting snippet I gleaned when looking into the origins of this cheesecake, that is said to be one of only a few traditionally French cheesecakes, is that it’s name was also used as a resistance code word during the Second World War. When Radio Londres, the French language programme broadcast by the BBC from 1940 to 1944, spoke of ‘Tourteau’ it was secretly sending messages to the resistance fighters in the Deux Sevres. 

I have lots of tasty food posts to share with you in the coming weeks (including My Paella) as this is the time of year I am at my busiest in the kitchen - many of these recipes will include courgettes (zucchini) as we grow loads because we love them!

Silent Sunday

Mum and Dad are visiting and while it would be untrue to say food is the highlight of their stay it has certainly been a big part!

Homemade curry for dinner in the garden

Specially made bread from our boulangerie

Mum and I busy with homegrown produce

Friday night is Moules Frites night

Aperos on the terrace

My Paella

I promise to post the paella recipe sometime this week. It is not a traditional paella but it is a custom for Dad and I to cook our version of this dish when they stay with us.

France et Moi with author Patricia Sands

Welcome to ‘France et Moi’ where this week, continuing on from my Book Worm Wednesday review of The Promise of Provence I am talking to author Patricia Sands about what France means to her, as part of her virtual book tour. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win a Kindle ebook copy of this book. Just email FrenchVillageDiaries@gmail.com with The Promise of Provence as the email subject by Wednesday 10^th July when my Dad will pick the winner from the hat during our final aperos of their holiday.

Patricia Sands lives in Toronto, Canada, when she isn’t somewhere else. An admitted travel fanatic, she can pack a bag in a flash and be ready to go anywhere … particularly the south of France. With a focus on women’s issues and ageing, her stories celebrate the feminine spirit and the power of friendship. Encouraging women of all ages to stare down the fear factor and embrace change, she has heard from readers ages 20 to 83. Her award-winning debut novel The Bridge Club was published in 2010. Her second novel, The Promise of Provence is an Amazon Hot New Release as of April 2013 and you can read my review here.

Firstly, I think France is a special place and it is famed for many things including its cheese, wine and diverse holiday locations plus, dare I say it strikes and dog poo littered streets. What do you think makes France so very unique and ‘French’?

Patricia: Where to begin? There are so many special aspects to this beautiful country and culture! What constantly takes my breath away is how centuries of history surround me wherever I go. Obviously we see it in the architecture of towns and villages but also in the traditions, religious and otherwise, that continue to be celebrated, in songs that are sung, stories that are told, in the markets and even in the games of boules/petanques that continue to be a focus in the town squares. I love that!

2) What is your fondest memory of time spent in France?

Patricia: Ha! Every visit is memorable but in 2011 my husband and I lived in Antibes for five months, just on the edge of the old town. We seldom needed a car as we could walk everywhere or hop on the coastal train just up the street. My heart is still there!

3) Your second novel The Promise of Provence is set in Provence so would this be your favourite holiday location in France?

Patricia: I do love the pastoral countryside of Provence but truly my first choice is the Côte d’Azur, Antibes in particular. The Mediterranean adds another dimension to life there. Having a beautiful beach just a few minutes’ walk away or taking a boat cruise along the coast are lovely options to have on a hot summer day.

4) When did your love for France start?

Patricia: After university, I spent a year backpacking around Europe with friends and working from time to time. I was 21 years old and fell madly in love with France. I lived in Quebec for a few years as a child so already had a slight grasp of the language, which helped. I was simply captivated by the beauty everywhere we went and amazed that one country could offer so much variety from one departement to the next. I have been fortunate to return many times throughout my life. Forty-five years later that love has only grown!

5) How does France inspire your writing?

Patricia: I know I see France through the eyes of a romantic, as my French friends constantly tell me, but I see beauty everywhere including the crumbling ruins, peeling paint and uneven cobblestones. I’m also a photographer and the photo ops are endless. I love all the old doors and ancient keyholes! It all galvanizes me to sit down and write. When I was writing in Antibes for five months, as I sat at my computer I looked out over the harbor, across the Baie des Anges to Nice and the Alps beyond. That view with the spectacular changing light was more inspiring than I can describe.

6) Imagine you are sitting outside a French café at 10.00am on a sunny morning watching the world go by, what do you order from the waiter?

Patricia: Un cappuccino, de l’eau, un croissant, s’il vous plait.

7) What is your favourite thing to buy in a Boulangerie/Patisserie?

Patricia: a.m. - Pain aux raisins   p.m. – Tarte aux citron meringuée.

8) France has many different cheeses, a silly question, but which French cheese are you? A hard and mature Tome, a soft, fresh and lively goat cheese, the creamy and rich Camembert or maybe the salty and serious Roquefort?

Patricia: I guess at this point in life I would have to be an ‘entre deux’ Cantal that has aged a little longer! Its strength and taste increase with age and I like to think that way about life.

9) Can you describe your perfect French apero for us the drink, the nibbles, the location and the company?

Patricia: Bien sur! Pastis (Ricard) served with lightly salted peanuts on a terrace in a shaded square of a town or village, with my husband and other friends, chatting and laughing as we watch the late afternoon activity or local boules contests.

10) Do you have any plans to visit France again soon?

Patricia: I am counting the days to September 12 when we will spend a month in Nice. I am going to have a book launch party at the English Book Shop in Antibes and am excited beyond words about that! Come and join us! (FVD: now wouldn’t that be lovely, having read your book I need to visit Antibes!) In 2014 we hope to spend an extended time in France once again and will work it around the 10-day women’s tour I will be leading in June.

11) Do you have any current projects you would like to tell my readers about?

Patricia: I have had many readers ask when my next novel will be out so I am motivated to make progress on that. The story is simmering now and will be partly set in the south of France once again. There is just so much to write about!

Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions about France and you.

Patricia: It was great fun! Thanks for asking!

You can find Patricia on her blog, website, Facebook, Facebook page, Twitter and Goodreads.

Book review and giveaway of The Promise of Provence by Patricia Sands

This week sees the Tour de France arrive in Nice and begin making their way through Provence towards the Pyrenees, a beautiful part of France. It is therefore a fantastic coincidence I am taking part in a virtual book tour via France Book Tours for the novel The Promise of Provence by Patricia Sands. What is even more of a coincidence is that cycling is a passion for the main character Katherine and the book contains some lovely descriptive passages of cycling in Provence – this book was a dream!

The Promise of Provence Synopsis

June in Provence is full of promise when Katherine arrives from Canada, eager to feel renewed by her surroundings. Endless rows of lavender prepare to burst into pink and purple blooms. Fields of sunflowers flow in golden waves among vineyards and olive groves overlooked by ancient hilltop villages. It’s the postcard setting she envisioned, but is that all she needs?

After a year of heartbreak, Katherine has impulsively agreed to a home exchange in the south of France. Colorful locals, a yellow lab named Picasso, and the inspiring beauty of the countryside breathe new life into her days.

Seeking to shed the pain of betrayal and loss, she struggles to recapture her joie de vivre and searches for the answer to a haunting question: is it too late to begin again?

My review

I found this book had quite a bleak, dark start with lots of hurt and unhappiness both in Katherine's life and in the discoveries she made of her parents lives before they arrived in Canada. I normally like my books to lift my spirit from the off, although as I found the little side story with its snippet of World War II history quite fascinating all was forgiven.

This book really takes off when Katherine arrives in Provence on what was to become a voyage of rediscovering herself. Patricia takes you to the south of France with it’s hint of romance and her descriptions of the area, the markets and food were superb and I found she really brought Provence to life for me. The passion in this book, of Katherine’s love of cycling, photography and France were really strong features and the story lingered in my mind after I finished reading it. Patricia has also given me a few more locations to add to my Must See list. I really wasn’t ready to put it down when it finished so I’m very glad to hear there will be a sequel.

This book is published through CreateSpace and is available from Amazon worldwide and the link to Amazon UK is below.

I am really pleased that Patricia will be talking about her love of France for my France et Moi feature this week, so please do join us again on Friday.

The winner of the giveaway for THE SUMMER OF FRANCE picked out over aperos by my Mum last night, was Marika. To enter this weeks giveaway to win an ebook copy of The Promise of Provence just email FrenchVillageDiaries@gmail.com with the subject of The Promise of Provence and one lucky winner will be picked out by my Dad next Wednesday evening, over aperos for their last night with us.

Charente Cycle Route 35C

Charente Cycle route 35 

Yesterday the weather was just perfect for a family afternoon on the bikes. We chose the Charente route number 35 that starts in Montignac, but we parked the car in La Chappelle and started at the half way point as this is closer to home. As with all these routes there are three distances; 5km, 27km and the one we did of 43km. This is a beautiful route that often follows the river Charente, where we were entertained by dancing dragonflies, and also criss-crosses the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The hedgerows were often a spectacular clash of red poppies and cerise pink wild rambling sweet peas. We had hoped that when we reached Montignac we could stop for our customary beer, however the two bars we found were both closed and we suffered more disappointment in the next town of Vouharte as their bar was also closed. However as it was a Sunday afternoon I guess this is to be expected in rural France.

La Chappelle, Charente

The high speed railway LGV works

At the moment the railway works, that are cutting a high speed rail link from Tours to Bordeaux, have eaten a small section of this bike route too. The D116 to Vervant doesn't exist, but by continuing on to Xambes we were able to pick up the route signs again.

Up close at a wind turbine

Up on the high ridges we could watch the buzzards soaring on the thermals and also took a detour to investigate one of the many wind turbines that are in the area. They are huge! Quite spectacular, but the creaking and groaning as the paddles slowly ambled around was a little disconcerting when you were stood underneath.

St Amant de Boixe

The town of St Amant de Boixe, somewhere we have not visited before, was home to a very impressive church and abbey and is on the marked pilgrim route the Chemins de St Jacques. In the grounds of the abbey is a rest house for those on their pilgrimage to Spain, the key being available for a small fee of 3.50€. We often see cyclists and walkers in this area who are displaying the clam shell sign of the pilgrims and I will admit to finding this really fascinating.

St Amant de Boixe

Just outside of Montignac the route followed a pot-holed track and poor Blue Belle got a puncture when I failed to steer her out of the most enormous pot hole. Thankfully my hero was on hand to save the day and fit a new inner-tube. We did try to repair the puncture, but it was too severe! 

My Hero!

This route will be a stunning ride in a few weeks time when the sunflowers (and hopefully the bars too) are open.