Touring france

[Graham r]

I am planning on doing a solo tour in France made north to south or west to east anyone go any route they are willing to share

[robgul]

If you go to www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk and look around you'll find the story of our ride from Calais to Montpellier (Wine-ding Down Through France)

Rob

[ossie]

West to East you may want to research Eurovelo 6 which runs from Nantes to the Swiss border and beyond, all nicely signposted, flat within reason, loads of campsites etc.

North to South depends on which ferry port you land at as the routes are varied and numerous.

[nirakaro]

Someone remarked that you really can't go wrong in France, unless you ride from Calais to Dijon. Generally, I formed the view that if you draw a north-south line just east of Paris, east of that line is where the work gets done, and anywhere west of it is a nice holiday destination.
Personally, I found the landscape around Calais uninspiring (and surprisingly hilly), and have preferred starting in le Havre or, especially, Dieppe. Broadly, you can just draw a rough line southward and follow your nose until you hit the Med. You could head to the Loire around Orleans, up the Loire, over the watershed to the Saone or the Rhone then on down; or further west passing Tours, Poitiers, Limoges to the Dordogne. If you fancy the challenge, head to Lake Geneva, then follow the Route des Grandes Alpes, parallelling the Italian border. Or a dozen other routes. Read around a bit, decide what you fancy seeing, and join up the dots. France is full of quiet little roads, and it's hardly ever hard to find a low-traffic route.

[robing]

I did Bayonne to Dieppe last year. Velodyssey to Rochefort then headed inland via Niort, Saumur, Le Mans, Alençon, Le Havre. Quite an easy route, not too hilly apart from Normandy.

[meic]

I have always been intrigued by les Diagonales de France, which is their equivalent of our LeJog, Coast to Coast etc.
http://diagonales.homelinux.net/adf/index.php
Unfortunately if you dont understand French (as I dont) this link may not be of too much use.

[Gearoidmuar]

I've been cycling in France at least 30 times. I've done Brittany to death, have done Paris-Nice, Strasbourg-Nice, Bordeaux-Nice, Nice-Nice, Bordeaux-Pau-Ainsa-Tremp-Andorra-Toulouse and ones I can't even remember.
The one tour I would recommend people to not do is "The Loire Valley." This sounds lovely and is as boring as hell.
The Breton coast, off season is hard in that it's hilly but it's well worth seeing. I've seen it all from Mont Saint Michel (hopeless) to Benodet. Mont Saint Michel is very disappointing. A tourist ant-Hill.

If you've never seen it, the Dordogne (Perigord) is fabulous. The Alps and Pyrenees are brilliant but hard. Did I say hard?
One lovely tour we did was flew to La Rochelle. Cycled around l'isle de Ré (brilliant) and then down to Cognac, Rocamadour, and on to Carcassonne, cycling under the Millau Bridge, via the Tarn Gorge and home. You'd want to be fit for it, but it was wonderful.

TIP for France.
Stay on the white roads (D routes on Michelin map, coloured white) or smaller. The D roads coloured red are busy. Avoid them.

[ubert767]

Have a look at a book called "Fatman in France" by the sadly missed ex BBC man Tom Vernon. Contains details of six enjoyable cycle routes in various parts of this glorious cycling country.

[eileithyia]

Decide start point in France, decide finish point in France, draw a line between the 2, decide what interesting features / towns there appears to be along the route or just off the route... look them up decide what you fancy visiting / incorporating into your route... develop routes using the most minor road you can find.
Other than the paris brest route, my main cycling in France has been in the south; Toulouse, Pyrennees, Ardeche and Tarn gorge area, Carmargue and the area south and east of Montpellier is great if you like your wildlife; Ponies Flamingoes, Bee-Eaters, Waders, further north there are Vultures.

[Audax67]

I have always been intrigued by les Diagonales de France, which is their equivalent of our LeJog, Coast to Coast etc.
http://diagonales.homelinux.net/adf/index.php
Unfortunately if you dont understand French (as I dont) this link may not be of too much use.

Done a couple, Strasbourg-Brest and Strasbourg-Perpignan. I'd recommend the latter; our Str-Brest route was horrendously lumpy at the start and dead boring in the middle. Str-Perp had one hairy bit along the Med coast to Mèze, but that was because we hit it on a Sunday evening in the dark when folk were going home. Otherwise it was a pleasant ride with lots to see.

http://www.openrunner.com/index.php?id=1914824
http://www.pbase.com/johnewing/strperp Comments under pics so hit F11.

I have heard that Brest-Perpignan is a very pleasant ride. The prevailing winds are either SW or NE so it's usually on the beam. This route isn't mine, it's one I found.

http://www.openrunner.com/index.php?id=941328

Perpignan is a good destination. It has good rail connections to go back north. We rode down with just cycling kit (at 300k/day you don't need a dinner-jacket with you) and bought el cheapo T-shirts, shorts & sandals at Intersport for the trip north. The Hotel Paris-Barcelonne is used to diagonalistes, and if your train leaves on the evening you get there they'll let you shower and leave your bikes somewhere safe while you go out to eat without booking a room. There's a small fee but who cares?

[MartinBrice]

i suggest you take the european bike express south to narbonne then follow the canal du midi to bordeaux then north to st malo and ferry home.
safest for the bike, no flying stress. campsites all the way, they usually shut in september.
east to west means tricky getting there and back from the end, and north to south means you have a booking to make so need to press on. but starting in the south allows you to buy a ferry ticket in the final few days of your journey.
you could even go to calais to do the longest possible route.
allow two weeks to do narbonne-st malo. no days off.

[PRL]

The one tour I would recommend people to not do is "The Loire Valley." This sounds lovely and is as boring as hell.
The Breton coast, off season is hard in that it's hilly but it's well worth seeing. I've seen it all from Mont Saint Michel (hopeless) to Benodet. Mont Saint Michel is very disappointing. A tourist ant-Hill.

Not interested in architecture then ? Mont Saint Michel is admittedly tourist ridden but a 12c cloister in the sky is worth squeezing through them to see.

[bretonbikes]

I've been cycling in France at least 30 times. I've done Brittany to death, have done Paris-Nice, Strasbourg-Nice, Bordeaux-Nice, Nice-Nice, Bordeaux-Pau-Ainsa-Tremp-Andorra-Toulouse and ones I can't even remember.
The one tour I would recommend people to not do is "The Loire Valley." This sounds lovely and is as boring as hell.
The Breton coast, off season is hard in that it's hilly but it's well worth seeing. I've seen it all from Mont Saint Michel (hopeless) to Benodet. Mont Saint Michel is very disappointing. A tourist ant-Hill.

If you've never seen it, the Dordogne (Perigord) is fabulous. The Alps and Pyrenees are brilliant but hard. Did I say hard?
One lovely tour we did was flew to La Rochelle. Cycled around l'isle de Ré (brilliant) and then down to Cognac, Rocamadour, and on to Carcassonne, cycling under the Millau Bridge, via the Tarn Gorge and home. You'd want to be fit for it, but it was wonderful.

TIP for France.
Stay on the white roads (D routes on Michelin map, coloured white) or smaller. The D roads coloured red are busy. Avoid them.

I'll second most of that. MSM is wonderful right out of season though - mid September onward when it's very quiet. Yes use the michelin 1:200000 maps - they can be had in plastic and are easy to follow, unlike the more detailed IGN's

But you can never do 'Brittany to death';-)

[willem jongman]

See here for an interactive map of Europe with a large number of Dutch routes (with guide books) through Europe, include a number through France/l https://www.europafietsers.nl/fietsrout ... t-fietsweb All these routes also have gps tracks. They are designed to avoid the most demanding hill climbs, and the busiest roads. The actual guide books will also give you hotels and campsites to make planning a bit easier. I really enjoyed the campsites (and they were so cheap).
My wife and I are just back from two weeks riding one of these routes from Beaune to the South: the Barcelona route by Paul Benjaminse. We took the version across the Massif Central, and it was beautiful, even if demanding at times (and terribly hot in our case). Enjoy.

[Gearoidmuar]

The one tour I would recommend people to not do is "The Loire Valley." This sounds lovely and is as boring as hell.
The Breton coast, off season is hard in that it's hilly but it's well worth seeing. I've seen it all from Mont Saint Michel (hopeless) to Benodet. Mont Saint Michel is very disappointing. A tourist ant-Hill.

Not interested in architecture then ? Mont Saint Michel is admittedly tourist ridden but a 12c cloister in the sky is worth squeezing through them to see.

Indeed, but going through the dungheap is a bit dispiriting!


I do like architecture, but not endless castles. I like towns, nice squares etc. The scenery is very samey in the Loire Valley. OTOH, the Dordogne area is fabulous. Rocamadour etc.