1,081 miles (1,730kms) 14th May to 6th June 2015
Eurovelo 6 Cycle Touring Loire a Velo
The first leg of our ride took us from St Malo, along the “Avenue Verte” of Britanny, south to Nantes, where we joined Eurovelo 6. We were to ride Eurovelo 6 all the way to Constanta (Romania), on the Black Sea.
We cycled along the rivers & canals of mid-France, the Loire (“La Loire à Vélo“), the Canal du Centre, the Saône, the Doubs & the Canal du Rhone au Rhin, through to Basel. We crossed the Rhine into Switzerland & rode along the Rhine, alternating between the Swiss & German banks, till we reached the shores of Lake Constance (Bodensee). Our final destination was Konstanz, before flying home from Zurich.
There is a Flickr Album of Tim’s photos here…
Alysun’s diary of our ride….
- DAY 01… St Malo to St-Meen-le-Grand
DAY ONE… 51.5 miles (82.5 km) Arrived at St Malo on overnight (rather rolling) ferry. Woken by persistent music at the unearthly hour of 6am. Disembarked to find that the… - DAY 02… St-Meen-le-Grand to Redon
DAY TWO… 64 miles (102.5 km) We left the campsite and discovered almond croissants to die for. We continued along greenways and stopped to eat our croissants at a little… - DAY 03… Redon to Nord sur Erde
DAY THREE… 48 miles (77 km) We woke to cold and wet (dew). The sun was up but it was cold. The showers at the nearby trailer park were locked… - DAY 04… Nord sur Erde to St Florent le Vielle
DAY FOUR… 59 miles (94.5 km)… plus 8 miles extra to search for Alysun’s cycle pants Tim’s back was very bad this morning after 4 nights on his lilo with… - DAY 05… St Florent le Vielle to Gennes
DAY FIVE… 52.5 miles (84 km) It was wet again, but the sun shone. We are now not sure if we can have a rest day on this holiday at… - DAY 06… Gennes to Rigny-Ussé
DAY SIX… 40 miles (64 km) We paid an early morning visit to a Dolman….. a prehistoric table-like formation, maybe a burial chamber. It was obviously used later too as… - DAY 07… Rigny-Ussé to Amboise
DAY SEVEN… 46.5 miles (74.5 km) Another cold night and morning. I washed my face in a tiny saucepan with a tiny amount of hot water. We cycled to the… - DAY 08… Amboise to Beaugency
DAY EIGHT… 51.5 miles (82.5 km) A rather slow start to the day…. bad knees, washing and the familiar wet tents and groundsheet. Plus, the toilet block was a long,… - DAY 09… Beaugency to Sully-sur-Loire
DAY NINE… 51 miles (81.5 km) Set off at 9.30am. We were washing, chain oiling and generally finding it difficult to do anything very quickly, me with bad knees and… - DAY 10… Sully-sur-Loire to Port Thibault, Sancerre
DAY TEN… 52 miles (83 km) The boulangèries were absolutely bursting this morning. Is this what the French do on Sundays rather than visit shopping malls? We eventually procured a… - DAY 11… Port Thibault, Sancerre to Chevenon
DAY ELEVEN… 50.5 miles (81 km) We left the campsite as early as possible. Thankfully there was little disturbance in the night. Managed to purchase a very mediocre croissant (almond!)… - DAY 12… Chevenon to Bourbon-Lancy
DAY TWELVE… 52 miles (83 km) Early start. We woke at 6.30am to pack and get ready to leave by 7.30am. We breakfasted with the family; bread, butter and jam… - DAY 13… Bourbon-Lancy
DAY THIRTEEN… Rest day, at last !!! Hopefully today we will rest. It was a beautiful sunny morning but days often begin like this. We plan a spa session, and,… - DAY 14… Bourbon-Lancy to Saint-Julien-sur-Dheune
DAY FOURTEEN… 69.5 miles (111 km) We woke early as we felt uncertain about where we would camp later. At 10.15am we stopped for an almond croissant but there were… - DAY 15… Saint-Julien-sur-Dheune to Verdun-sur-le-Doubs
DAY FIFTEEN… 48 miles (77 km) Disturbed night. My head torch came on for some reason in the middle of the night and would not go off again. I felt… - DAY 16… Verdun-sur-le-Doubs to Orchamps
DAY SIXTEEN… 54.5 miles (87 km) Sitting now in the sun at what is to be a ‘rock festival’ with plenty of beer available too. A nightmare as far as… - DAY 17… Orchamps to Baume-les-Dames
DAY SEVENTEEN… 52 miles (83 km) We had a slow start to the day. It was Sunday after all. We left the campsite late and cycled off to find a… - DAY 18… Baume-les-Dames to Joncherey
DAY EIGHTEEN… 52 miles (83 km) We woke to the sound of rain on our tents heralding rather bad overcast and wet weather for much of the day. Although we… - DAY 19… Joncherey to Huningue
DAY NINETEEN… 60 miles (96 km) We had an early start (6.30am) as we had a long ride ahead of us. It was hard to find the way back to… - DAY 20… Huningue to Waldshut-Tiengen
DAY TWENTY… 48 miles (77 km) The bikers disappeared early, revealing a pleasing green space, leaving only the very slow (us), or the disinterested. We eventually set off at a… - DAY 21… Waldshut-Tiengen to Stein am Rhein
DAY TWENTY ONE… 45 miles (72 km) We were rather slow leaving (what’s new?) Tim was donkelling about. I could not believe how long he was taking to get ready…. - DAY 22… Stein am Rhein to Konstanz
DAY TWENTY TWO… 19.5 miles (31 km) It was another very hot day, maybe 30 degrees again. We had a swim in the Rhine this morning. It was extremely cold…