AGM_Cape_Cod

We are planning a trip for late June to the Loire and have enticed my elderly (OMG my 91 yo father would kill me if he knew I referred to him as elderly!) parents to come with us. Since I am not sure they will want to jaunt around everyday I would like a gite in a town or village. Some place where they can walk to investigate the town and any places of interest. Any suggestions?

PalenQ

Amboise is both about at the epicenter of places you would want to see - Chenonceau - Azay-le-Rideau, chambord, etc yet is a smallish town on one of the most wildest parts of the Loire itself - easy to ramble around for old farts and it has its own great castle and also the Clos Luce, once home to Leonardo da vinci and now a museum with some of his inventions remade, etc.

But perhaps you want a small village and this is where most gites are - in small quiet villages with very little to do.

AGM_Cape_Cod

Amboise sounds like what I am looking for. There is something for them to do which is important. My parents are active- we gave my father a bike for his 90th birthday and he rides 8 miles a day in the season!- but my mother has memory problems.

FrenchMystiqueTours

<<we gave my father a bike for his 90th birthday and he rides 8 miles a day in the season!>>

I don't even know your father but I like him already!

bilboburgler

There is a great bike lane along the Loire. You may have seen these gites
http://www.amboise-valdeloire.com/en...t-term-rentals

FrenchMystiqueTours

I'll have a few more links later but there are nice flat bike trails along the river your dad can ride on. Easy to find rental bikes in Amboise.

http://www.cycling-loire.com/

AGM_Cape_Cod

First I have to find a place for them to lay their heads!!

AlessandraZoe

I agree with Amboise as a great base. I just did a quickie "gite Amboise" search on Google and came up with a few right away, so I think you can actually find something.

Word to the wise: Amboise is laid out on a hillside. The Chateau Amboise, if I recall correctly, is around the third/fourth street up from the bottom. The bike trail is along the river (of course), but Leonardo's house (Clos Luce) is nearer the tip-top of the hill.

We stayed at a hotel nearer the river, and I remember clearly biking up that hill past Clos Luce. I had been cycling 30+ miles each day on hills in the Dordogne the week before, so I was in darn good shape. Still, that Amboise hill "registered".

My point: I think you want a gite/apartment that will give your father access to the river bike trail without making him do the equivalent of a stair climber to get back to the gite.

And I also suggest you do not limit yourself to the traditional interpretation of a "gite." An Amboise apartment might suit everyone's needs quite well.

Good luck--and God Bless Your 91-yr-old papa. He's my new hero.

PalenQ

Yup have biked and jogged up that long hill going south from the Loire in Amboise many times - but once you get up top it is a lovely flat as I recall 12 mile or so putz thru a national forest to Chenonceau and Chenonceaux - bit too far for grandpa but lots of accommodations in the area provide bikes to customers so you may want to.

PalenQ

http://www.chambresdhotes.org/englis...Gites_Amboise/

Try the Chambres d' Hotes association in Amboise - these are Bed and Breakfasts though sometimes sans breakfast.

cigalechanta

I met the dad,he and the wife are awesome for their age.

AlessandraZoe

PalenQ--Absolutely correct! The rest of our bike after that hill was one of those full-out go biking stretches. In fact, after we hit the forest and fields just a few miles away, my oldest daughter and I actually had a great time racing each other. Delightful!

But my point about the hill was that on a hot day, getting to the points of interest in town can be tough by bike or on foot, so the relative location of the gite/apartment would be important for these very fit but also older folk so that they could enjoy all the Amboise had to offer without much difficulty.

PalenQ

Alessandra - I agree completely and was just commenting on the prospect of younger folk biking to Chenonceau/Chenonceau (can never remember how the town and castle are spelt - one has the x on the end the other don't.

Yes the old folks should stay in the area around the foot of the castle and by the church that Leonardo da Vinci is buried in - not sure his heart is there but his corpse I think is.

Sarastro

Town - Chenonceaux
Château - Chenonceau

The belief is that Leonardo's remains are somewhere in the small (very small) chapel located on the edge of the property of Château Amboise. You can see the chapel form the public street below which is really not much less than what you will see if you pay to enter the château.

If I were to suggest a location in the Loire Valley from which to base oneself it would Loches which has better restaurants and fewer tourists than does Amboise:

http://www.loches-tourainecotesud.com/

For those interested in cycling in the Loire Valley, this website might be of interest:

http://www.loire-a-velo.fr/

PalenQ

Loches is a grim looking city IMO and that is why it does not attract the number of tourists as Amboise, lovingly set on the prettiest part of the wild Loire river IMO does. Heck Chenonceaux, the queen of all Loire castles in the tourist mind is indeed just over the hill.

Michel_Paris

If Chenonceau is an option...

http://www.bonlaboureur.com/HotelUK.asp