All posts tagged: Loire

‘Wheeling through vineyards and chateaux country’: an ebike tour of France’s Loire valley | France holidays

‘Wheeling through vineyards and chateaux country’: an ebike tour of France’s Loire valley | France holidays

As I cycle in golden light through the Loire’s vineyards, I have the sudden wish to wear a flowing floral dress, tuck a sunflower behind my ear and answer only to the name Delphine. Opulent chateaux, honeyed stone villages, blazing fields of sunflowers … the Loire is so ridiculously and relentlessly beautiful it’s no wonder artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Émile Vernon made it their home. A short zip across to Paris on the Eurostar and then an hour south on the TGV to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps and it feels as if we’ve stepped into a live JMW Turner landscape (he toured the region in 1826). As a fair-weather cyclist – no hills and only in sunshine – I’ve never fancied a proper cycling holiday. However, my partner, Toby, is a keen mountain biker. Our compromise? A self-guided ebike tour through the Loire valley with Cycling for Softies (the clue’s in the name). The ancient river port town of Candes-Saint-Martin. Photograph: Hemis/Alamy A short taxi ride takes us to our starting point, Château du Rivau, …

Man missing in Loire River as record rains lash France

Man missing in Loire River as record rains lash France

A man has gone missing in the Loire River in the flood hit west of France, an official said, as the country on Wednesday marked a record-breaking streak of 35 consecutive days of rain. National weather service Meteo-France said the country was experiencing its longest series of rainy days since measurements began in 1959, breaking the 2023 record. Four departments in western France were placed under red alert over the risk of flooding, with officials expecting the situation to worsen with the arrival of Storm Pedro, which is poised to batter swathes of western Europe. The mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, activated the southwestern city’s emergency plan, the first time since record floods in 1999. In the western town of Chalonnes-sur-Loire, which is located on the left bank of the Loire, a man went missing on Tuesday evening after his canoe capsized, said senior official Francois Pesneau. “We are deploying resources, but there is objectively very little chance of finding this person,” he said, citing strong currents and cold water. To display this content from …