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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Loire Valley Chateaux Route

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
155 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 55
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

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Why this ride

curated scenic road. castles, river, historic towns. 155 km from Orléans to La Riche, about 2 h 55 of riding. On the way it passes Saint-Dyé-sur-Loire, Blois, Amboise and Civray-de-Touraine. The line favours views over speed.

Scenic road chapters

Loire Valley Chateaux Route

Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 14 km this is Loire Valley Chateaux Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.

Chapter facts
Length
14 km
Named road
Loire Valley Chateaux Route

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Orléans

    Orléans is the city of Joan of Arc, and it takes this seriously. In the spring of 1429, during the Hundred Years' War, the English had besieged the city for months, and a seventeen-year-old peasant girl who claimed to hear saints arrived with a relief force and, in the space of nine days, lifted the siege. The victory turned the war, and the city has celebrated it every year since, with a festival held between 29 April and 8 May. A statue of Joan on horseback stands in the main square, the Place du Martroi, and a reconstructed house of the period shows how she lived while she was here.

    Read the complete Orléans write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 2.

  2. 2. Near Saint-Dyé-sur-Loire

    Planning note

    Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 2 comes up 26 km in. Next is Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 3.

  3. 3. Blois

    Blois is a town built on a slope, and the château is the reason you see it from miles away. It rises above the Loire on a spur of rock, a jumble of different eras in a single courtyard: a medieval hall, a Gothic wing from the time of Louis XII in brick and stone, a Renaissance wing with a spectacular open spiral staircase, built for François I, and a classical wing by François Mansart. Four centuries of French taste, neatly stacked, and all of it was at one time a royal residence.

    Read the complete Blois write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    At least 57 km in you reach Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 3. Next is Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 4.

  4. 4. Amboise

    Leonardo da Vinci is buried in Amboise, in a small chapel in the grounds of the château, and he came here at the invitation of François I, who gave him the manor house of Clos Lucé, a few hundred metres away, and a pension. He died there in 1519, aged sixty-seven. The house is now a museum with models of his inventions, built from his drawings, and a garden where some are displayed outdoors. Whether the bones in the chapel are really his is debated, since the church where he was first buried was largely destroyed in the Revolution, but the place has its own quiet dignity.

    Read the complete Amboise write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 4, about halfway. Next is Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 5.

  5. 5. Civray-de-Touraine

    Planning note

    Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 5 sits at 106 km, late in the day. Next is Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 6.

  6. 6. La Riche

    Planning note

    Loire Valley Chateaux Route point 6 comes up 155 km in.

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