You are free to join the hotel from 3:00 p.m. to settle in and prepare your bike for the adventure ahead. Also take advantage of our location in the center of Lyon to explore its neighborhoods, its city center, and its banks of the Rhône.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Our trip begins at 6:00 PM with our first group meeting at the entrance to the aparthotel. There you will meet your guide and discuss the next five days of cycling from Lyon to Orleans. You will then have your first group dinner in the city center, where you will get to know the other participants in the group, before hitting the road the next morning.

This tour is quite demanding. Participants need to be in good cycling shape already if they decide to register, and this first day in the saddle will put your training to the test.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

For two cities so linked economically and culturally, it is surprising that Lyon and Saint-Étienne do not have the best cycling links. Our route today is almost entirely on the departmental road network, with a delicate balance between small steep roads and flatter and direct roads which are much more busy.

The most beautiful scenery is along the valley of the river Gier, although you will share this county road with heavy traffic. You will follow the river just as clearly upstream, if one relies on the many fairly rigorous climbs. Even if it is also punctuated by beautiful descents, today, prepare to climb more than 1000m on the 70 km of the course.

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Saint-Étienne is the prefecture of the Loire department, with its history closely linked to the mining operations around. The city of today is rather quiet, in the shadow of its bubbling neighbor Lyon, but its city center nevertheless maintains its beautiful charm of yesteryear.

Following your intense day of climbs and busy roads the day before, you will certainly be well warmed up for the longest distance of the tour with 96 km. You will start the day with a departure from Saint-Étienne moderately hilly, with good distances over flat thereafter.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Today you will stay in the Loire department, and it is precisely here where you will meet the famous river for the first time. The stream you will follow is close to its source, but its regional importance is already evident. Roanne is a pleasant little town with its port, its marina and its promenade on the banks of the Loire.

Following the last rather intense days, the peaceful and country course will undoubtedly serve as a good rest. You will leave Roanne on a green road which runs along the banks of a canal. This one which will eventually take you through a series of villages and follow the route of an old railway. Thanks to the mature trees that line these trails, a good part of the course is shaded.

You will spend the night in the village of Digoin, another small port located at a crossroads of regional canals. Its 243m stone canal bridge, open to navigation since 1838, crosses the canal over the Loire to the west. The “budget participants” spend the night at the village campsite, directly on the banks of the Loire.

Following yesterday's relaxed route, you will start this day with another good section on green dirt roads along the banks of the canal. You will pass through several picturesque villages such as Pierrefitte-sur-Loire, Diou and Dompierre-sur-Besbre, each of which offers the possibility of a lunch break. After Dompierre, on the other hand, you will spend the second half of the day crossing agricultural fields on small country roads used more by tractors.

You will spend the night in the lively little town of Moulins, prefecture of the Allier department, directly on the banks of the Allier river. Several impressive churches are worth a visit, as is the Pont Régemortes which crosses the Allier, inaugurated in 1773. “Budget participants” stay directly on the other side of this bridge, in Spartan dormitories in the historic ensemble of the diocese which dates from the same period as the bridge.

If you enjoyed yesterday afternoon's paths that ran through agricultural fields, you'll love today's even more. Once the town of Moulins is behind you, you will really spend the vast majority of the day on small country roads. The landscape alternates between agriculture and forests, sporadically dotted with hamlets and small villages.

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Towards the end of the course, you will reach the canal that you left the morning before. This will take you to Nevers, Nièvre prefecture. Its small town center is still full of sites to visit, such as the extravagant Palace of the Dukes, the Gothic cathedral, and a number of well-preserved medieval houses. “Budget participants” spend the night camping on the opposite bank of the Loire, with a view of the beautiful 14-arched bridge that leads to the center of Nevers.

Leaving Nevers on the canal on the left bank of the Loire, you will join the Eurovélo 6 continental cycle path which links the Atlantic with the Black Sea for 4,450 km. You will undoubtedly see some of these cycle tourists crossing the continent, recognizable with their overcrowded baskets, and you'll be happy to quickly overtake them on your baggage-free bike!

As you follow the canal and the river, you will get a good impression of its historic villages, the majority of which have a cafe or bakery where you can take a short lunch break. Towards the end of the day you will find yourself surrounded by vines, whose quality of wine was renowned even in Gallo-Roman times! To end a day that has hitherto been entirely flat, our last 3 kilometers are on a significant climb up to the medieval village of Sancerre, with its impressive views over the Loire Valley and the old vineyards around.

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The “budget participants” are spared this last climb because they spend the night in a campsite in Saint-Satur, directly next to the cycle path. However, a walk up the hill is essential to admire the view of Sancerre!

Our route for the day is quite direct, following the canal and the river, without any climb. You will cross the Loire towards its right bank quite early in the day. This will allow you to cross Briare again on its canal bridge decorated at each end with chimeras that have recently been restored.

The Loire Valley is known for its high concentration of castles. Your destination for the day is a small village built around a very beautiful castle surrounded by moats and gardens. The “budget participants” spend the night at the campsite on the other bank of the Loire, crossing the bridge which leaves directly from the Château de Sully.

On the last day of this tour, you will travel through many picturesque villages on the banks of the Loire, which you will cross from bank to bank on some of its bridges. Châteauneuf-sur-Loire deserves a stop along the way, where you can visit its town hall installed in a seventeenth century castle which overlooks vast landscaped gardens.

Your destination is the prefecture of the Center-Val-de-Loire region, with its pedestrianized city center that will attract you with its terraces and classic architecture. The Saint-Croix Cathedral is undoubtedly its piece of resistance, dedicated to the heroine of the city of Joan of Arc.

In the evening, we will get together for our group dinner, to celebrate the end of this trip and the 550 km cycled over the previous eight days.

Congratulations on driving from Lyon to Orléans!

After such an effort, this day is a day off to explore the neighborhoods and attractions of Orleans. Breakfast at the hotel is your last activity of the tour.