Marianne and her son Sébastien came from Spain on purpose to pedal along the banks of the Loire. “We are going to Tours by bike. Before the Covid, we had done 100km in Spain in 4 days, when he was 6 years old” she explains at the microphone of France Blue Orleans. At the time, he did it without worry, so there, now that he is 10 years old, we are going a little further, a little faster (smiles)“.
A rental she made via the Internet. “It was very easy for me, even if I took it a bit at the last minute, and that’s not good (laughs)”. A few moments later, a family from Tarn also picked up their rental bike, but they had planned their move. “We booked them a few weeks ago, so there’s no stress“.
Less stock for greater demand
These tourists are rather lucky because in the next few days, it will be almost impossible to rent a two-wheeler in Orléans. Jean-Claude langerome, is manager of DFJ location, next to Orléans station: “It’s already packed, a lot of reservations were made in May, June. There, if someone comes, it can still do, but I only have about fifteen bikes left”, he explains.
– Julien Froment
Because stocks are limited, manufacturers are struggling to supply. Jean-Claude Langerome, for example, only has 70 bikes available this summer, compared to double last year at this time.
Isabelle, manager of the Vélo Val de Loire shop, agrees: “It starts well in view of July 14th. Tourists have returned en masse, foreigners are back. From Canada, the United States, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, even Saint-Pierre and Miquelon“, she lists for France Blue Orleans. Foreign tourists are more far-sighted than the French, they organize – as a general rule – everything upstream. The French are more like ‘oh, hey, the weather is nice, let’s go cycling. On short rentals, we always try to have stock, on the other hand on long-term rentals, it becomes more tense.“
In any case, no problem for Marianne, her well-laden luggage rack, her sandwiches ready and the banks of the Loire awaiting her for the big departure.