The main railway stations serving this section are:
· Orleans
· Nevers
There are 25 trains a day between Paris and Orleans, 18 of which accept bicycles. Half of these services are by Aqualys trains on the Paris – Orleans – Tours route. The journey time from Paris is 1hr 20mins.
Nevers is easily accessible from Paris by Corail train (12 Corail Intercité and Corail Teoz trains, 3 of which accept bicycles). The Nevers-Dijon TER regional train service connects Nevers to most of the stage towns as far as Chalon.
N.B.: There is no railway line along the itinerary from Orleans to Gien.
SNCF: www.velo.sncf.com provides information about all the train+bicycle services provided by SNCF, with numerous links, notably to SNCF’s search engine.
N.B.: SNCF’s search engine does not offer a “bicycle transport” option but it does show if bicycles are accepted on each train. Information about bicycle transport can be obtained more easily from the German “Die Bahn” search engine: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/fn
Regional rail information website: www.ter-sncf.com/centre/
The “passengers with bicycles” section of the European rail companies’ website (http://railpassenger.uic.asso.fr/) provides information about train+bicycle journeys throughout Europe.
Local tourist offices can provide addresses of accommodation providers and bicycle hire outlets. Addresses of accommodation providers and bicycle hire outlets as far as Gien are listed in the Centre Region’s “Accueil vélo” booklet.
After Sully, as the signposted route is not finished, information has not yet been centralised, but it is easy to find campsite, hotel, hostel or bed & breakfast accommodation between Sully and Nevers.
You can consult the accommodation offer by going to the regional tourism website: http://www.visaloire.com/dormir.php?newpage=dormir&etat=recherche_fiche
In the Loiret, an itinerary along minor roads has been signposted from below Orleans to above Briare. A map of this route will be published during the first half of 2007. The route through the Cher should be finished by 2008. Maps of itineraries along minor roads and tracks will be published during the first half of 2007. In the southern part of the Cher, from Pouilly-sur-Loire to Marseille-les-Aubigny, the dykes along the Loire will be turned into cycleways during 2008. Currently, these untarmacked tracks can be ridden on hybrid bikes in dry weather.