A CANOE 
ON THE LOIR   

You’ll enjoy the sound of the wind in the willows, the breeze in the trees and the ripple on the river.  I paddled the canoe past an ancient ferry landing, where, in flaky paint I could read the words Port Alain and felt that I had come home. This,  I thought,  was for me,

 Canoeing on  the ‘Little Loir’,  Le Loir  is just one of  the gentle holiday activities that France  offered us. The key was adventure with comfort. We found that we could  canoe every other day and stay a couple nights in each hotel before moving on,  or you can cycle on a mountain bikes with gears that iron out the slopes. 

None of the distances canoed or cycled were very long.  As to getting there, you can drive to France but it is the kind of holiday where you can happily leave the car at home and  travel by train. You can use French Railways TGV’s,  the high speed trains stop at Vendome just forty-two minutes from Paris.

When you are not cycling or canoeing along through the green countryside and forests in the Vallee du Loir you can explore interesting walks and sign-posted trails. One ramble took us up to the village of Troo.   

There I had a chat with what they call ‘the speaking well’.  It answered with a much delayed echo, and for a French well, in surprisingly good English!  We passed an old farmhouse and  were admiring some beautiful gardens when we became aware of an absence of houses. Then I noticed the front doors set into the cliff side. Some cave dwellers sat at a garden table sipping a fine Scots malt.  It all seemed rather civilised and we were invited in to look at some sumptuously furnished rooms and learned that the troglodyte’s life wasn’t the dark and dank affair that we’d always imagined. Apparently the lifestyle is rather trendy and many caves are owned by people like architects and artists who live in Paris and come there for their holidays.       
I did notice one empty cave, so if you’re looking for a ‘Des Res’  where the double glazing salesmen won’t trouble you, you know where to go.   There are other kinds of caves in the Loir Valley in which they grow kilometres of mushroom and store gallons of wine. You will certainly be welcome to visit them to sample a glass or two and perhaps buy a few bottles. 

Our riverside wanderings took us   eventually to La Lude.    La Lude is famous for it’s Chateau  and during the season when dusk falls there’s a superb sound and light show.

It’s an impressive place and in the magnificent grounds we met the owner,   Conte Louis Jean De Nicholay. 

He’s a nice guy, and as it turned out an aristocratic commuter on the high speed train. He lives in Paris during the week and comes back to his ‘castle’ at the weekends.    

During the French Revolution his ancestor,  The Marquise de Vieuville was popular with the locals and was one of the few aristocrats who managed to  ‘keep the head’  when all about her were loosing theirs.     

Apparently she did not say ‘let them eat cake.’  Which brings us on to food.  When you  cycle,  canoe or walk the routes  you certainly work up an appetite and sleep well. We used two star Logis de France hotels, they are family run, and provide typical French country cuisine, sometimes you find food that is quite exceptional.  

I have particularly happy memories of  the Hotel de France in the little village of  La Charte and there are still moments when 

I close my eyes and savour the Crème Brulé that  I ordered to finish each meal. Well with all that paddling you have to keep your strength up!  

                                         FACT FILE  

French Government Tourist Office 

Headwater’s brochure  - Telephone 01606 48699  
                                              www.headwater.com 

River holidays in France:  www.perso.wanadoo.fr/riverrunners

French Government Tourist Office 
Piccadilly, London W1V OAL