Community Highlights Europe Chateauneuf-s/L to Gien to Montargis

Chateauneuf-s/L to Gien to Montargis

Published 29 Apr 2025 · Comments

After breakfast with our hostess Maria at Germigny des Pres, we started our 45k ride to Gien. The day was perfect for riding with clear blue skies, light winds and well marked tracks along the Loire. After 10k or so we arrived at Saint Benoit sur Loire another Village de Caracter. Despite Maggie’s protestations Keith led the way into the village to see what made the village of interest. There we found the Abbaye de Fleury hiding behind scaffolding as it undergoes restoration work. What we have noticed in several old churches, etc, is that the French Government is funding the restoration work then the building is being handed over to the local governments to manage. I guess the Church does not have the parishioners to warrant maintaining these old buildings but the State sees their value as tourist attractions. It won’t be long before there will be an entry fee for these places. Anyway back to the Abbaye and why it is worth restoring. This was the site of a Benedictian Monastery dating back to the 7th century. In the 11th Century the monks brought the remains of St Benedict back here to be interned into the crypt of the Abbaye where they remain today. In addition King Phillip the first, chose this Abbaye to be his final resting place in the 16th century. In the 1950s they actually opened the tomb and found he was indeed buried there with a pillow of flowers.

The next stop was Sully-sur-Loire which has a very picturesque chateau right on the bike track. We FaceTimed Hamish and he was very impressed.

We also passed another of Dutton’s Dilemmas, and not surprisingly there were no protestors or birds falling out of the sky and we are not glowing in the dark. Unlike the Chateau at Gien across the river from our hotel which is indeed glowing with lights. A lovely vista from our bedroom window.

The historic bridge was the site of much bloody fighting during WW2 as the French tried to stop the German Army from crossing. Much of the town was destroyed by bombing and fire but was subsequently restored.

Morning mist on the river

White swans

Chateau and lichen covered moat at Sully sur Loire

Another nuclear power station

Arriving Gien

Stunning by night from our hotel room

Today sadly we say goodby to our friend La Loire and the Loire a Vélo route (part of the longer EuroVelo 6) that we have pedalled 229k on since we started riding on Thursday in Tours. We leave this route at Briare to head north towards Paris on the Scandiberique cycle route (part of EuroVelo 3).
If you are interested you can find more info on these cycling routes on the https://en.francevelotourisme.com/cycle-route website which we have used in our planning.

It is an interactive map with the blue lines representing the EuroVelo routes that we are currently following. Eurovelo 6 (Loire a Vélo) is the blue line going E-W and EuroVelo 3 (Scanderibique) runs off it to the north at Briare. If you click on the line it will bring up the detail for that route. We will be following several of these cycle routes during our trip.

And so to today ………On another beautiful French spring day with blue skies and light winds we set out for the 72k ride from Gien to Montargis. The first 12k followed the Loire as we made our way to Briare before we took a left turn and headed north for Paris along the Canal de Briare. This part of Eurvelo 3 is known as the Scandiberique.

Briare is an important inland port town as it is at the confluence of the Canal de Briare ( which goes to Paris and the Seine), the Lateral Canal (which follows the Loire to the east and eventually links to the Rhine River) and the Loire River. In order for the two canals to be linked they have to cross the Loire River and this is achieved by a canal aquaduct, which is 660 metres long and spans the river. The photos show tourist barges crossing the aquaduct while we are cycling beside them!

There are two big ports in the town which in their day would have had hundreds of barges moving through each day. Now it is full of pleasure craft and barges awaiting the summer season.

Once we left Briare the ride for the most part followed the canal along the adjacent sealed tow paths. It was great to be riding along the canals once again past the locks, the ecluses (lock operators houses) and the occasional touring barge. It is still a bit early in the season but we did see two big barges with bikes on the back for those doing bike and barge cruises.

At 4pm we arrived at Montargis and were pleased to be able to give our bottoms some respite after about 6 hours in the saddle. We were met by our host Virginia who showed us the ropes, and reminded us that we had a cheap rate and we must clean the unit before departure or pay 17€. This came as a shock to Maggie who does not clean when on holidays!

Anyway we have two nights in Montargis which is a lively town with lots of small canals running through it. Tomorrow we will have a day of rest to explore the town and catch up on domestics before getting back in the saddle and leaving for Fontainebleau on Thursday.

Breakfast by the river leaving Gien