Between Nantes et Cordemais, the Loire River serves as your guide as you cycle along. Beside the river, the village of Trentemoult, with its atmospheric, colourful houses, opens the way to a stretch of the great river dotted with fantastical, outsized works of art made for a series of exhibitions known as Estuaire. Along this portion, the Vélidéale cycle route shares the way with two other major cycle routes, the Loire à Vélo and the Vélodyssée… up until the river port of Le Pellerin, where an old-fashioned ferry takes you over to Couëron, on the north bank of the Loire. Once across, our cycle route leads you through peaceful Loire marshlands up to the port of Cordemais, with not just its EDF power station standing out, but also the Villa Cheminée, a playful work by Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi, its very startling form a great curiosity rising out of these otherwise very flat lands.

Riding between Cordemais and Saint-Nazaire, France’s longest river pretty much guides you to the Atlantic, the cycle route crossing marshlands and industrial zones. This may be your last stage on the Vélidéale…or it may be your first, if you’re tackling our cycle route in the opposite direction. Saint-Nazaire, a surprising garden city on the edge of the Atlantic, is a welcoming place. Along its coastline, there are no fewer than 20 beaches and creeks accessible to cyclists. The port itself is now France’s largest on the Atlantic. Around town, there are unusual museums to visit, plus remarkable architecture to take in, from Belle Époque to postwar reconstruction. Riding on northwestwards, you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of France’s second-largest marshlands, the Brière. Here, birdwatchers will be in their element, as the likes of heron, tits and bluethroats find it perfect nesting territory. The Atlantic lies at the end of the Loire and the Brière, providing a fitting finale for completing this major cycle route.