Two centre French holiday planning.

[pootler]

In late May early June my daughter are planning to do some warmer cycling in France. The basic plan is that my wife and I will travel with the bikes to somewhere in France. My daughter will then fly out and we will go off for 4 or 5 days while my wife stays with the van. We would then travel to a second site and repeat the trip. Now the issue where do we go? It must be a good site with access to places of interest, town within walking or short driving distance so that my wife can stay sane whilst we go off enjoying ourselves.We would be camping and fully loaded with maximum comfortable daily mileage being about 60. So far suggestions have been Beaune and Bourg D'Oisans. Has anyone done anything similar or got any good ideas?

[phil1965]

i will be in france next june,were camping over towards the beaches of the d-day landings

[Big T]

My wife and i stayed near Bourg d'Oisans earlier this year. Camping La Belladonne near Allemond, about 4 miles down the valley from Bourg. There are some iconic TDF climbs within easy riding distance - Galibier, Alpe D'Huez and Col de Croix de Fer are all nearby. There are plenty more within a few days ride. There are a few smaller climbs nearby too- Col d'Ornon, Les Deux Alpes and others.

we plan to return next year and do a 2 centre holiday - a week in Bourg D'Oisans and a week either further south, so we can take in the Ventoux, or further north so that we can take in some of the northern Alpine climbs - possibly Annecy.

We drove down with a stop-over at Reims, but Grenoble is near to Bourg D'oisans (about 20 miles) so your daughter could fly into there.

Edited for spelling.

[eileithyia]

All depends on your wife's interests I guess; Birdwatching? head right down to the south; Montpellier area, lots of good bird watching opportunities and with the Gorges nearby you have the vultures as well as wild flamingoes. Then there will be some good walking country as well. There is also Nimes nearby (most Roman antiquities to be found) the coast to the East of Montpellier is lovely with an ancient walled town (name escapes at moment, too early).

[Galloper]

1st Suggestion: Blois on the Loire. The town is pleasant and Orleans and Tours are within easy reach. You can also enjoy Loire a Velo and the surrounding area..

2nd Suggestion: Gorge du Tarn. Wonderful cycling in the Gorge and also up into the surrounding Causses. Some pretty villages in the Gorge.

Cycling Southern France by Richard Peace is a very good source of advice.

Bonne Route!

[pootler]

Thanks for the replies so far. My wife stayed at bourg d'oisans last summer and went up Alp D'uez in the van. I swear the brakes were on fire on the way down! It has a lot of special routes, but I wonder about how successful a tour around the area would be. I hadn't thought of any of the gorges, so that will provide many hours of research and the suggestion of the book is useful. Thank you. Any more ?

[Ron]

i will be in france next june,were camping over towards the beaches of the d-day landings

I hope you have checked that campsites are actually open in June, the northern French seemed rather tardy re getting their act together for the summer season, last time I was there.

[Galloper]

OK - 3rd suggestion: Le Bugue in the Dordogne/Vezere area. Has an excellent campsite "Trois Copains" and wonderful cycling round and about. Perigeux is the nearest town and very pleasant it is too.


4th suggestion. Coulon in the Marais Potevain. Hundreds of km of signed cycle routes which, being a Marais, are all flat! Niort and Nantes are nearby.

[alpgirl]

Dordogne, near Sarlat, followed by the Tarn!

[james-o]

How about the Gorge du Verdon as second spot? Base yourselves (ie wife) near the lake at Moustiers, a lovely town.

Not a long drive from Nice either. Stunning scenery and riding, 4 days would be a nice tour of most of the gorge and surrounding area at 40-50 miles a day. Relatively close by car is Briancon and a bit further is Borg d'Oisans, and the whole area in between the 'Haute Alps' and south into the Alps de Provence (Cols d'Izoard / Vars / Bonnette / Lombarde, Queyras and Mercantour national parks) is great touring country - been around / through there numerous times on and off-road now.

[Mansize-Rooster]

Annecy is beautiful and within reach of some good climbs Semnoz, Appetez, Forclaz, Col de Pre, Cormet de Roseland and Annecy itself is lovely for the wife!! Check

CXheck out stage 20 of 2013 TdF route...loads to do in the area as well.

Camping at Le Femme de la Serrez or LaRavoire (where i stayed earler this year) are both excellent and a great cycling base.

[pootler]

Thanks for all the ideas. I've delegated the planning to my daughter. Could be a bad move, she sees every hill as a challenge that she has to ride up. Me - I usually just end up in an untidy mess by the side of the road.