Discover the hidden village gems of rural Loire

One of the curiosities of driving through the Val du Loire is that often in this watery land traversed by the Loire, the Loir, the Cher, the Maine, the Indre and the Vienne - to name just a few - is that much of the time, you don't actually see the river. Instead you roll along high dykes designed to keep water out, low cottages hide at roof level behind earthworks, castles peer off tufa cliffs, roads turn at right angles. Then suddenly, there'll be a large expanse of wild river, herons and wading birds, shifting sandbanks, willows and islets, an ancient multi-arched bridge with old armorial. Nevertheless the rivers have still shaped the landscape and its villages in a unique blend of nature and man-made: the perils of controlling it, the risks of crossing it, castles to see off invaders, and countless churches, abbeys and shrines to save the souls of those who perished in it. If you're not following the Loire à Vélo, you can also get close up to the river on foot along the GR3, one of France's oldest long-distance footpaths.

LOIRE BANKS

To the south of Oréans, the river flows through bucolic riverside communities such as St-Jean-de-Braye and Combleux. Combleux marks the start of the 17th-century Canal d'Orléans that links the Loire to the river Loing at Montargis. Only a narrow wall divides the canal from river. Pretty, flowery houses line the towpath of what was once an important navigation and fishing centre. Note the distance post marked on one of the walls, as well as marks indicating the river's not-infrequent floods.

After liberating Orléans, Joan of Arc also freed nearby Meung-sur-Loire - home to an eccentric château on the main square, an impressive fortified church, a lovely wooden vaulted market hall and a collection of holly. Neighbouring Beaugency is one of those Loire-side towns where the bridge, long the only one between Orléans and Blois, once made the town rather more important than it is today. (The bridge originally had a chapel halfway along it, as at Avignon, only visible today by signs of rebuilding.) Nonetheless there's still plenty to see here, the impressive Tour César - a tall stone keep that turns out to be five floors of empty shell; the long abbey church with its carved Romanesque capitals and a fine wooden organ loft; the belfry tower; and the old centre with its Renaissance town hall, paved streets and friendly Saturday-morning street market. You can also see the remains of the château Dunois, built by an acolyte of Joan of Arc, who after having lifted the Siege of Orleans, liberated the town from the English in 1429

West of Blois, where there's another splendid bridge, the more pleasant route follows the southern bank, passing Chaumont-sur-Loire and running through Amboise towards the wine-producing communes of Vouvray and Montlouis (both known for their sparkling wines) and Tours. At Amboise you can also turn off towards the quieter Cher valley, where, once past the tourist crowds of Chenonceau, you'll find the surprisingly lively small town of Montrichard. Here the tall medieval keep, besieged by king Philippe Auguste during the Hundred Years War, appears to be an early form of skyscraper. The town is a favourite with walkers for the fine view from its 12th-century bridge over the Cher.

THE VIENNE CONFLUENCE

The riverside takes on some of its most luminous allure at Candes-St-Martin, a tiny village with a spectacular riverside setting at the confluence of the Vienne and the Loire at the heart of the Parc Naturel Régional Loire-Anjou-Touraine. The centrepiece is the church, its façade and vaulted entrance porch sculpted with saints, though what strikes you most is the sheer height of the bright lofty interior.

It was built on the spot where St Martin, a Roman legionnaire who not only evangelised the region but also conveniently taught the locals how to prune their vines, died in 397 before his body was smuggled mysteriously out of the village and carried off to Tours. Climb up the lane above the church for a panoramic view over the river; otherwise there's a café-restaurant, a decoration shop, a pottery, some fine old farm buildings, and boat rides from the jetty.

Here you change département but not really mood as Candes runs pretty much into neighbouring Montsoreau, one of the rare places where the castle - the square cream-coloured domain of the Chambes family - was built by the waterside. It has a tree-lined waterfront promenade, several good restaurants and a monthly riverside fleamarket (second Sunday of month), as well as the champignonnier of the Saut-aux-Loups, where you can see and eat the mushrooms cultivated in the cliffs.

Montsoreau is the start of a string of a semi-troglodyte wine-producing villages running along the river towards Saumur, where sometimes only small openings in the cliff face indicate that there are homes or storehouses here. Stop at Turquant, where there's a charming troglodyte hotel, the Demeure de la Vignole, and Souzay-Champigny with its elegant classical façades.

West of Angers, St-Florent-le-Vieil is dominated by its giant abbey church. It is remembered as the spot where thousands of Vendeenne counter-revolutionaries attempted to cross the river to escape Republican forces. A memorial of the aristocratic leader Bonchamps is sculpted by David d'Angers. South of Saumur, the landscape becomes more open and undulating, through arable land and the vineyards of the Coteaux de Layon. The ancient settlement of Doué les Fontaines is famed for its troglodyte zoo and its rose cultivators but you're also likely to spot several moulins Caviers - a distinctive local form of windmill.

THE INDRE VALLEY

After the expanses of the Loire, the Indre valley appears a more secretive, danker place. Twisting back lanes wind through the Forêt de Chinon to the civilised village of Azay-le-Rideau with its fairytale castle and the rose and lily gardens of La Chatonnière. Nearby are the troglodyte farming communities of Les Goupillières, and the village of Saché, with its manor house. Balzac wrote several of the novels in his Comédie Humaine saga as a guest of its owner. Look out for the Atelier Calder, former studio of the American sculptor Alexander Calder, now used for residences by international artists.

Further south of Azay is the basket-weaving village of Villaines-les-Rochers and the Manse valley, where the appealingly isolated village of Crissay has several fine Renaissance houses sitting beneath the ruins of a 15th-century château.

A long bridge across the Indre joins Truyes to Cormery, which climbs up a small mound. Many of the buildings were once part of the important Benedictine abbey. The village is littered with bits of monastic lodgings, fragments of cloister, defensive towers, medieval gateways, the refectory and the truncated tower of the former abbey church. There are also plenty of patisseries where you'll find the local speciality of macaroons.

The Indre's big tourist draw is the medieval town of Loches, with its two castles and fortifications. Eight kilometres further east, picturesque Montrésor, one of the select club of Plus Beaux Villages de France, lounges sleepily along the right bank of the river Indrois. It is a cluster of houses, old lavoirs and fountains and a large, late-gothic church under a powerful château that is all medieval spikes outside and Second Empire largesse within.

Keep heading upstream for the tiny village of Nouans-les-Fontaines, where the church has an extraordinary late-gothic pietà attributed to Touraine painter and miniaturist Jean Fouquet.

Finally, there's a small perfectly laid out geometric gem on the southern tip of the Touraine at Richelieu. Here Cardinal Richelieu set out his experiment in rational town planning, laying out a new town on a strict grid plan within a set of moated avenues and gateways, adjoining the site of the family château (of which only the Orangerie and a few fragments remain) and modestly giving it his own name.

ABBAYE DE FONTEVRAUD

The first time I visited Fontevraud was about 20 years ago, we were travelling in an ancient Citroën 2CV with an outdated edition of the Michelin Green Guide. It still described the abbey as part of a prison, founded by Napoleon.

Sitting in the middle of the long, dirty abbey church were the four dark, barely labelled tomb effigies of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard Coeur de Lion and Isabelle d'Angoulême, wife of John Lackland. The sombre burial place, recalling the atmospheric moment of Plantagenet history, has stayed etched in my memory.

Founded in 1101, the huge abbey complex was home to male and female religious communities. Today, the building features a superb hostellerie and restaurant, and everything is neatly signposted, educational, well-informed - 21st-century tourism has caught up with Fontevraud.

Open daily. Admission times vary. Call 00 33 2 41 51 71 41 or see www.abbaye-fontevraud.com for details; €6.50-€7.90 (£4.70-£5.60).

EIFFEL'S BRIDGE

Perhaps Gustave Eiffel might be more celebrated today for his extremely useful Pont Canal at Briare than for a whimsical metal tower, if his Bridge Canal were not situated 150km from Paris. In any case, the 663m-long metal structure, which carries an entire canal high above the unnavigable Loire river, is one of the most extraordinary sights in the valley. Whether you cross over by boat or walk across along the towpath, it's a memorable experience.

Inaugurated for boat transport on 16 September 1896, the bridge was the culmination of ambitious waterworks schemes begun in 1604 with Henri IV's idea of linking the Seine to the Loire. Conceived by engineers Mazoyer and Sigault, and built by the construction companies of Daydé et Pille and Gustave Eiffel, using massive masonry piles adorned with lampposts and suitably pompous obelisks, this is a feat and a feast of 19th-century technology and confidence.