Airports at Lyon (three trains daily taking 30 minutes to Valence Ville), and Marseille (hourly service taking 2 hours to Valence Ville or three trains daily taking 4–5 hours to Langogne via Nîmes), both served by a variety of international airlines, can be used to access the Loire source. Airlines have different requirements regarding how cycles are presented and some, but not all, make a charge, which you should pay when booking as it is usually greater at the airport. All require tyres partially deflated, handlebars turned and pedals removed (loosen pedals beforehand to make them easier to remove at the airport). Most will accept your cycle in a transparent polythene bike-bag, although some insist on use of a cardboard bike-box. Excess Baggage Company counters at Heathrow and Gatwick sell cardboard bike boxes (www.left-baggage.co.uk). Away from the airports, boxes can be obtained from cycle shops, sometimes for free. You do however have the problem of how to get the box to the airport.
By road
If you’re lucky enough to have someone prepared to drive you to the start, Gerbier de Jonc is on the D378 close to its junction with D116 and D237 in the Ardèche département of France (44˚50’29”N, 04˚13’08”E; 31T 596317E, 4966063N). With your own vehicle the most convenient place to leave it is Tours, from where trains can be used to reach Valence or Langogne on the outward journey, and which can be reached by train from St Nazaire on the return. Tours is about 525km from Calais.
European Bike Express operates a coach service with dedicated cycle trailer from Northern England, picking up en route across England to the Mediterranean, with a drop-off point at Valence. Details and booking through www.bike-express.co.uk
Intermediate access
There are international airports at St Étienne (Stage 5), Tours (Stage 18) and Nantes (Stage 24). After St Étienne much of the route is closely followed by railway lines; stations en route are listed in the text. From mid June to mid September SNCF run Interloire cycle trains daily between Orléans and Le Croisic (west of St Nazaire). These have enhanced capacity for cycles, at no extra charge, and call at Blois, St Pierre-des-Corps (for Tours), Saumur, Angers, Ancenis, Nantes and St Nazaire. Find details at www.loire-a-velo.fr
Loading cycles on the Interloire cycle train at St Nazaire (Stage 26)
Getting home
The nearest station to St Brevin-les-Pins is in St Nazaire, 9km away on the opposite side of the Loire estuary. Details on how to reach the station are given at the end of Stage 26. TGV Atlantique services, some of which carry cycles, run from St Nazaire to Paris Montparnasse station, sometimes requiring a change in Nantes. It is then necessary to cycle through the middle of Paris to reach Gare du Nord and catch a Eurostar train to London. Cycle check-in at Gare du Nord is at the Geoparts office (follow the path to the left of platform 3) at least 1 hour before departure.
Alternatively, you can travel by regional trains that carry cycles to St Malo (via Nantes and Rennes), from where daily ferry services sail to Portsmouth (Brittany Ferries, www.brittany-ferries.co.uk) and Poole via the Channel Islands (Condor Ferries, www.condorferries.co.uk).
Navigation
Maps
There is no specific cycling map that covers the whole route. From the source to Digoin (Stages 1–7) it is necessary to rely on the maps in this book or use general road and leisure maps. The most suitable road maps are:
Michelin (1:150,000)
331 Ardèche, Haute Loire
327 Loire, Rhône
IGN (1:100,000)
156 Le Puy-en-Velay, Privas
149 Lyon, St Étienne
141 Moulins, Vichy
Below Digoin (Stage 8 onwards) the route is excellently mapped by the first four sheets of the definitive series of 1:100,000 strip maps of EuroVélo 6, published by Huber Kartographie. These can be purchased separately or as a set of six with two additional maps showing the route of EV6 through eastern France to Basle.
Huber Kartographie, La Loire à Vélo (1:100,000)
sheet 4 Belleville-sur-Loire – Paray-le-Monial
sheet 3 Blois – Belleville-sur-Loire
sheet 2 Angers – Blois
sheet 1 Atlantique – Angers
Various online maps are available to download, at a scale of your choice. Particularly useful is Open Street Map, www.openstreetmap.org, which has a cycle route option showing the routes of both La Loire à Vélo and EV6. There are specific websites dedicated to Loire à Vélo and EV6 which include definitive route maps and details about accommodation and refreshments, points of interest, tourist offices and cycle shops. These can be found at www.cycling-loire.com and www.eurovelo6-france.com
Waymarking
The first four stages from Gerbier de Jonc to Aurec approximately follow a regional cycle route waymarked as ‘Vivez la Loire Sauvage’ (VLS). There is no waymarking between Aurec and Digoin (Stages 5–7). After Digoin, EuroVélo route 6 (EV6) is followed, and at Cuffy near Nevers (Stage 11) this is joined by a French national route waymarked as La Loire à Vélo (LV). Although these two routes then run together to St Brevin-les-Pins opposite St Nazaire, waymarking is predominantly ‘Loire à Vélo’. Route development and waymarking vary between départements. In the introduction to each stage an indication is given of the predominant waymarks followed.
The first part of the route before Nevers often follows local roads. These are numbered as départmental roads (D roads). However, the numbering system can be confusing. Responsibility for roads in France has been devolved from national to local government, with responsibility for many former routes nationales (N roads) being transferred to local départements. This has resulted in most being renumbered as D roads. As départements have different systems of numbering, D road numbers often change when crossing département boundaries.
| Summary of cycle routes followed | ||
| VLS | Vivez la Loire Sauvage | Stages 1–4 |
| EV6 | EuroVélo 6 | Stages 8–10 |
| LV | Loire à Vélo | Stages 11–26 |
Clockwise from top (etc): Vivez la Loire Sauvage waymark; La Loire en Bourgogne waymark; Combined Loire à Vélo and EV6 waymark; Provisional Loire à Vélo waymark
Guidebooks
There are three published guidebooks, but
