Cycling UK Forum

Has anyone else discovered Le Vélo Francette? At the end of June, I was following the France En Vélo route. Not good timing- there were amber weather warnings out because of the heatwave. So I diverted to some friend’s farm near Fontenay-le-Comte. In the town’s tourist office I was alerted to Le Vélo Francette, which opened last year. It runs from Caen to La Rochelle, mostly following rivers, so it’s dead flat. The surface is generally smooth, with a layer of fine, dusty grit, which I guess could turn draggy after rain. It’s meticulously signed. I used it as far as Domfront, where I found the Mont St. Michel route, because I needed to get to St. Malo.
New cycle routes seem to be opening all over France. I’d seriously recommend Le Vélo Francette.

I'd never heard of it until your post. But last month I was driving near Clecy in Suisse Normande and crossed a well-signed nice-looking cycle route - now I know what it was.

https://cycling.lavelofrancette.com/cycle-route

Interesting route- would make a nice combination with a trip to the Loire.
Hmmm...

I posted about it in May
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=130030&hilit=francette

Followed the line in June but only rode some of the actual Velo as I am not a lover of some of the convoluted paths they follow to avoid roads that I am perfectly happy to cycle.

Some long stretches of river and rail paths were good.

Well signposted of you want your hand held all way.

hamster wrote:Interesting route- would make a nice combination with a trip to the Loire.
Hmmm...

That's my plan next week if I can bear the heat!

It’s not about having your hand held. With clear signage, you don’t have to worry about route-finding and can just watch the landscape whizz by as you ride yourself into that blissed-out zen-like state which is one of the joys of cycling.

I also cycled it from the port, through Caen to Clecy in that heatwave. In Caen you have to go round the marina but it is easy to find on a map. The tip is to stock up on water and nibbles in Caen as the route misses the towns and villages have few shops but a pleasant route. I would use it in places but I do enjoy cycling through towns and villages in France for the coffee stops and changing scenery, but it is well worth using.

Agreed that it's generally ture that villages in France rarely have any shops or even a water tap and stocking up at the start of the day can be essential.

Just come back from 3 weeks in France (our first time) where we did this in it`s entirety as part of a longer tour. We hadn`t really planned where to go prior to arriving other than a vague "maybe follow the coast around to Brittany" idea. I prefer to be flexible... Came across the route in a tourist information office and thought it looked great. It was.
Dry (very) so no problems on the compacted sections and well signposted. No issues with finding campsites, though as some have said, water and food a stretch at times.
Got a quite hot during the latter part and we took to setting off at first light to avoid the worst of it.
Some quite hilly bits that were a bit of a chore in the heat - I suspect going "off piste" on the routing front might have avoided these.
We continued on to Bordeaux before heading back via Paris (train) and are thinking we might go this way again as part of a trip to Spain next year.

I thought I’d add any planning for my next trip onto this thread as I’m now actively planning the route for June (not that it needs too much planning as it’s preplanned). There’s actually two threads on it- is it be worth combining?

Website information notes:

Route: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/119490
Route website: https://cycling.lavelofrancette.com/

Guide. There appear to be 3 possible guides, a routard one and an ouest France one but this looks like the most popular. Widely available, in french.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/284 ... 1OLE&psc=1

There’s always (Water Taps) outside Churches You’ll always get Water.!!!!

Seem to remember from when I rode parts of it a few years ago there was s section on old railway line near Caen which had rest stops with picnic tables and water taps - all very civilised !

Yes - and on the riverside section, there's taps at all the locks in the Mayenne département, though not so many when you get to Maine-et-Loire. Very welcome considering it hit 40°C when I rode it!

That sounds very interesting - also this year they are opening almost the entirety of the route from Bordeaux to Narbonne, following the Canal du Midi in parts. It's a glorious bike ride.

I think it's called Le Canal de Deux Mers