Thank you everyone for all the help
We're going to look seriously into maps in the next couple of days, the IGN Yellow (green in the past) the Michelin and whatever else IGN suggests. I think unless there's a solid cycle path which is tarmac we may want to stay on-road because this year we had many issues trying to find these cycle paths, but if the road is so good we may as well stick to them.
The weight of evidence is with our meths trangia, so I'm going for that (gas was convenient but difficult at times this year).
Transport is still an issue. Will Eurostar hike their fares massively during holiday season? We'll probably be leaving shortly after July 22nd and returning up to three weeks later. Eurostar seems best at the moment because it takes us directly to our start point at quite a good price and we're pretty short on time - although if they do up the price Newhaven > Dieppe seems like a good second option, but we would have to take the train into Paris since that's already some significant cycling.
Thanks for the tip about the Alps, we'll almost definitely be going to Provence, so if anyone has any suggested routes both for that or any other leg of the trip, it would be very much appreciated.
Is there a specific route that we should take? Going through the Parc National des Ecrins seems like a good idea.
Thanks again.
Search found 51 matches
- 22 Dec 2010, 10:24pm
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: Cycling Through France This Summer
- Replies: 40
- Views: 3978
- 21 Dec 2010, 12:11am
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: Cycling Through France This Summer
- Replies: 40
- Views: 3978
Re: Cycling Through France This Summer
"But primarily one item we’d leave behind next time would be, surprisingly, the Trangia. Before this tour I swore by the thing, in every sense it is practical. But after 2 weeks we ran out of Metholated spirit and found it hard to locate more. Despite always cleaning it after use and wrapping it plastic bags it would always manage to leak and stink out and stain everything in the panniers. We ended up sending it home in the post and reverted to Gas. It was lighter, cheaper, cleaner, lasted longer and was readily available everywhere."
Saw this on travellingtwo.com and it was two guys that cycled through France. Any reactions?
Saw this on travellingtwo.com and it was two guys that cycled through France. Any reactions?
- 20 Dec 2010, 9:28pm
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: Cycling Through France This Summer
- Replies: 40
- Views: 3978
Re: Cycling Through France This Summer
Thank you very much everyone, I will look into this.
We do prefer off-road routes, but we had some pretty bad experiences with off-road ones that were badly maintained (we cycled through a damn wood up a hill about 30%) so unless they're fantastic off road like canal paths I'm not too bothered. Although how are the French drivers? I heard that as bad as they are they're pretty good towards
Meths are fine, we have a chunky (ancient) trangia which takes meths.
Well my friend lives in Bristol and I've moved to Essex but Portsmouth is fairly good. We'd probably want to do all our cycling in France since we'll be short on time, but thanks anyway. Basically looking for the cheapest route even if it's a bit uncomfortable.
Just found the maps, how about this one? Do you think we could do the entire thing with one map?
http://www.mapsworldwide.com/sku_2112.htm
This seems like an awful lot of maps, doing the previous tour we ended up using the green OS road map.
http://loisirs.ign.fr/5294259/serie/car ... op-100.htm
So what are peoples recommendations? This or Lejog?
We do prefer off-road routes, but we had some pretty bad experiences with off-road ones that were badly maintained (we cycled through a damn wood up a hill about 30%) so unless they're fantastic off road like canal paths I'm not too bothered. Although how are the French drivers? I heard that as bad as they are they're pretty good towards
Meths are fine, we have a chunky (ancient) trangia which takes meths.
Well my friend lives in Bristol and I've moved to Essex but Portsmouth is fairly good. We'd probably want to do all our cycling in France since we'll be short on time, but thanks anyway. Basically looking for the cheapest route even if it's a bit uncomfortable.
Just found the maps, how about this one? Do you think we could do the entire thing with one map?
http://www.mapsworldwide.com/sku_2112.htm
This seems like an awful lot of maps, doing the previous tour we ended up using the green OS road map.
http://loisirs.ign.fr/5294259/serie/car ... op-100.htm
So what are peoples recommendations? This or Lejog?
- 20 Dec 2010, 5:54pm
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: waterproof Panniers?
- Replies: 28
- Views: 2505
Re: waterproof Panniers?
Did tour from South to North and back and it poured with rain, Ortlieb backrollers were incredible. Buy them.
- 20 Dec 2010, 5:42pm
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: Cycling Through France This Summer
- Replies: 40
- Views: 3978
Cycling Through France This Summer
Plan is either
Paris <-> Nancy <->Aix en Provence <-> Paris
OR
Paris <-> Aix en Provence <-> Nantes <-> Paris
starting shortly after 22nd July.
1. How does this sound? What is touring in France like? Only done two tours before and they were from Bristol > Exeter and Bristol > Peaks > Liverpool > Bristol.
2. What maps should we use? Should we plan the route?
3. How much would the Eurostar or travel to France be at that time of year? We would probably leave from London.
4. How would it compare to lejog?
5. Which way round should we do it? The cities in which order?
Thanks for the help
Paris <-> Nancy <->Aix en Provence <-> Paris
OR
Paris <-> Aix en Provence <-> Nantes <-> Paris
starting shortly after 22nd July.
1. How does this sound? What is touring in France like? Only done two tours before and they were from Bristol > Exeter and Bristol > Peaks > Liverpool > Bristol.
2. What maps should we use? Should we plan the route?
3. How much would the Eurostar or travel to France be at that time of year? We would probably leave from London.
4. How would it compare to lejog?
5. Which way round should we do it? The cities in which order?
Thanks for the help
- 24 Jul 2010, 12:24am
- Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
- Topic: First Road Bike
- Replies: 10
- Views: 2254
First Road Bike
Okay, I'm new to proper cycling, I justs did about 700 miles touring in the last couple of weeks (all broken up)and that's absolutely it. So, I'm looking to buy a racing bike to get into cycling,. (If anyone's wondering I did the touring on my dad's old Dawes Discovery 601)
So, my limit is about £110 ($170) and at the moment I'm looking at second hand Carrera Valour or Virtuoso but that fact they come from halford's sounds very dodgy to me so I'm quite cautious about it. "Racing bike for £110? Easy!" I hear you say, but here's the catch: I want one with those fancy gear changing brakes instead of levers on the frame.
Also, if anyone has any experience with the Carrera brand it would be great to hear from you.
Thanks
So, my limit is about £110 ($170) and at the moment I'm looking at second hand Carrera Valour or Virtuoso but that fact they come from halford's sounds very dodgy to me so I'm quite cautious about it. "Racing bike for £110? Easy!" I hear you say, but here's the catch: I want one with those fancy gear changing brakes instead of levers on the frame.
Also, if anyone has any experience with the Carrera brand it would be great to hear from you.
Thanks