Cycle routes St Malo to South France

[Rogerhk]

I want to cycle the length of France.
I know of the west coast route, but l would like a more inland route.
I am looking for advice with taking the train one way and a flattish route avoiding big cities the other way.

[PrinterJohn]

A couple of years ago we cycled St.Malo to Bordeaux, then the Garrone - Canal de Midi then on to Narbonne. This is all flat and a lot of car free miles.

[RodT]

Have you looked at 'France En Velo', by John Walsh and Hannah Reynolds, published by Wild Things? It describes a route from St. Malo to Nice in great detail. I rode it as far the Loire last year, and I know others who have done the whole route and are very enthusiastic about it. It gives suggestions about accommodation, including camp sites, as well as useful information along the way. I was very glad to learn about the bike shop in Vitré, where a very obliging mechanic replaced a broken spoke (rear wheel, drive side of course, no chain whip) in the half-hour before closing on a Saturday afternoon.
The book give a choice of itineraries and is generally a good winter read.
The route does include Mont Ventoux...

[pj76]

I'm going the other way, from Girona to st malo. It's a diagonal. My stops are as follows, avoiding the Pyrenees because it's early march.

Barcelona - girona- perpignan- Carcassonne - Toulouse - Agen - perigeux - angouleme - Poitiers - angers -rennes - st malo.

[Rogerhk]

Printer John
Did you come back by train

Roger

[Rogerhk]

Rod T
No l haven't read that book l will get it. At the moment the best idea l been given is take the train south cycle back then two or so days before arriving at a ferry port book ferry. This avoids deadlines and IF we give up we can hop a train back to the ferry.

Roger

[ossie]

Just a warning that inland can be a little 'lumpy' unless you stick to the route suggested above (Canal du midi etc). I've done Gerona / St Malo (Inland route) and although I took in the Pyrenees on day 1 and 2 via Camprodon there was 29000 feet of climbing over the 700 miles . It would have been worse if I hadn't taken a few busier(more direct) roads.

That said it was a great route bang up the middle of rural France.

[PrinterJohn]

Hi, when we did St. Malo to Narbonne we caught trains from Narbonne to Toulouse then back up canals. Beware Toulouse and Narbonne that bike well locked if going into shops etc.

[MartinBrice]

take a look at Downhill All The Way by harry enfield's dad, quite a good description of his route and how to avoid the hills. also well written.

[MattH]

I followed the France en Velo book route back in September. At least in the earlier stages there is a bit of a discrepancy between the elevation gain figures they quote in the book and what was recorded on my bike computer (may be twice as much in the garmin compared to the book in a few places). Later on as things get a bit more mountainous, the quoted figures seem far more accurate. The bigger climbs really start occurring as you get quite far south, and to be honest they were some of the best parts of the trip in my view, some of the views and descents were just incredible.

On the way back I took the train from Nice to St Malo. The sleeper train I was originally looking at no longer runs and in the spirit of trying things out I took my bike in a bike bag with my panniers inside a large ikea bag and made the complete journey in a single day from Nice->Paris->Rennes->St Malo. I wouldn't do that again - it was a lot of hassle carrying everything particularly with the number of connections, I think allowing at least 2 days to get back and taking trains that allow assembled bikes would be the way to go.

[Rogerhk]

MattH
Two years ago me and a friend took bike on the train from Caen to Tours and back. It was cheap and good we booked online you just wheeled the bikes on hooked the bikes up on the wall and sat down with the panniers.
Problem we having trying to book over such a long distance using local trains which you can do this. We used captain trainline.eu but they appear to be merged with trainline.eu which don't appear to have option for booking bikes.

Roger

[Slowroad]

Hi, when we did St. Malo to Narbonne we caught trains from Narbonne to Toulouse then back up canals. Beware Toulouse and Narbonne that bike well locked if going into shops etc

Yes - friend had bike stolen from hotel 'secure' compound in Narbonne.

[mikey951r]

Hi

Two of us are setting off on the France en Velo route in June. We’re taking the ferry to St Malo and flying back from Nice with Sleasy Jet. We’re mostly camping so don’t envisage any probs with accommodation. The route and the description look comprehensive. I’ll be taking the book and chopping the pages out as I need them for the handlebar bag map case. My mate is more Gps orientated. Both quite fit, and I’ve done LEJOG 3 years ago. Any general advice or comments will be we’ll received. Mike

[Jdsk]

We used France en Velo. The book before the trip and the Kindle version during it.

Highly Recommended.

Jonathan