Paris- Chartres-Mont-Saint-Michel-Saint-Malo-Rennes-Nantes-Orléans-Paris

This cycling trip took us through the following regions of France. Île-de-France, Normandie, Bretagne, Pays-de-la-Loire, Centre Val-de-Loire, Île de France. The best part of the trip was that we could actually use mainly official cycling tracks as well as some minor roads with very little traffic.

Thursday, 02.08.2018

Early in the morning we drove from Luxembourg to Paris. There we had some trouble to find a long term parking, we were told to leave our car in Massy-Plaiseau, parking of the TGV. So we prepared the bicycles and quickly joined the cycle route V40 going from Paris to Mont-Saint-Michel. Our first destination was Rambouillet, since it was already 14:00h when we started. Leaving Paris by the “véloroute, vélocénie “V40 was much easier than I thought. On our way we decided to make a short detour to visit Versailles. This took us much longer than we had calculated. About 20 km before Rambouillet Gaston got horrible cramps. The weather was awfully hot and, he probably did not drink enough. So the last km turned out to be real nightmare (calvaire). We planed to arrive in Rambouillet at 18.00 and finally reached our Hotel at 21:30. Unfortunately the cramps went on till late in the night.

  

 

Friday, 03.08.2018

Due to last night’s cramps, Gaston had extreme muscle soreness. So we decided to make a very short leg and have a longer rest in Chartres. This turned out o be a good decision so that we had plenty of time to visit Chartres with its famous Gothic cathedral. 

In Chartres we took the decision to start the coming days as early in the morning as possible to avoid the high temperatures.

Saturday 04.08.2018

We left Chartres by 06:30. The old medieval city by early morning light is a pleasure for the eye. Notre Dame Cathedral over towers the city and the little cobblestoned streets create a mystic atmosphere.

On our way we had the occasion to admire the beautiful castle of Frazé. 

FRAZÉ

The following part of our journey turned out to be very green, with many little brooks and lakes, on the whole a beautiful and refreshing scenery. The last 15 km, where the cycle path followed small hilly roads, without a lot of shade and a temperature exceeding 32 °, were rather strenuous….After 76 km we arrived at Nogent-le-Retrou, where we stayed in the Hotel Lion d’Or.

NOGENT-LE-RETROU

Sunday, 05.08.2018

After leaving Nogent-le-Retrou, again early in the morning, we went on cycling on a wonderful “voie verte” (in France, the “voies vertes” are cycling routes that follow an ancient railway track), Here we did not suffer from the heat at all, since we were riding in a kind of green tunnel. 

On the way we took some pictures of the “manoire de la Vove”. After 86 km we arrived in Alençon. In the late afternoon we spend some time at "Alençon plage" a kind of artificial beach with numerous attractions.

ALENçON

   

DOMFORT

Monday, 06.08.2018

After an early breakfast we headed towards Domfort. Here we met a rather hilly cycle route. The major attraction was the visit of the  castle “Château de Carrouge”. A Domfort we stayed in the logis de France, This charming medieval city is situated on a hill and holds one of the oldest churches build of reinforced concrete.

CHÂTEAU DE CARROUGES

  

Tuesday, 07.08.2018

Departure at 06:20 without breakfast. We ride along on another “voie verte” and arrive in Avranches, 24 km away from Mt. St. Michel. We leave our luggage in the hotel ride towards Mt. St. Michel. The crowd here was overwhelming. After leaving the bicycles at the beginning of the dam, we took a shuttle that brought us to the entrance of Mt. St. Michel. The weather suddenly turned thunderstorm-like as we started a quick visit of this famous World Heritage site.

On our way back to the hotel the sky became all black, and we were trapped by a huge storm. At one point the wind was so strong and stirred up so much dust that we rather could not see anything. Broken branches were lying all around, and we were happy to arrive safe and sound in our hotel in Avranches.

Wednesday, 08.08.2018

From Avranches we cycled along the Atlantic coast line towards Saint Malo. St. Malo was crowded, as always in the summer. We could not visit the old city centre because we did not want leave our bicycles with the luggage unattended. In Juan Les Guérets, outside of St. Malo, we found an B&B hotel, and drove back to St.Malo by bus. …….

SAINT MALO

Thursday, 09.08.2018

The heat is gone, followed by heavy rain. From our hotel we drove towards Dinan on “véloroute V42” following the river Rance. The scenery was very beautiful but the cycling was extremely painful. In fact, we drove on non concrete path mainly covered with a sandy coating. Due to the rain out bicycles sank into the sand so that we progressed only very slowly, despite our strong efforts. In Évran we decide to leave the cycle path and went on to Rennes on the normal concrete road. We checked in at the B&B hotel In Saint-Grégoire, north of Rennes, where we fortunately had the opportunity to clean our bikes.

Friday, 10.08.2018

In Rennes, we joined the river “la Vilaine” and follow the “V42” through a very beautiful landscape with many small lakes. The weather was rather cold, and we suffered from a rather strong wind blowing in our face as well as from a bumby cycle route. After 102 km we arrive in our hotel, Bel Hotel, in Redon close to a “zone d’activitée”. In the evening we took our time to stroll through Redon and see the nice timbered houses. We ended up in a nice “crèperie” with lovely food.

Saturday, 11.08.2018

In Redon, we leave the “V42” and continue on the Euro-Vélo “EV1”. The “EV1” follows the "canal de Nantes à Brest". 30 km before Nantes we stop following the channel and decide to go around Nantes in an easterly direction. In Nantes, we had to struggle our way through a huge crowd heading for an important (I presume) football match. We checked in at an Ibis hotel, The only hotel with no room for our bicycles, so that we had to leave them in front of the hotel.😣

Sunday, 12.08.2018

ANCENIS

In Nantes, we joined the EV6 going along the river Loire. The EV6 is the cycle route we took years ago to travel to the black sea. With lovely weather and a beautiful scenery cycling was at its best. We drove past the castles of Oudon and Ancenis. Aux Ponts-de-Cé close to Angers we found a nice Kyriad hotel.

Monday, 13.08.2018

We continue our way along the Loire. At a certain point the cycle way went straight into a channel beside the Loire. As I desperately searched for the right route. Jacqueline pointed out to a small boat which turned out to be a self-trailing ferry. 

After our ferry-experience, we drove towards Saumur. The following kilometres the Ev6 leads along the beautiful “Châteaux de la Loire”,Rigny-Ussé, Langeais, Villandry. After a ride of 125 km we arrived tired but happy in Tours, where we checked in at another nice Kyriade hotel. Dinner at the Thai Pytaya, a Thai restaurant.

Tuesday, 14.08.2018

In the early morning we cross Tours and have a glimpse of the Gothic cathedral. We continue our way along the Loire and drive past the castle of Amboise, Blois and arrive after 109 km in Beaugency (hôtel La Licorne) about 30 km before Orléans.

Wednesday, 15.08.2018

After Beaugency we cross Angers along the riverside. For some kilometres we follow “le canal de la Loire”, afterwards we leave the river Loire and cycle on secondary roads (EV3) to Montargis.

Tuesday, 16.08.2018

In Montargis we join the River Loing and follow the channel of the “Loing” via Fontenay-sur-Loing, Nemours up to Veneux-les-Sablons, where we meet the River Seine. Here we cycle past some beautiful Manors. After Melun the cycle path EV3 starts to get terribly bad, so that we were glad to arrive in Corbeil-Essone after a ride of 115 km.

Friday, 17.08.2018

We leave Corbeil-Essone early in the morning. To join the parking place in Massy we had to browse the suburbs south of Paris. This was not an easy matter, but with the help of the “cycle navigator” of google maps we managed to be successful.