Yet another ride has come to a close. I drank water from the Loire’s source, swam in its waters, drank wine from its valley wineries, and crossed it more times than I can count — sometimes just stepping over it, sometimes by long bridges. What surprised me most was how little water sometimes flows through the upper reaches, only to swell into a proper river a dozen kilometres downstream — and this pattern repeats itself all the way along. The upper Loire gives more to the nature lover: raw scenery, gorges, volcanic rock. The lower Loire gives more to the culture-vulture: châteaux, museums, vineyards.
France is currently in the grip of a heatwave, which made the riding rather unpleasant at times — but Greengo and I, we both survived. This was the longest leg of the trip, though not the last. A few hundred kilometres still lie ahead.
À tout à l’heure!
Original Spin tour in numbers:
1 085 km — distance cycled
1 020 km — the Loire’s length, making it France’s longest river, though its average discharge is only about half that of the Rhône
12 — French départements I passed through, following the Loire from source to estuary
~300 — châteaux in the Loire Valley, according to Wikipedia
1936 — the year Vouvray wine was granted its Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) status, one of the first wines to receive it
4 — nuclear power stations along the Loire
41°C — the hottest temperature I’ve cycled in, hotter than anything I encountered in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the UAE.