Bike (Ken and Cheryl): 74 miles, 2400 feet of climb
Train (Meghan and Konur)
Bike rental (Konur): Detours de Loire Orleans Agency
Accommodation: Le Colombier (Airbnb); host GoodLoc agency; two-bedroom apartment in the center of town, wifi, washer
Ken and I had our longest biking day of the whole trip from Versailles to Orleans--so we started early. We were on the road before 7:00. The ride went really well. We had over 10 miles of unpaved "bike path," consisting of single track through the woods, mowed trails through wheat fields, rocky jeep roads, and gravel trails. Those were a bit challenging, but didn't slow us down too much. The weather was decent, with temps in the low 80s. Our route took us through small towns, parks, and farmland, and we started to feel like we were really on the road in France. We were tired when we got to Orleans about 17:30, but not exhausted.
Meghan and Konur arrived around 13:00. We had arranged for them to drop off luggage at the rental agency office after 13:30, but the agent never appeared, so they had to wait until the apartment opened with the smart lock box at 16:00. They found a park with shade for a few hours, then went over to the Detours shop and picked up Konur's rental bike.
Ken had some trouble with a shift cable, so we rode straight to the bike shop when we got to town. The rental agent was not able to fix the cable but sent us to another shop, where a mechanic took the bike right in and repaired it while we waited. We have had wonderful service from bike shops on our trips.
By then it was after 19:00 and Ken and I were pretty much done for the day. I think we went out to dinner, maybe it was a grocery store--I honestly don't remember.
 |
| Over 5 miles of the official bike trail took us on mowed paths through wheat fields. We love our gravel bikes; they handled it well. |
