The Chain Gang Cycle Tours

France and Germany have played ‘pass-the-parcel’ with Alsace for centuries, and the fusion of French and German cultures makes Alsace unique. And it works - Alsace boasts beautiful medieval villages, some of the world’s finest white wines, and a cuisine unique within France.

The best-known villages lie on the ‘route des vins’, a fantastic cycle route that winds along tiny roads and paths through vineyards and villages between Colmar and Strasbourg. Cycling through these vineyards is delightful, but even if there were no vineyards, the route through villages like Riquewihr, Eguisheim and Obernai would make Alsace a cyclist’s dream.

We’ll visit Strasbourg with its magnificent cathedral, we’ll cross the Rhine into Germany, and finish our week in Colmar, the capital of Alsace wine. The wines are worth exploring, mostly white, based on Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Muscat and Pinot Gris grapes, and we’ll explore all these varieties at vineyards and winetastings throughout our week.

What are you looking for? Scenery, great cycling, great wines, fascinating history, unique culture? Alsacez-vous! (I borrowed this from the French Tourist Board, loosely translated I think it means book a Chain Gang cycling tour to Alsace).

Our Bordeaux Winetrail Cycling Holiday is a fantastic exploration of the wines from the most famous vineyard region in the world.

We start in Les Eyzies and spend Sunday cycling along the Dordogne to the edge of the Bordeaux vineyards. From Monday we're in wine country. We'll explore little-known islands of quality, such as Pécharment near Bergerac, as well as famous vineyards in St Emilion and the Haut Médoc. A feature of this cycling tour are the exquisite dessert wines that we'll taste in Monbazillac and Haut Montravel, and we finish up exploring the médoc on the borders of the Atlantic.

Along the way, of course, back roads, vineyards, great food, and truly spectacular views across the Gironde.

Of course on the Burgundy cycling tour we explore famous vineyards within Burgundy's Cote d'Or, including Gevrey Chambertin, Romanée Conti, Chassagne-Montrachet etc. But Burgundy is also historically very interesting as a Duchy independent of France, with a rich monastic heritage that includes Fontenay, Citeaux and the Clos Vougeot.

We spend the first part of our week in rolling farmland, perfect cycling country that follows the Canal de Bourgogne to Dijon.

As befits such beautiful wines, Burgundy is one of the finest food regions in France, and boy do we make the most of that! Burgundy classics include Boeuf Bourguignonne, escargots, frogs legs, coq-au-vin, oeufs meurette, jambon persillé. A food-lover’s paradise.

The Languedoc in the south of France, is a fantastic and beautiful region of France. Historically (i.e. before bulldozers and explosives) Languedoc was much less well-connected to France than Provence. So while Provence has become overrun by us (tourists and visitors!), Languedoc hasn't.

They produce fabulous wines, and the whole region is a giant natural garden. The cuisine ranges from seafood, lots of beautiful seafood, to traditional charcuterie, an amazing range of fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh herbs and local olive oils.

Our tour will take us to the extraordinary landscape of the Camargue. We'll see flamingoes, wild horses and cattle. We'll see huge salt pans and explore the production of Fleur de Sel, France's favourite (and most expensive!) salt. We'll visit a vineyard planted purely on sand, and the Perrier water source.

We'll spend two nights in Aigues Mortes, the embarkation point for the crusades, and the most amazing walled, fortified, medieval town. We'll visit Roman theatres and Arenas in Nimes, Arles, and Orange. We'll visit the stunning Roman aqueduct of Pont du Gard, and here's something that might surprise you. Bull fighting is hugely popular in this part of France. They have bull rings across the region, and in Nimes and Arles the Roman arenas are still used - that is an amazing site. They use bulls from the Camargue. We'll see them in the wild, we'll taste the meat at a special farm, and we'll explore this culture which, frankly, is kept a little bit hidden from tourists.

Oh, and the cycling is great. Mostly flat, but with two days of gentle hills.

The most beautiful part of the Dordogne valley is the Périgord Noir, where are Dordogne cycling tour is based. As well as some of the world's most famous prehistoric sites, the Dordogne was the crucible of The Hundred Years War and boasts spectacular medieval castles.

It's also very beautiful, from lush green valleys to the arid limestone causses on the plateau between the Dordogne and Lot rivers. Throw in a distinctive traditional cuisine largely based on duck and goose, but also featuring truffles and walnuts.

The Dordogne cycling holiday is quite hilly, nothing too brutal, but a bit of training in advance wouldn't do any harm.

Between the 13th and the 16th Centuries, French royalty built an amazing collection of beautiful renaissance chateaux.

On the Loire Valley cycling tour we visit Chateau Chambord, the largest of the Loire chateaux, built by Francois I as a hunting lodge and containing a spectacular staircase by Leonardo Da Vinci. We visit Chenonceau, once the home of Henry II's mistress, Diane of Poitiers, evicted by his widow, Catherine de Medici, who then went on to build the iconic ballroom across the River Cher.

The Chateaux are stunning, and we’ve put together a great itinerary of visits. But of course we’ve got great food, interesting wines, and the path less trodden.

William The Conqueror, the Normandy Beaches and food.

Our Normandy cycling tour starts in Mézidon in the Pays d'Auge, home of Normandy cheese, cider and calvados. In Caen we’ll see William’s castle and the beautiful Abbeys that survived the bombing of WWII, and in Bayeux we’ll visit the famous tapestry.

On our way to Caen we’ll spend time at the Pegasus Memorial, the start of Operation Overlord. We’ll visit the beaches and memorials of the Canada Centre, the US cemetery at Coleville-sur-Mer and the spectacular remains of the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches.

All this plus we'll enjoy the rich food for which Normandy is famous throughout France.

The story around the wines of Champagne is much more interesting than you think.

Everybody's heard of Champagne.

Of course we're going to be exploring the wines of Champagne on our tour - we'll learn about the origins of Champagne, what Dom Perignon did do, and what he definitely didn't do. We'll separate the myths from the facts, and we'll discover what grapes they're allowed to use, and where they grow. Our teachers will be the winemakers in our schedule of vineyard vineyards over the course of the week.

But what about the region, and the cycling?

The appellation is the largest in France, and the grapes are spread across 3 ranges of hills, the Massif de Saint Thierry, the Montagne de Reims, and the Cotes des Blancs. Some of these sound a bit grander, a bit higher, a bit tougher than they really are. Fear not, there's nothing too scary here, but grapes do best on gentle slopes that face to the south and East, so there are definitely hills. Our job is to get close enough to get in among the vineyards, without having to slog up too many hills!

We'll also explore Reims, not just the capital of Champagne but also the city where all of France's Kings and Queens (and one emperor) were crowned. We'll visit two UNESCO World Heritage sites, the spectacular Cathedral of Our Lady of Reims and the Basilica of St Remy, where the first King of France, Clovis I, was converted to Christianity. This is also where the Second World War ended. Absolutely true.

The cycling's good, too. The vineyards look particularly beautiful among the rolling hills of the Montagne de Reims and the Cotes des Blancs. And we'll cycle along the Marne Valley, with the vineyards of the Rive Gauche and Rive droite on either side of us.

Probably the most beautiful of our French cycling tours, and probably the best food.

The most beautiful parts of Provence are the Lubéron National Park and the Alpilles, and of course we'll spend plenty of time exploring them. They're both hilly, but no hills means no views!

We'll see spectacular Roman sites in Orange and St Remy, and we'll visit an olive farm to explore the mysteries of olive oil production.

Provence also boasts some wonderful wines, including the world-famous Chateauneuf du Pape as well as the neighbouring appéllations of Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise. We've organised a series of wine tastings, where we'll be able to reflect on the beauty of the Abbey de Senanque and its spectacular lavender fields.

Umbria is Tuscany's quieter, less-famous neighbour. But a beautiful and amazing place, with a rich history from the Renaissance, the Romans and the Etruscans still visible in its towns and cities.

A feature of Umbria is its hill-top towns. It means a lot of climbing on our bikes, but well-worth the trouble. I cannot imagine anyone ever regretted the climb into Orvieto, Perugia or Montefalco.

Highlights of the week include Orvieto, built on top of a volcanic outcrop and overlooking the Tiber valley 1,000 feet below., and Assisi, home to St Francis, Patron Saint of Italy, and more recently a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A personal favourite for me is Perugia. It's a big city, not usually the cyclists' friend, but as well as the stunning view over the Vale of Spoleto, the layers of history, from the huge Etruscan city walls through the Roman Empire, the Renaissance and the modern day, are clearly visible as you rise through the city on the spectacular 'scala mobili'.

As we make our way from Sovana in the south, up the Tiber Valley and past the Lago di Trasimeno to Cortona, we'll cycle through beautiful countryside, enjoy special Umbrian cuisine, find some surprisingly good Umbria wines, and we'll learn that Umbria deserves to be much more than Tuscany's quiet neighbour.