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A guidebook to cycling the 1061km (659 mile) River Loire cycle route from the Loire's source in the Massif Central mountains to the Atlantic. This long-distance cycle along the course of France's longest river is suitable for both first-time and experienced long-distance cyclists and can be cycled in 2-3 weeks.
- Presented as 26 stages between 24-63km (15-39 miles) in length
- Route passes through Le-Puy-en-Velay, Roanne, Nevers, Orléans, Tours, Saumur, Angers, Nantes and St Nazaire
- The route mostly follows part of the EuroVelo route 6 (EV6) and then the fully waymarked Loire à Vélo
- Suitable to be cycled April through October
- 1:150,000 maps and profiles are included for each stage
- GPX files available to download
- Detailed information about accommodation, refreshments and facilities along the route
About the author
After a career in marketing, culminating as marketing director of a leading supermarket group, Mike Wells started to write walking and cycling guides in his fifties. He has been a keen cyclist for over 25 years. After completing various UK Sustrans routes, such as Lôn Las Cymru in Wales and the C2C route across northern England, he then moved on to cycling long-distance routes in continental Europe and beyond. These include cycling both the Camino and Ruta de la Plata to Santiago de la Compostela, a traverse of Cuba from end to end, a circumnavigation of Iceland and a trip across Lapland to the North Cape. Even further afield he has ridden the Congo-Nile trail from the Congo basin to the source of the Nile in Rwanda's Nyungwe national park. On all these trips he was accompanied by his partner Christine, who sadly died in 2020. He has written 10 cycling guides for Cicerone, including a series following the great rivers of Europe. For a full list of Cicerone books and articles by Mike Wells, visit his author page.
Summary
Guidebook to cycling the Loire, France's longest river, from its source in the Massif Central to the Atlantic. The 1061km route incorporates the popular, waymarked Loire à Vélo and takes in extinct volcanos, vineyards and châteaux. Predominantly downhill or flat, the route utilises mostly cycle paths and minor roads.
