In the wheel of Balzac?

Our tips April 21th

No, you will not follow Honoré by bicycle, because Balzac traveled a lot on foot… certainly because the Indre by bicycle route did not yet exist in his time!
But the "Balzacian" imprint is clearly visible along the cycle route ...

Between Artannes and Saché (from east to west), you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of "Lys dans la Vallée", the famous - largely autobiographical - novel by Balzac, published in 1836.

Félix de Vandenesse lives with M. de Chessel, at the castle of Frapesle (a fictional place inspired by Valesne, a real castle in the Indre valley, in Saché). He regularly visits the Countess de Mortsauf, at the Château de Clochegourde (in fact, in the novel his description corresponds to the authentic Manoir de Vonnes, next to which the Indre by bike passes, but geographically it corresponds to the château de la Chevrière!), and at the end of the novel, he stays in a small room in the castle of Saché.

“My mother decided that I would spend a few days in Frapesle, a castle located on the Indre between Montbazon and Azay-le-Rideau, with one of her friends […]

The path which leads to the road to Chinon, well beyond Ballan, runs along an undulating plain without remarkable accidents, as far as the small country of Artannes.

There a valley is discovered which begins at Montbazon, ends at the Loire and seems to leap under the castles set on its double hills; a magnificent emerald cup at the bottom of which the Indre rolls by its movements of snakes. […]

I went down, my soul moved, to the bottom of this basket, and soon saw a village… Imagine three mills set among gracefully cut islands, crowned with clumps of trees in the middle of a water meadow […] . A quivering bridge made up of rotten beams, the piles of which are covered with flowers, miller boys [= workers], caps on their ears, busy loading their mules […].

Imagine beyond the bridge two or three farms, a dovecote, turrets, some thirty huts separated by gardens […]. This is the village of Pont de Ruan.

I followed the path of Saché on the left of the river, observing the details of the hills which furnish the opposite bank. Then finally, I reached a park adorned with hundred-year-old trees which indicated the castle of Frapesle. "

My discovery tip

• Leave Artannes towards Azay-le Rideau and, at the top of a small hill, stop at the delicious Manoir de Vonnes (Clochegourde)
• Then retrace your steps, rather your wheel tracks (great, it's going down!) And, on entering Artannes again, leave the véloroute and turn right in the rue du Bol de Lait, where Balzac was regaining his strength.
• At the end of the street, you will discover on your right the manor of the Alouette (described in another novel, the Curé of Tours)
• Then pedal on the cycle path that joins Pont-de-Ruan and admire the famous mills described above.
• After a glance at the church, continue your road towards Saché by the D17. Before arriving there, take the D19 on your left, then after 600m, turn right on the Chemin de Valesne to discover the Château de Valesne, aka Frapesle
• Then join the heart of the village of Saché
• After admiring a mobile by Calder (he lived in the town for a long time) in the square, do not miss a visit to the Balzac Museum
• At the end of the visit, you will join the Indre route by bike by taking the D356 and its bridges which span the flood zones then the river. In the hamlet of Basse-Chevrière, the Indre bicycle signs on your left will lead you to Azay-le Rideau

Hubert Giblet