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Châteaux & Vineyards of the Loire

By Janet Cochrane

When I was asked to go to the Loire Valley to research the route for our Châteaux and Vineyards walk I was very enthusiastic, as I'd visited the area before on a couple of occasions and was keen to spend longer there. I wasn't even daunted by the prospect of going in early March, when there was more than a vague possibility of poor weather!

Arriving at the tiny airport of Tours was a pleasure after the bustle of Stansted, and the drive westwards to the first town on the walk – Azay-le-Rideau – was easy and uneventful. I had been to Azay in a 'former life' – in other words before I joined Inntravel! – and it was just as I remembered it, a charming market town on the banks of the River Indre. The focal point for visitors is the delightful château, built in the Italianate Renaissance style in the 16th century. Its delicate turrets and elegant windows are beautifully reflected in the surrounding lake, and during the summer months a dreamy, poetic son-et-lumière takes place in the grounds.

For me, one of the satisfactions of preparing an Inntravel walk is the challenge of finding routes which reveal the best of the area’s landscapes and architectural history; I love poring over maps, trying to deduce the best routes from contour lines and other symbols. Sometimes the paths are obvious, for instance if there is a GR (Grande Randonnée – the network of well-maintained footpaths which criss-cross France), but at other times there is a frustrating dearth of quiet links between the hotels. Generally, though, it's possible to piece together forest roads, farm tracks, quiet lanes and the thin black lines which, on French maps, denote a narrow path, and eventually we had plotted the whole week’s walking on the map.

Our preparation was fuelled by the tasty food served at the Hotel le Grand Monarque, where we stayed in Azay-le-Rideau. Having planned our route, we set off on the first day to do a gentle introductory circuit of the hills and villages around Azay, during which we explored several of the cave-dwellings which were to become a feature of the week's walk. At Goupillières, just an hour's walk from Azay, a farm has been set up amongst the caves showing what life was like for farmers in medieval times. On the second day we began the longest walk of the holiday by heading across the farmland and flood-plains between the Indre and the Loire to Ussé, making a small detour for our first sight of the truly massive body of inexorably flowing water which is the River Loire.

At Ussé the hotel is small and simple, but the hoteliers were charming and attentive. The village is overlooked by the white walls and cylindrical towers of the Château d'Ussé, which is said to have inspired the 'Sleeping Beauty' fairytale. We toured it and duly admired the interesting displays of furniture and costumes before continuing our walk, this time southwards through the huge Forêt de Chinon. Walking through forest doesn't provide many views, of course, but we made sure that we passed through open countryside too, and the forest itself was attractive. The walk ends with a wonderful stretch into Chinon along an ancient route which travellers must have used since the early days of human settlement. A well-kept, 6th-century hermit's cave on this path just on the outskirts of the town lies a kilometre or so from the castle which witnessed the famous meeting in 1429 between Joan of Arc and her king, Charles VII: he disguised himself as a mere courtier to test her powers of perception, and her instant recognition of his royal status became a feature of the legend surrounding her.

The hotel at Chinon is modern and less characterful than the others on this walk, but offers a good standard of comfort – and it looks across the River Vienne to the floodlit walls of the castle. Very different in style from the fanciful architecture of the châteaux at Azay-le-Rideau and Ussé, Chinon stands atop an escarpment and exhibits the defensive fortifications which were needed in less peaceful times. After a pleasant morning exploring the town we continued along the banks of the Vienne and across farmland and light woodland to Fontevraud. The route passes alongside a military training zone at one point and we had a rather alarming encounter with an army platoon in full combat gear, including warpaint and weapons but, happily, they ignored the rather incongruous apparition of fleece-clad, map-wielding hikers in their midst.

The hotel at Fontevraud, la Croix Blanche, is a historic inn which has long been associated with the magnificent abbey, just across the road. Even nowadays, the hotel benefits from the power of the abbey to attract thousands of visitors each year. We spent an enjoyable couple of hours wandering round the peaceful cloisters, gardens and living quarters of the former monastery, which is now used as a cultural centre. After that we continued to the last hotel of the holiday with a wonderful walk into the woods above Fontevraud and on to a viewpoint over the confluence of the Loire and the Vienne, an impressive sight. Our sojourn amongst the cobbled streets, alleyways and attractive limestone houses of Candes-St-Martin and its close neighbour, Montsoreau, offered a lovely contrast both to the preceding pastoral section and to the succeeding leg through vineyards. Then, quite suddenly, we dropped a short way down a steep cliff above the Loire via some steps and found ourselves at the Demeure de la Vignole, where some of the rooms have been hewn directly from the tuff limestone in the traditional local manner.

The final day's walk was a pleasant stroll through woodland and amongst the vineyards which produce the fine wines for which the Loire is renowned. We also found time to visit a mushroom cave within easy walking distance of the hotel, where several species of mushroom are cultivated in the stable, cool and humid conditions of the warren of caves, and to revisit Montsoreau, where an exhibition in the château is devoted to the history of life alongside the Loire.

Looking back on our six days' walking, it's hard to identify the highlights: the wonderful châteaux, the pleasantly varied countryside, or the excellent food and wines? We concluded that, all in all, it was a marvellous all-round holiday – and, I'm pleased to say, we didn’t have a drop of rain all week!

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