Day rides in France

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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ndmbike
Posts: 78
Joined: 1 Oct 2011, 12:45pm

Day rides in France

Post by ndmbike »

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this question but couldn't find a better location...

I'm off to France in the car and will be stopping at a place I like and then doing a few day rides. I will start in the north eastern part of the country (the Jura) before moving on south eventually heading to Nice.

Several years ago I was cycle touring in the south of France and found a leaflet with some day rides described in the local office de Tourisme. They used a green to black rating system - a bit like on ski runs. Nice day rides of varying difficulty and length and a usable map included.

Has anyone found anything similar?

At present I am planning on finding an interesting place to stop and then using a mix of road atlas, view ranger maps on the mobile and cyle.travel maps if there is Wifi but will rely most on the road atlas (torn out pages for each day ride).

Thanks
iandriver
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Joined: 10 Jun 2009, 2:09pm
Location: Cambridge.

Re: Day rides in France

Post by iandriver »

I used this website extensively a couple of weeks back https://www.provence-cycling.co.uk
Supporter of the A10 corridor cycling campaign serving Royston to Cambridge http://a10corridorcycle.com. Never knew gardening secateurs were an essential part of the on bike tool kit until I took up campaigning.....
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Graham
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006, 8:48pm

Re: Day rides in France

Post by Graham »

viamichelin.com
This has an additional green stripe alongside roads regarded as particularly scenic.
There is a specific option for route planning by bicycle.

geoportail.fr
The equivalent of UK O.S. Very good for detailed topography, contours, geographical features.
ndmbike
Posts: 78
Joined: 1 Oct 2011, 12:45pm

Re: Day rides in France

Post by ndmbike »

Thanks iandriver, that is really useful.
I shall be heading towards Provence and there are lots of day rides from your link that should be good.

Thanks Graham,
Via Michelin and geoportal are both on my favourites and I have been using them to scheme and plan. I have also found via Michelin to be the best for planning the drive through France.

I realise now that the various French tourist boards offer up their own cyclist friendly info.
I tried a search on "jura" and "cycling" and didn't come up with much but after a few clicks on the links ended up with some useful information. There were some superb day rides that I would like to have a go at.

When I found the tourist board website and searched for cycling I found routes on pdf files.
So I shall probably try and do a bit of research before I head out and will have a few downloads to help me along the way.

Cheers...
thierry
Posts: 3
Joined: 22 Jul 2018, 1:02pm

Re: Day rides in France

Post by thierry »

Are you following the Rhone valley? Or maybe do you intend to cut through the prealps (Grenoble, Gap etc)? The route "Napoléon" (route nationale 85) can be crowded but is really nice.
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