In case you missed part one, I’m in Chaumont-sur-Loire after cycling the Loire Valley path (Loire à Velo) from Orléans to the nearby 11th century castle before spending the night in a houseboat on the Loire.
WATCH PART 1: https://youtu.be/Jz9IbjhoIQA
WATCH PART 3: https://youtu.be/wifTy29T1wQ
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If you’re new here… Hi, there! I’m Joe Baur, an American-German travel writer and filmmaker based in Berlin. I make travel and adventure films from the Americas to Asia and just about everywhere in between. And sometimes, I share my travel tips to help you travel smarter, more sustainably, and off the beaten path.
#LoireValley #CyclingFrance #WineTasting #SlowTravel #ClosLucé #MaisonLaudaucious #LoireAVélo #FranceTravel
[Applause] hell of a way to wake up in case you missed part one I’m in Shansons Lua after cycling from Orion to the nearby 11th century castle before spending the night in a housebo on the Lwa [Music] good morning sports fans welcome back to my housebo had some nice sleep last night woke up pretty early to lots of birds chirping it kind of reminded me of you know the beginning of an orchestral performance when everybody’s tuning and getting their instruments ready so that that was a lovely way to wake up anyways for today we’re pulling a little bit of an audible because unfortunately there’s a lot of rain in the forecast in the afternoon and I’m not talking about like oh 20% chance this is like 50% chance at noon and then like boom 100% the rest of the day you’re definitely going to get hit and I want to avoid that especially because my last stop to my hotel does not have a train option because they’re kind of outside of the cities so I need a bike and I would like to stay dry so what we’re going to do instead is have this coffee hopefully breakfast comes soon and then I’m going to hop on the bike go to my first stop which is the last place that Leonardo da Vinci lived i know what you’re thinking like Leonardo da Vinci Italian he would have been in Italy no right here in the Lir Valley who would have thought it so I’m going to go see where he ended up in his last days and then I’m going to keep cycling a little bit more to a wine cave for a little wine tasting then after that then I just go to the hotel early which honestly I’m kind of fine with after schloleing around in the sun all day yesterday which you know ultimately I love but my skin got hit a little bit i’m an idiot forgot sunscreen i almost said ice cream don’t want Don’t rub ice cream into your skin eat the ice cream rub the sunscreen into your skin so I definitely got to the end of yesterday and was feeling a bit zapped so you know if the afternoon ends up being like chill at a nice hotel that’s fine by me but for now I got coffee to drink and I got to get moving well isn’t this just lovely look what just came onto my boat balcony I guess nice little basket of yummies got some orange juice looks like some pastries oh a jar a jar of uh strawberries and some fruit cool going to dive in so originally I looked up on Google Maps what time this first stop where Leno Da Vinci lived open and it said 10:00 a.m on Google Maps but I’ve been getting kind of antsy so I looked on the website can you tell I’ve had a lot of coffee i looked on the website and it looks like during this time of year it’s actually open at 9:00 so that means I could have left a little bit ago but I got these wonderful fresh strawberries so I’m chowing down on these like a freaking chipmunk and having more coffee and I’m going to get going [Music] yesterday no you can’t hear me the weight is already tears my eyes these times like these I wish I could just clip in and climb this thing instead of pound on these pedals like a hamster and a wheel like that i had a clarify hamster in a wheel where else would you be a hamster hills are our friends that’s what my father-in-law always says not feeling very friendly right now though all right well I’m awake now holy hell i want bonus points for doing that on this kind of a bike jesus Christ [Music] looks like the wineries are up in Adam harvesting perhaps [Music] so the path today has been much more wavy really wishing I could clip in cuz I think it’d be fun to just you know go down those scents and push yourself on the climbs also the path has been on shared road far more often than yesterday yesterday I was basically never sharing it with cars but for most of it today so far been sharing it with cars [Music] i arrive at Claus where loads of school children are trotting around the grounds like lemmings with their matching colored hats to admire the home where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last 3 years of his life the Tuscan artist and inventor moved to the chateau in 1516 at the invitation of King Francis I because Da Vinci turned out to be the most famous resident the chateau has been converted into a museum of his life’s work while giving a glimpse into where he lived and slept during the last few years of his life the exhibitions touch not only on his artistic career but on some of the more interesting to bizarre designs he concocted for military equipment like a large wide cone tank shaped like a Hershey’s kiss i did quite the quick tour there of Da Vinci’s old digs i didn’t realize how much military equipment he was interested in designing like that little tank that he said could replace elephants that was interesting also weird that we ever use elephants for war anywh who just gonna walk around this garden very quick before I hop back on my bike to continue on to what will be a early wine tasting for the day all [Music] right this is more like it i thought the first bit of riding to the Da Vinci place I can’t pronounce it i’m just going to call it the Da Vinci place didn’t think that was particularly beautiful plus I didn’t love having to share the road with cars but this this is more like yesterday and I’m liking it just paused to take my jacket off real quick and if I’m not mistaken those birds I’m hearing more great tits think I’m becoming a burer and if you think when I’m talking about great tits I’m talking about anything other than the profound admiration of birds then maybe you need some self-reflection it’s 2025 it’s like Michael Jackson said if you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make that change and good thing he never did anything questionable [Music] and there’s bike parking for the wine days all right I’m thirsty the Mazone Ladusio wine cave was built in 1961 into a limestone cliff that keeps the bottles cooling at around 12° C at the end here takes me through the tasting
yeah these are the kinds I like i’m not like I don’t know a ton about wine but
I just know I like dry and this kind of flavor profile
it’s dry but it’s only it’s very fresh also it was opened in 1976 sorry we have uh today 14 wine growers and uh the specialty of uh of this of the winery is to make uh traditional uh wines from Mali dry sparkling or maybe more sweet also
and you said you’re making 1 million bottles a year
1 million bottles a year
and you have 3 million stored elsewhere
yes in our cellar yes
it’s a lot of wine and how did you get involved in in wine
uh I’m not from here i’m from the north of France so we do wouldn’t have wines in in the north but it was a a great patient i always like the the product i always like how we make wine how we sell wine how we we we make the the labels how we we make the bification and everything so it was a return in my life to
to do this
to do this yes
there are worse things to have written in your life
yes maybe
I know I can but I just can’t bring myself to pour it out
i mean you love this stuff there’s a little part of you die inside of every time you have to you you pour some of it out
yes all right I’m back on the bike and while I’m not saying that I had too much wine because that would be irresponsible I am saying that on occasion I have been going wee because it was fun cycling let’s turn here all right so for the rest of this route I am on the Lir Valley Trail but I’m also hopping back off to get to the hotel so I’m going to pack away this camera cuz I got to concentrate so make sure I get to the hotel safely with my taste buds buzzing in the finest flavors of the Lir Valley I coast for another 40 minutes to Leot Ro where I’ll be spending the night so I just walked into my hotel room and I’m nervous to go any further than the doorway because how do I put this it’s a very nice hotel room and I kind of think I have no business being in here i’m wondering if they mix me up for somebody else i mean look at this there is a bust a bust of somebody in my room i honest to God don’t know if I’ve been willingly welcomed into a room with a bust before i’ve said this before in previous videos perhaps even the most recent one you should go watch that because I don’t think it got the views that I would really like it to have gotten but I know I’ve said this in previous videos that if reincarnation is real I’m afraid I’m coming back as a dung beetle because this does not suck and I almost certainly do not deserve it not wanting to soully the place with my aura of dried sweat and insecurity I retreat to the bar for a late lunch a tomato salad with a massive dollop of burda i then head back to my room for a hot bath you know this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to an Only Fans so drink it in or grab a trash can to the side of you and vomit i really don’t know what your preference is over time I’m able to start washing away some of the imposttor syndrome now as a guest of this fine establishment and let’s be honest as somebody who has absolutely no business being in a place like this it’s important that I compose myself conduct myself to the high standards that such an establishment surely demands but first boy that was oddly satisfying next time I end my ride along the lir with stops at the part American castle of Chatau Vandri and the fortress of Shinan with all kinds of Jonavar history see you next week