BRAG International France Loire Valley – 2025 Week 1

Cycling past storybook castles, sipping wine in ancient caves, and paddling under a château? Somebody pinch us. We just had the trip of a lifetime riding through France’s legendary Loire Valley with BRAG International. 🚴‍♀️🍷

From cruising quiet country roads to tasting wine straight from the barrel, we biked from Tours to Chambord, stopping at places like Château de Chenonceau, Villandry’s dreamy gardens, and tiny vineyard towns that felt like they were pulled from a postcard. We even canoed under a castle and had picnics by the river. Did we mention the dinners? Let’s just say: chef’s kiss.

Missed it? Feeling the FOMO? Don’t worry—we’re doing it all again in 2026. 👉https://international.brag.org

[Music] How is it? It’s great. [Music] for [Music] beautiful corner. You ready? [Music] First 15 miles. What do you think? Amazing. The weather’s fantastic. How are your riding partners? They’re the best. Here we are at Castle Villinger. About a 15-mi ride. One of the coolest things about Villinger is they have a nice art exhibit in here. But definitely the most impressive thing is the gardens. [Music] It’s on an a real plate. Exactly. With a real glass with a real rosé and real silverware stemware. I mean, is this not the fanciest picnic you’ve ever had? Yes, absolutely. This is this is a beautiful slice of breeze with my pork. Bri is really good. Uh salad and carrot salad. Lovely carrots and and pork. We just finished our 28 mile ride out to Villainry. It was beautiful. And then we are going to go into downtown tours for our dinner at Alabich. So we are here in place of Ru and we are doing a walking tour of tours. And all these buildings were built uh during the medieval times. So lemon So this place is amazing. The owner cooks all meals only style. She cooks all the meals that we had on 22 horses now. So it’s phenomenal [Music] skill. There you go. Now you got to eat it. I don’t know. I don’t know how French that is. Good. Glass. And they didn’t want to. I think it’s illegal, but here I am. How was that meal? It was delicious. It was so good. Like beyond. Good morning. It is day two and we just finished breakfast. Press button espresso machine. How is it? Very good. Oh, you and we are about to go on a 24 mile adventure. So, it’s going to be a great day and we’ll see you on the road. Our exit of tourist today takes us right along the Law and it is beautiful. Here we are at Mark Reef and we’re about to take a tour of their wine caves. So, we are in the private reserve collection room and they have bottles dating back to 1874 taste six of their wines. How is it complex? We are at the beautiful chateau down there and it’s time for lunch. [Music] See you later. [Music] So we are here in Shat and now it is time for dinner. [Music] Good morning. It is our third day of riding and we are going from Enois into Chino. Track stand it. Track. Keep it. Keep it. Keep it. We’ll be at it. Watch your head. [Music] We are going paddling up the Share River, a thousand-year-old castle. How’s it going? fight every single one. [Applause] [Music] Second most visited chateau in France. [Music] Good morning. Bonjour. Day five of riding and we are headed from Ammois all the way to Shaman Sila. You getting some nuts. What are you getting there? [Music] We’ll get a nice visit of the gardens there. Do you feel like a child again? Absolutely. So we are 14 miles in and we are at Shiman Silawir. It is beautiful. It’s a castle built on top of the cliffs. [Music] The big thing here is the gardens. And the gardens are exceptional. It’s a festival of gardens. They invite artists from all over the world to come um build excellent exhibits. [Music] Okay, we just finished our tour of the gardens. It was beautiful. And now I’m going to break out our magnum. [Applause] Celebrating a successful day so far. This is the life. Yeah. [Music] So, if you’re in France and the water bottle is too file, you want to be fancy, you just drink it out of the cap. And that’s the fancy way to do it. About 14 13 more miles into Shambore. Left. So, we just arrived in Shambour and bags are already in the room. It’s lovely. Uh, the hotel is beautiful and the castle is right around the corner. [Music] Good morning. It is day six. Uh, we’re going to ride for our fifth day today and we’re going to start the day with a tour of Shamore. marvelous guided tour of this 200,000 ft estate. [Music] Very special lunch today. We have to try the 1975 wine and the 1996 wine with meat and cheese and see the differences. [Music] I didn’t [Music] So [Music] you get [Music]