Cycling Across France

[JohnFEV]

I'm planning on doing this sometime in the next 18 months depending on the situation with the pandemic. I've wanted to do it for a few years and have kept putting it off, however the situation over the last 12 months have made me realise that it's time to do it.

I've started planning and may even do it as a sponsored event to raise funds for a cyclist mate of mine who's got MND. I've set up a little website [removed by moderator] to document, for me (and anyone else who might be interested), the process of planning and the actual trip when it happens.

[dodger1]

Have you considered an organised group?
Green Jersey do a channel to med ride. I did a different ride with them in Sep 2019 and they were excellent.

[Jdsk]

I've started planning and may even do it as a sponsored event to raise funds for a cyclist mate of mine who's got MND. I've set up a little website [removed by moderator] to document, for me (and anyone else who might be interested), the process of planning and the actual trip when it happens.

From that website:

In my first blog, I mentioned how the pandemic and lockdown have given me plenty of spare time (I’m a self-employed people photographer). As a result, I’ve had time to research France En Velo on the internet. The question I saw most often was are the GPX files available anywhere? It became clear that they didn’t appear to be.
I’ve spent a lot of hours painstakingly going through the book and using google maps & Streetview to create GPX files for the entire route. Once I’d done this I realised a) how much work is involved in doing it b) that work may be of value to others. So as part of my website, I decided to sell my work to those who would like to do the trip too. While I can’t guarantee that these routes are absolutely 100% correct I can tell you with some certainty that they are about as close as you could possibly get if they’re not!
I’ve created 4 individual packages; one which has each of the individual stages as detailed in the book. The other three are the suggested itineraries in the book; The 14-day classic, the 21-day explorer, and the 10-day challenge. Each package also includes the Mont Ventoux route from Sault.
You can purchase them here and if you do, thank you…every GPX package sold gets me closer to doing the trip myself.

When we did this I asked the author and she pointed me to the free existing routes at:
https://ridewithgps.com

Previous discussion:
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=105659

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

I've started planning and may even do it as a sponsored event to raise funds for a cyclist mate of mine who's got MND. I've set up a little website [removed by moderator] to document, for me (and anyone else who might be interested), the process of planning and the actual trip when it happens.

From that website:

In my first blog, I mentioned how the pandemic and lockdown have given me plenty of spare time (I’m a self-employed people photographer). As a result, I’ve had time to research France En Velo on the internet. The question I saw most often was are the GPX files available anywhere? It became clear that they didn’t appear to be.
I’ve spent a lot of hours painstakingly going through the book and using google maps & Streetview to create GPX files for the entire route. Once I’d done this I realised a) how much work is involved in doing it b) that work may be of value to others. So as part of my website, I decided to sell my work to those who would like to do the trip too. While I can’t guarantee that these routes are absolutely 100% correct I can tell you with some certainty that they are about as close as you could possibly get if they’re not!
I’ve created 4 individual packages; one which has each of the individual stages as detailed in the book. The other three are the suggested itineraries in the book; The 14-day classic, the 21-day explorer, and the 10-day challenge. Each package also includes the Mont Ventoux route from Sault.
You can purchase them here and if you do, thank you…every GPX package sold gets me closer to doing the trip myself.

When we did this I asked the author and she pointed me to the free existing routes at:
https://ridewithgps.com

Previous discussion:
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=105659

Jonathan

I am quite shocked. Selling a gpx route for one not even ridden! All my cycling around France has been using cycle.travel (free) and I get excellent routes every day. Or follow an EV (again, free). Makes me wonder what type of cyclist would buy somebody else's routes that have not even been cycled.

And cycle.travel (free) you get turn by turn directions included if you want.

Ian

[JohnFEV]

Jonathan

I am quite shocked. Selling a gpx route for one not even ridden! All my cycling around France has been using cycle.travel (free) and I get excellent routes every day. Or follow an EV (again, free). Makes me wonder what type of cyclist would buy somebody else's routes that have not even been cycled.

And cycle.travel (free) you get turn by turn directions included if you want.

Ian

I had no idea this would be so controversial!

Like I said in the quote, COVID has effectively put me out of work for 3 months. When I first started researching the route most of the comments were "where can I get the GPX files?" I didn't see the question answered once otherwise I wouldn't have put the time into creating them myself. Assuming that they weren't available, I spent probably nearly 20 hours painstakingly going through the book, matching it with maps on google and images on Streetview. While they've not been ridden I'll hang my hat on them being completely accurate.

I'm not forcing anyone to buy them, but having put so much effort into creating them it seemed like a reasonable idea to offer them to others for a small amount. For a few quid it saves anyone the bother of going looking, of course I have no issue with anyone that does.

I apologise if it's caused offence.

[Psamathe]

Jonathan

I am quite shocked. Selling a gpx route for one not even ridden! All my cycling around France has been using cycle.travel (free) and I get excellent routes every day. Or follow an EV (again, free). Makes me wonder what type of cyclist would buy somebody else's routes that have not even been cycled.

And cycle.travel (free) you get turn by turn directions included if you want.

Ian

I had no idea this would be so controversial!

Like I said in the quote, COVID has effectively put me out of work for 3 months. When I first started researching the route most of the comments were "where can I get the GPX files?" I didn't see the question answered once otherwise I wouldn't have put the time into creating them myself. Assuming that they weren't available, I spent probably nearly 20 hours painstakingly going through the book, matching it with maps on google and images on Streetview. While they've not been ridden I'll hang my hat on them being completely accurate.

I'm not forcing anyone to buy them, but having put so much effort into creating them it seemed like a reasonable idea to offer them to others for a small amount. For a few quid it saves anyone the bother of going looking, of course I have no issue with anyone that does.

I apologise if it's caused offence.

Where do you get "offence". I'm surprised given how many free resources are available (cycle.travel biroto, etc.). And tools like cycle.travel often include recorded road traffic in selecting routes (information GoogleEarth can't really provide). France is easy to find good routes (free and non-techy, incl. with turn-by-turn directions if using GPS which many do these days).

Ian

[JohnFEV]

Where do you get "offence". I'm surprised given how many free resources are available (cycle.travel biroto, etc.). And tools like cycle.travel often include recorded road traffic in selecting routes (information GoogleEarth can't really provide). France is easy to find good routes (free and non-techy, incl. with turn-by-turn directions if using GPS which many do these days).

Ian

The point of the France En Velo book is that it IS the route. Sure, I can go and find routes anywhere, I know that, although I wasn't aware of cycle.travel (thank you) But can I find THAT route? I don't know, but I don't need to now, because I've created the files I need and I know that they're faithful to the book.

[Jdsk]

The point of the France En Velo book is that it IS the route. Sure, I can go and find routes anywhere, I know that, although I wasn't aware of cycle.travel (thank you) But can I find THAT route? I don't know...

For ridewithgps:

https://ridewithgps.com/find#search/0/search%5Boffset%5D=0&search%5Bstart_distance%5D=50&search%5Bstart_location%5D=&search%5Bkeywords%5D=%22france+en+velo%22&search%5Blength_min%5D=0&search%5Blength_max%5D=500&search%5Belevation_min%5D=0&search%5Belevation_max%5D=10000&search%5Bsort_by%5D=created+asc

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

For cycle.travel:

https://cycle.travel/search/%22France%20En%20Velo%22

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

What I find so surprising is that France is packed with excellent routes. They are everywhere without needing to follow "the route". Unless a route is following some historically significant path (e.g. St Jacobs Way - more popular with Dutch and Germans than British) it's so easy to create a route through anywhere you want to go along the way.

From when I lived in France and cycle toured in France there are excellent restaurants everywhere, fantastic quiet lanes all over the place. I see books about people's 1st hand experiences of touring France as inspiration for others rather than a recipe to be exactly repeated.

Ian

[Jdsk]

I'd never done anything on this scale before. France en Velo gave me convenient stages, personally tested campsites and other accommodation, food shops, bike shops and confidence.

Jonathan

[scottg]

France, open the Michelin Guide, look for a 1 to 3 star restaurant,
head in that direction.
On the Michelin map follow the D class, white roads with the green stripe
as much as possible.
Repeat until funds depleted.

The only easier country for cycle travel is Switzerland.

[nirakaro]

From when I lived in France and cycle toured in France there are excellent restaurants everywhere

How long ago was that? Back in the eighties I'd have agreed with you, but my experience of France in the last ten years or so is that a typical town may have a rather swanky, overpriced (and rather quiet) restaurant, a not-very-good pizzeria, and somewhere doing an o.k. kebab or merguez-frites. The only place doing really good business is the MacDonald's on the edge of town.

[Psamathe]

From when I lived in France and cycle toured in France there are excellent restaurants everywhere

How long ago was that? Back in the eighties I'd have agreed with you, but my experience of France in the last ten years or so is that a typical town may have a rather swanky, overpriced (and rather quiet) restaurant, a not-very-good pizzeria, and somewhere doing an o.k. kebab or merguez-frites. The only place doing really good business is the MacDonald's on the edge of town.

I moved back to UK 12 years ago but been cycle touring and visiting friends who live there since then. It depends what you are after; if you want Raymond Blanc then you probably do need a guide book - but I suspect most people cycle touring don't want that. I've almost always found somewhere worth eating at, descent stuff. But maybe you have highlighted some problem with such "guides", that the situation is constantly changing so something printed will certainly have some out of date info by the time it's printed, stocked and purchased then used. Also, different people are looking for different things e.g. price is more important to some than others.

I tend to use Archies to chose campsites (online/download) - which is maintained up-to-date on an ongoing basis. But after one hard very very hot ride (in 2019's 40℃ heatwave) I arrived at my campsite to find it closed down - listing was had not been updated that year! (and I had a further 20 miles to ride). It happens and something more dynamic is more likely to be more up to date when it comes to practical details.

You highlight one trend I noticed (which was a pity) with things closing down - for me in particular boulangeries! I tend to get-up early, have a coffee whilst packing up camp then stop at first boulangerie for breakfast. But with so many village boulangeries closed down and baguette vending machines taking over (and I don't find the supermarket baguettes much good), breakfast can have to drift to become lunch.

Ian

[francovendee]

I can assure you that reasonably priced good restaurants do exist. The problem being that unless you wish to eat lunchtime you'll probably find them closed in the evening.
We shift our eating pattern and crack on in the mornings and get two thirds of the distance covered. A very filling 3 course lunch and maybe a coffee or a wine for around 13€. A slow start to the afternoon and we do the remainder of that day's ride at a gentle pace.
A light snack is all we need for the evening.
I've never had to resort to MacDonald's, yet!