Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • La Loire, France
  • whitestone
    Free Member

    Has anyone done any mountain biking (VTT even?) in or around the Loire Valley, probably just south of Orleans? We are heading out for a holiday for a week doing a bit of visiting chateaux, biking and drinking wine, definitely drinking wine! I’ve had a look at this site http://www.utagawavtt.com/randonnee-vtt-gps-results/region/Loire-42 but don’t know anything of the quality of the rides.

    We are not looking at anything super technical, the following week in the Alps will see to that, but equally don’t want canal tow paths.

    nemesis
    Free Member

    Strava is always a good way to get an idea of what’s there.

    I’ve been in holiday there recently but didn’t have an mtb with me. Looked fantastic for road riding through

    nickjb
    Free Member

    We did a little when we stayed a bit further west. Didn’t find anything tech but it was interesting enough forest trails. Saw lots of possible trails heading off that we didn’t have time to explore. Best ride was probably foret de berce towards le mans so not especially close to you.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    whitestone
    Free Member

    Bump for the daytime crowd

    teadrinker
    Free Member

    Love the area but no idea of mtbing, just fond memories as a kid holidaying there. Found this though but no idea if it’s any good or not.

    http://www.wikiloc.com/trails/mountain-biking/france/centre

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    We just had a few days up at Super Besse and Besse riding. The XC / VTT ‘trails’ were mainly farm track or mown field edge, very little single track of any quality. We found lots of trails via viewranger app.

    Lovely rides though.

    The uplift at Super Besse on the other hand. 8) 8) 8)
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/vsbFSB]IMG_3087[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/vJ6W7L]IMG_3117[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/vK58ND]IMG_3120[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/vJHkEF]IMG_3125[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/vJ8JjJ]IMG_3133[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

    whitestone
    Free Member

    @teadrinker Ta, I was looking at that site last night, some of the trails turned out to be on the Atlantic coast! But then again La Loire is quite a long river. SWMBO is also wanting to visit some of the chateaux so that central section to the east of Orleans is the area we’d be heading to.

    @matt We are in the Alps for a week following so no real need for super tech trails. Super Besse is perhaps a little to the south of where we are considering though might be worth a day on the way to the Alps.

    sheeps
    Full Member

    We’re heading out for 6 weeks in the Loire soon (family) and I’m taking my road bike.. the terrain is lovely for long rolling days in the saddle. The one time I took my mountain bike, even with local knowledge I was fairly disappointed.

    whitestone
    Free Member

    We had discussed taking our road bikes as well.

    smokey_jo
    Full Member

    matt_outandabout – Member
    We just had a few days up at Super Besse and Besse riding. The XC / VTT ‘trails’ were mainly farm track or mown field edge, very little single track of any quality. We found lots of trails via viewranger app.

    Lovely rides though.

    The uplift at Super Besse on the other hand.

    Do you think Super Besse is worth a 1 1/2 hour drive?

    Any UK Trail Centres you could compare it to for me?

    Cheers

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    There is fun to be had, but an alpine resort it is not.

    There are three blue (more like red), two red and a black marked trail.
    There are then three XC trails.
    It has a great bike park area, a bit like Glentress’s.
    We were only on blue and a bit of red – it was all loamy, dusty and dry…
    All good fun, all maintained quite well.
    It is not smooth trail centre – it is rough and ready, with minimal signage.
    It was heaving with uplifters and full body armour folk.

    Lift pass for the day was Euro12.50, so not expensive.

    It is good, but I wouldn’t go a long way for it, especially as you are off to Alps afterwards. We were only 30 mins down the road at Perrier.

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

The topic ‘La Loire, France’ is closed to new replies.