CENTRAL LOIRE VALLEY

SULLY SUR LOIRE

May 2018

To orientate myself and others I have prepared this map of my expedition that I'll also use in later posts - it shows the places at which I stayed and my travel direction.

Early Summer Route - 2018

I decided not to visit Orléans because of the congestion that undoubtedly clogs the city most of the time and certainly on 8 May when there is an annual festival celebrating Joan of Arc's triumph in relieving the English siege in 1428 (the first French victory after their disastrous defeat at Agincourt 13 years earlier).

Instead I cut across country to Sully opposite which is the small town of St Pere-sur-Loire and the campsite “Jardin de Sully”. This was somewhat larger and more pretentious than “La Poterie” but comfortable and very well situated. There was no direct access to the river bank but the water could be seen through trees in the grounds.

Well, its hard to see the river but it was there, through the trees

Here it is with a view of Saint Ythier College on the left bank

The town of Sully developed at this place because it was one of the few at which the river could be forded. This naturally made it strategically important and the site was fortified from early historical times with the oldest remains still in existence dating from 1102.

The castle was seriously damaged by floods in 1363 and the owner at the time appointed Raymond du Temple, designer of the Louvre, to plan and oversee its restoration.      In 1602 it was purchased by Maximilian de Béthune, Henry IV 's Finance Minister and the first Duc de Sully who started a process of expansion and conversion to a palatial residence continued by others in later centuries and culminating in public ownership after the second world war.

Here are some photos taken from different viewpoints.

From the Park

Over the Moat from the Esplanade beside the river

From the Town

The land upriver of Sully is densely cultivated now but was vulnerable to regular springtime floods in years gone by – no doubt enriching the soil with deposits and minerals carried down from the interior.      This transformation was created by a levée on each bank I estimated to be some 25 feet above the water level in May 2018.

There is now a surfaced roadway along the top of the southern Levée running eastwards for about 8km from the Chateau for the use of pedestrians, cyclists and approved but strictly limited “riverains” as the owners of the one guest house and four or five farms beside it are called.

Voie Verte on the top of the Levée

I made an expedition along this part of the “Loire a Velo” route, continuing on a minor road to the small village of Lion-en-Sullias and back along a slightly larger road with very little traffic as this part of my ride was during the traditional French lunch hour when very nearly everyone is occupied with their vittles. I returned to the levée along a single track lane in order to get back to the Chateau without going through the town.

There were several places with pleasing views and spring flowers as the following photos show.

A Bend in the Loire with Dampierre Nuclear Power Station in the Background

Dampierre is one of several such stations along the Loire, sited there to use the river water for condensing exhaust steam from the turbines, and has four 937 MW reactors.      Construction was started in 1974 and electricity first produced six years later. So that reactor has been in operation for 38 of its 40 year design lifetime and will be one of the first in France to be closed.     As in Britain, measures to extend the life are being taken but the cost of eventual de-commissioning and disposal of irradiated materials is the source of much controversy.

France's nationalised electricity supplier – EDF – has made some financial provision for these closures but critics assert the final bill will be much higher than has so far been allowed.       That was one of the reasons EDF's own Finance Director resigned a year or two ago when he thought the company's commitment to finance and build the next generation reactors at Hinkley Point in England would create too much debt for the company and market to bear.

Gorse and Mayflower Bloom together

I was in clover here

I also made a couple of explorations by car whilst staying at the Jardin-de-Sully site but the “Loire a Velo” route to the east ran some distance from the river through rather open agricultural fields that I found less interesting so I didn't attempt that on the bike.