Wednesday 9/9:
Azay-le-Rideau – Saint-Martin-de-la-Place
(78.5km)
A long ride on this first full day of cycling, with added ‘spice’ to make a detour past the Château de Chinon.
Leaving the campsite at Azay, the route begins by following the Indre river as it almost joins the Loire – but then changes its mind and just runs parallel for another 15km! I follow as far as Ussé – about 16km from Azay, before deciding whether to do the short, sharp climb to get the view over the Ussé Château. It’s only a few hundred metres, but it has a 10% gradient – I might walk it! After coming back down, the route cuts across to follow the Loire for a few km before heading inland for the first climb: 1.5km at an average 4% (max 9%). That’s followed by a more gentle 3km descent, and back up again over the next 6km before a rapid descent for the next 1.5km (average 4.7%) to cross the Vienne river at Chinon after admiring the Château. The rest of the route is fairly flat. First heading along the Vienne until it joins the Loire at Candes-Saint-Martin, and then following the Loire, except for the brief ‘lumpy’ bit around the 60km mark, where the Loire path is apparently too poor for cycling, and the main road is considered unadvisable. After that, it is back along the Loire to Saumur, before crossing to the north bank and heading for the campsite. A total distance of 78.5km which will be a new record for me for a day’s ride – a record that will not stand for long as stages 4 and 5 are both very slightly longer.
