This has been a few years that we've planned this trip but covid had us delay it two years.
The concept is pretty straight forward - follow the Loire River from where it comes out of the mountain in south Central France to where it empties in to the Atlantic near Saint Nazaire 1000 km down river.
The reality is emailing 10+ bike ships to find one that will rent is bikes for 4 weeks and deliver them to the start for us. Luckily one very nice shop agreed to deliver outside their normal area. We will have to bring them back to Paris with us to drop them back off at their shop.
Then a few hours studying French train and bus schedules to figure out how to get to the start. In the end it seemed a marathon day of travel going through Munich to Charles De Gaulle, a dash across town by bus to the train station and a 2 hour train ride to Valence. Total travel time in one go: 16 hours. Then a night in a hotel and an early bus ride to Le Cheylard where we will meet our rental bikes and spend the night to recover. So after 3 days of travel we will FINAL be able to start pedaling… to the start. A 3000 ft climb and 40 km to Gerbier de Jonc.
Let the traveling begin!
