This post recounts the third day of my English Channel to the Mediterranean cycle tour in France with Peak Tours in June 2025. Read Day 2, Bagnoles de l’Orne to La Flèche.

At first glance, this should have been a fairly easy day, given we’re all more than capable of cycling 80 miles. The route had a lot less climbing than yesterday, and the weather was set fair. As it turned out, the session after lunch was a struggle thanks to that cyclist’s curse, a pesky headwind. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

It was tricky getting out of La Flèche, and we had to squeeze past the cars clogging the narrow streets of the town centre. But we were soon crossing the bridge over the Loir, which was lined with handsome buildings. We passed few typical French villages once again, although these seemed less prosperous than those in Normandy. The countryside was also flatter, as the route profile suggested.

We were in for a treat at the first brew stop at Noyant. Guide Fernando had donned a ‘Coffee and Croissant Club’ apron, and was rolling banana slices in coconut. He’d also sliced kiwi fruit and oranges, which went very well with my morning coffee. This stop was next to a church with a war memorial commemorating those from Noyant who died in the world wars and also in Vietnam and Algeria, the two great colonial wars of independence that led to the collapse of the French fourth republic in 1958.

The next section was a delight, and I made good time along wooded roads towards the town of Langeais, with a dramatic chateau at its heart. We stopped to take photos here before winding our way down to the mighty Loire – the real one, and not the Loir from La Flèche. (I got the two confused on the highlights video at the end of this blogpost.)

Above: crossing the Loire

We had just a few miles further before lunch at Le Lignières. This was a basic meal of chicken and chips followed by ice cream. This probably wasn’t enough to sustain me through the tougher than expected final 36 miles to our destination. We also had a tough climb straight after the meal, in the afternoon heat. We’d been told to look out for caves carved in rock in the troglodyte valley of Groupillieres. They must have been off the road because I completely missed them!

My Garmin chose this moment to warn that my SRAM rear derailleur battery was ‘critical’ – needing charging. I never understand why it never warns when it is, say, three quarters of the way to critical. But I was relaxed. I just needed to pop in the replacement from my frame bag. Only it wasn’t there. That’s odd, I thought, opening the down tube storage compartment to fish out the other spare. That was missing as well. In rising panic, I ransacked my saddle bag, and found a spare there. Phew. I was more careful about spare batteries for the rest of the trip. (This is the advantage of SRAM electronic gears over Shimano, whose batteries are not removable and have to be charged on the bike.)

In the small village of Saché, we came across a curious sculpture made out of small wooden branches. According to the sign, it was an experimental wicker walkway. I’d just walked back to my bike when rider Steve rode past, decided to take a photo, but fell off his bike after failing to unclip from his pedals in time. It wouldn’t be the last time he had a freak accident; happily none of which proved serious.

I really struggled from here to the end. It was really hot, yet with that headwind slowing progress. And we were passing through the least interesting landscape of the tour: flat agricultural land as far as the eye could see. As lorries passed on one short stretch of road, they caused a violent crosswind that required us to keep careful control of our bikes.

The final stretch to Loches was more pleasant, undulating and winding through woods, before we climbed to our destination. This was the excellent Best Western hotel in the centre of town. I didn’t think to bring swimming trunks on the trip, otherwise would have enjoyed cooling off in the hotel pool. I had an enjoyable tapas dinner with Steve, Maureen, Alison and Willie on the terrace on a blissfully warm evening, the afternoon’s unexpected struggle fading into memory.

Read Day 4: Loches to Argenton-sur-Creuse

The day’s stats

77.55 miles, 2,749 feet climbing, 5 hrs 39 mins cycling, average speed 13.7mph.

The day’s highlights video