So, how did the trip go?
This was my longest trip since 2018, when I cycled the length of New Zealand from north to south. I had been planning it for a while. I was generally well prepared — the cold nights at the start and the brutal heatwave in the middle notwithstanding. The Loire Valley was the main attraction; everything else was more or less a means of getting to and from it. But there were compensations along the way: swimming in the Atlantic, acquiring a tan on parts of my body that cyclists normally never see, some fine scenery, and a few places mentally bookmarked for later. In hindsight, I would skip the Flow Vélo and instead go a bit further south along the Atlantic coast, then head home following the Dordogne.
The stretch of Loire between Orléans and Nantes deserves a proper return visit — the architecture, the history, the wine. And this time with Julie. By car, or perhaps short excursions off the river on the Bromptons. So: à bientôt, Loire, rather than adieu.
The Whole Trip in Numbers:
2 018 km — distance cycled, excluding grocery shopping and other errands
22 — days to complete the trip
14 065 m — total elevation gain
0 g — ice cream consumed; three weeks without the drug of choice
76.3 kg — my weight at the end of the trip, a decrease of 8.8 kg
20 — French departments passed through along the way