Cycling the length of France

[dp_Dyl]

For a period of 3 weeks at the end of May and leading into the beginning of June I shall be cycling from my home in the UK to the South of France via Dover & Calais. In terms of preparation I seem to be doing well with working on what kit I will be taking and how I'm going to go about the daily logistics of staying healthy on the road but I seem to be running into difficulties in planning a route to follow...

The initial idea was to head Southwest from Calais towards Brittany and then follow the coast down to Bordeaux before travelling Southeast and further inland in the direction of Montpellier and finally along the Med towards Nice. My reasoning for this route was that Western France would be flatter than central/Eastern so the first half of my trip, whilst I'm still conditioning my body to long distance cycling, wouldn't be an overkill for my first ever tour. Come to think of it though I have no idea where this idea came from and I'm a little concerned about missing some of France's best bits!

So, if anybody has some advice on which route to take, which valleys to pass, which mountains to climb or which villages to visit then please let me know! Maybe cycling down the East of the country would be better for me. Dramatic landscapes for photographic opportunities and small villages with local French cuisine is what I'm looking for! Many thanks.

Dylan

[Robert]

.....and I'm a little concerned about missing some of France's best bits!

I shouldn't worry, you will miss some of France's best bits in one tour. You'll just have to choose which of the best bits you visit this time.

[robgul]

See www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk - (blatant plug) and the Journals/Other/France .... Wine-ding Down Through France - fantastic trip in 2008 - Calais - Arras - Reims - Dijon - Lyon - Avignon - Camargue - Montpellier.

BUT - wherever you go in France the cycling is pretty good!

Rob

[dp_Dyl]

Maybe Eastern France will be a better option. It's a shorter distance which would mean a slower ride over 3 weeks...

[vernon]

Maybe Eastern France will be a better option. It's a shorter distance which would mean a slower ride over 3 weeks...

it's a very pleasant ride and I whole heartedly endorse Robgul's suggestion - I cycled the same route and it's far from lumpy and brings you within striking distance of Ventoux if you want a challenge along the way.

[Chesterfield]

We cycled Roscoff to Santander and also once cycled home from Orange, plus many other shorter touring hols. You need more than one trip to get all the best bits. The beauty of France (well one of them...) is the discovery of all the places you DONT know about before you go. Going through the Massif Central the Puy de Domes area is amazing - the town of Le Puy en Vellay will blow your mind. Or if you keep to a more westerly route as we did, you can go through Les Landes, the area of pine forest and visit the Turpentine Museum.

We started off broadly following one of the routes posted by a fellow CTC member (cheers!) but gradually deviated as we found our own rhythm and confidence. We had one fold out map of the whole of France and cut the relevant pages out of the A3 sized road atlas of France. We used the big map to plot our general direction and the road atlas to do the detailed work. Basically planning a day at a time, but sticking to the main direction.

Have a great time. Wish I was going with you!

[biciclista]

You could use part of the CTC route FRLD21 (St. Malo - Cuneo, Italy) up to Vaison la Romaine and then it would be easy to get to the sea at Sete, near Montpellier. I did this route in 2010 with my husband. It was a marvellous route with lots of variety and all on small roads. The directions on the route sheet were spot on and I can highly reccomend it. We took a tent and had no difficulty at all in finding campsites, though, as we did the route in a lot less time than the couple who planned the route, we didn't use many of the campsite on the route sheet.

I also did another C2C route mostly following CTC FRLD 2 route diverting off the route occasionally visiting places suggested in Robin Neillands "Cycle Touring in France" book but as it was written in 1989 I wouldn't suggest you follow the whole route as some of the roads suggested I know to be extremely busy now. Again this was a good route mostly on quiet roads. On this trip we stayed in hotels and apart from 1 night we didn't have any difficulty finding them, but I would advise you go armed with a list of hotels and chambre d'hotes and phone 1 day ahead which we ended up doing.

Both routes are from St. Malo but I don't think you will have any difficulty picking up either of the routes elsewhere.

I am also looking at 2 routes which have been done by a chap on a recumberant as I intend to cycle Spain this year, but you could use part of his route as far a the South of France.
http://www.x-alt.com/blog/index.php

[nirakaro]

Any particular reason for starting at Calais? It's a nice enough town, but there seems to be a consensus that it's one of the less rewarding channel ports to cycle from. I've much preferred the countryside around le Havre or Dieppe, and others have recommended Caen or St Malo. Worth a thought?

[robgul]

Any particular reason for starting at Calais? It's a nice enough town, but there seems to be a consensus that it's one of the less rewarding channel ports to cycle from. I've much preferred the countryside around le Havre or Dieppe, and others have recommended Caen or St Malo. Worth a thought?

Calais - Eurotunnel bike service - no-brainer! Once out of the place (c 5 miles) countryside is rolling and pleasant.

Rob

[bikepacker]

Having cycled the length of France 3 times each by a different route and done bike tours in most areas of the country, I concur with much of the advice given. The choice of route has to be yours and if I were doing a route from UK to Nice (which is on the cards for next year) my route would be roughly like this.

Ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe. Head for Orleans using minor roads, Roughly follow the Loire down to Le Puy. Go through the Cevennes and take in Avignon. Via Ventoux to skirt the Luberon and to the Canyon du Verdon. From there take Route Napoleon to Grasse then drop down into Nice.

Like I said every route has its highlights but this one will give you a great look at the different aspects of France.

[Robert]

Any particular reason for starting at Calais? It's a nice enough town, but there seems to be a consensus that it's one of the less rewarding channel ports to cycle from. I've much preferred the countryside around le Havre or Dieppe, and others have recommended Caen or St Malo. Worth a thought?

Calais - Eurotunnel bike service - no-brainer! Once out of the place (c 5 miles) countryside is rolling and pleasant.

Rob

I'm with Rob on this one. The area around Calais (& Boulogne is under rated). Calais has the advantage of cheap and frequent crossings. From where I start Portsmouth is far easier than Dover, it's fifty miles or so, which makes a good first day's ride to the ferry, but, Portsmouth - St Malo is eye wateringly expensive. We justify it by reference to the fewer days we'll be travelling. Thinking about Newhaven-Dieppe, I don't much fancy being tipped off a ferry at 3 in the morning on the late crossing, and a 9.30 sailing would be real challenge to cycle to.

[Bottled]

Last year I followed a route from Portsmouth/Le Havre towards Rambouillet then Dijon down to the Med. at Le Grau du Roi. Around 1500km total fully laden with camping gear.
Much of my inspiration was takeN from Edward Enfield's book:' Downhill All the Way'. Edward (comedian Harry Enfield's dad) pretty much chose a route to the Med. that followed rivers South. It is well worth reading as it lists some great places to stay and see. I found that I leap frogged his stops a bit and cut a few corners but the book still stands as a good guide for a cycling tour covering the length of France.

[stephen_]

Hi OP which route did you finally decide on?

Thanks
S

[jimt]

This may be too close to your departure date to be of any use. Two years ago I cycled from Calais to Perugia in Italy. My inspiration for the French part of the route was, ironically, Rick Stein's TV programme in which he went from Calais to the Med by canal boat. In many shots you saw people on bikes & mopeds riding on tow paths. There were many stretches of metalled towpath forbidden to traffic. A particularly good section was 3-days worth in the Haut Marne from near Reims to Dijon. Where there wasn't I was almost always cycling on quiet country lanes.This worked pretty well and from Calais to Arles there were only one or two serious hills including a worthwhile diversion to the Route Des Dames. I spent time in Reims, Dijon & Lyon en route and was able to spend a day in the Camargue to see flamingoes & bulls from a base in Arles. Having driven through Northern France dozens of times on the motorway I was a bit concerned that that part of the journey would be boring ( as other contributors have suggested) but that simply wasn't the case and I only experienced a half day of open "prairie".

[DavidWC]

i am cycling down to avignon or thereabouts in early june - i am crossing to st malo and basing my route on the route that is available on the ctc route website that goes from st malo to sete - it seems a good quiet route with some commentary - i found it really useful
the only variation i am making is toward the end when i want to ride the gorge du tarn
hope this helps
David