When we arrived at Nantes, via train, it was cloudy. We walked our bikes across the train station, found the start of the route and started pedaling down the street. “Creak…”

Our bikes are terrible. It took close to a month to get outfitted, to test everything out, to cycle around Pamplona, San Sebastian and Bordeaux for a bit, before finally deciding: we’re ready.

Oh god, I hope this is good.

So much expectation has gone into this trip. Then we see it. The river. La Loire. Meh. The first few days of biking… essentially all the way from Nantes to Saumur is a collectively held breath. After the hills between Pamplona and San Sebastian, after the cliffs in French Basque country, we’re a little… underwhelmed.

But the biking is fun, flat and easy. Wild camping is so easy it’s insane. We tuck into hay fields at the end of the night, we wash up in Loire a Velo rest stops, we fill up our water bottles at campgrounds we pass along the way. There’s brie and baguettes and pate for lunch. As we travel it becomes increasingly lovely, and by the time we hit Saumur we’re in love. La Loire! Okay we get it.

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