Large loop south of Tours — Villeperdue, Monts, Forêt de Larçay starting from Montbazon

Bike touring routes & trails

Large loop south of Tours — Villeperdue, Monts, Forêt de Larçay starting from Montbazon

Hard

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Large loop south of Tours — Villeperdue, Monts, Forêt de Larçay starting from Montbazon

05:03

81.0km

350m

Cycling

Hard bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is right next to a parking lot.

Last updated: August 13, 2024

Tips

Your route passes through a protected area

Please check local regulations for:

Parc naturel régional Loire-Anjou-Touraine

Waypoints

Start point

Parking

Get Directions

1.80 km

Montbazon

Highlight • Settlement

Montbazon is a medieval town located on the banks of the Indre River and surrounded by greenery. Its historic center houses an impressive fortress that can be visited both in summer and during the holiday season.

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2.21 km

Noble House on the Indre

Highlight • Monument

When you come this way it's worth taking a look over the wall

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11.3 km

Trails of Bois des Hâtes

Highlight • Forest

Many paths to walk in this wood a few minutes by bike from Tours. Cool and quiet place.

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26.3 km

Viaduc de Monts

Highlight • Monument

a railway bridge supporting the Paris / Bordeaux line, of 59 arches and more than 700 meters.

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33.8 km

Allée des Platanes

Highlight • Natural

This alley is located on Pont de Ruan before the mill and the dam

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46.4 km

Boisbonnard Castle

Highlight • Castle

Boisbonnard is a fairly attractive ensemble and was extensively altered in 1856.

This private castle is an old fortress of which only:
- the wide medieval moats in their entirety and which form 2 quadrilaterals and a 3-sided figure
- 5 cylindrical towers including the South-East tower pierced with circular loopholes called the “couleuvrine tower”.
The surrounding walls disappeared, the eastern ones were pulled down in 1856.
Access is controlled by 2 entrance towers, capped with pepper shakers, guarding the wooden footbridge which replaced the drawbridge. A portal with a curved pediment connects them.
The enclosure demolished in the last century has retained 3 corner towers.

The current castle was built in several stages. The residential building, which dates from the 16th century, had its facades completely redesigned in 1856. Part of it disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century.
To the south-west, a main building covered with a 4-pitched roof and presenting stone windows on the ground floor had been lined with another building in 1731; these buildings were demolished in 1979.

The outbuildings near the front door were built in Renaissance style around 1856 in place of the old farm buildings.
Numerous renovation and restoration works have been carried out since 1994.

During the cleaning of the moat an oak door was discovered under the water level. We can assume that there was an underground passage between the castle and the village church or to other undergrounds.

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58.0 km

Courtineau Valley and Troglodyte Houses

Highlight • Historical Site

The Courtineau valley is a valley located in the municipalities of Saint-Epain and Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, in the department of Indre-et-Loire, in the Center-Val de Loire region. Six kilometers long, it has many troglodyte dwellings, water mills, washhouses ... It is classified as a natural area of ecological, faunistic and floristic interest (ZNIEFF) because of its remarkable character.

The chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, carved into the rock, would have been the refuge of a hermit in the fourteenth century2. On March 6, 1429, Joan of Arc would have taken shelter there to protect herself from a downpour while she was traveling the Courtineau valley to go to Chinon to see King Charles VII, after two nights spent in Sainte-Catherine-de -Proudwood.

The water mills:
- The Moulin de la Chaise: from 1241 to 1789, it belonged to the Chapter of Saint-Martine de Tours and depended on the Provost of Saint-Epain.
- The Courtineau mill
- The Malicorne mill: in the fourteenth and at least until the seventeenth century, it depended on the seigneury of Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine. We grew hemp there
- The Souvres mill.
- The mill of Mareille, large building of three floors which appears on the map of Cassini and the Napoleonic land register of 18274. According to the elders, the building was before 1900 a sawmill, the paddle wheel was placed further.

The village of Courtineau is made up of troglodyte houses. In the mid-twentieth century he still owned a café, a grocery store and a school.

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81.0 km

End point

Parking

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types