France touring

[halifax1945]

I want simply to attempt to cycle from Cherbourg to the Med.

I haven't cycled for yonks - so would prefer no mountains (certainly at the beginning) and I am over 60. I am seeking for helpful advice. I will be camping. I would be interested in the easiest route. No doom merchants please.

[robgul]

Why Cherbourg? - there's some hills in the way on the run down to the Med. What about Calais - Montpellier (ride down, Bike Bus back) - see www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk and the Journals section for France for Wine-ding Down Through France ... our ride in 2008.

Great cycling - no real hills, good food, good wine .. excellent

Rob

[wearwell]

You could try "straight lining" i.e. draw a straight line on the map and try to keep a close to it as possible (on cycleable roads and/or trails). It can take you into interesting places and probably be the quickest route. Though not necessarily!
Worth researching cycle trails - we came across many which we could have used had we known. Towpaths on canalised rivers and canals themselves are also good.

[JJF]

An option which provides easy cycling is to follow voies vertes. This is a network (not fully connected) of former railway lines and canal towpaths referred to by wearwell. See www.af3v.org/CarteAF3V/carte-detaillee.html
I haven't followed the route myself but several cyclists have mentioned going down the west coast on these routes then Canal de la Garonne.

[Robert]

There's nothing wrong with starting from Cherbourg, but I'd agree with the advice to go down the west coast if you want to avoid hills. It's a good and varied ride, you see a lot of France and it's interesting to see the crops, scenery and built environment change as you ride south. I've ridden from St Malo to South West France three times and written up my trips on Crazyguyonabike.com. You can find a lot of interesting journals of trips in France there by clicking on locales/europe/france.

[b1ke]

We cycled from the med up through France to Dieppe last summer. We came from Sete to Bezier and then followed the Canal du Midi (it becomes the Canal du Garonne in Toulouse) and then went north up to Dieppe. If you look at the map on our blog (link in the signature) you can see the towns we passed through.

The route wasn't torturous - rolling hills and lots of flatlands. Not that inspiring if I'm honest, but we were heading home which influenced my perception a fair bit. The Canal du Midi (about 40km east of Toulouse) becomes pretty choppy, so better to use off-road tyres on this section if you're sticking to the Canal, although I think there are plenty of alternative quiet roads if you fancy sticking to tarmac.

Good luck with the tour.

[psmiffy]

Cherbourg is the only Channel port I have not cycled to the Med from – but route wise the principles are the same
West coast is a very pleasant way of getting into long distance touring – there will be some hills leaving Cherbourg but nothing very big – plenty of relatively quiet roads going in right direction – Personally though I would start at St Malo and head for the coast at the first opportunity – maybe North of Vannes – The bit cross country towards Nantes is mainly open rolling countryside – nice for a few hours but not that interesting for several days.

Down the coast is straight forward enough – avoid the bridge at St Nazaire by cutting in towards Nantes and taking the ferry at Coueron – out of La Rochelle there is a well signposted cycle route to get you past the bit of main road and Rocheforte - when you get to the Girrone I would head straight for Bordeax along the Estuary – the other side of the Girrone from the Royan Ferry there is velo verte to Locanau and a very good velo verte from there to Bordeax but they are mainly in the trees and not that interesting.

Other side of Bordeax and pick up the Canal Girrone at Castets en Dorthe – easy enough to avoid the main roads on the way – follow canal through Valence , Agen and Toulouse to the Atlantic Divide where the path goes a bit wonky – Personally I find the canal a bit boring after a while and have a tendency to wander off for sections to find food and camping (or hills) . From there it is fairly plain sailing on minor roads to the Med.
Something like - http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=115003&v=wX

Alternatively just head south straight for the Loire - say around Angers - follow it east and south until just north of Lyon – lot of interesting places to see on the Loire – need to jump over the watershed to Lyon – which will involve a hill –good practice and a confidence booster for your next tour – no more than 1000m and easy enough – through Lyon following the Rhone and down to the Med – roads are bit busier but not enough to worry about.
Something like (I cheated and started from Paris but the principle is the same – head for the Loire) http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=151749&v=4H

[karloman]

This rough altimetric map should help you draw the main lines of your route.

[halifax1945]

The advice seems to be : keep west; follow canals, try St Malo.

I have a Garmin Edge satnav. Any experience of such ?? Wanna avoid too much stopping for map reading.

[ossie]

Im going the other way, Med to Cherbourg. Im thinking about buying a Garmin Edge simply to pinpoint my position should I get lost - which I will-are they worth it?

[karloman]

Green lanes and bike paths association :
http://www.af3v.org/index.php

Map :
http://www.af3v.org/CarteAF3V/carte-detaillee.html

[tatanab]

to pinpoint my position should I get lost

Does it matter? You're not in a rush are you?

Last year I got "confused" in a cluster of forest tracks so that I did not know where I was to the nearest km or maybe two. It did not matter, I just kept heading in the same general direction knowing I'd come out somewhere or other, and so I did about 5km from the point I'd originally been heading.

Cities might be a different issue but does it matter if you leave by the wrong road and have to track across a bit. Riding in sparsely populated areas, say the Ukraine, I am sure I would think differently but at present I leave electrickery at home.

[Mawsley]

I am planning on cycling bottom to top, catching the train down.

It will be vital to keep to a deadline as my wife will take time off to look after the kids.

I fancy finding something which will recharge my iPhone or a GPS with long battery life.

I'm hoping to complete it on a carbon road bike with a little rucksack. Is that mad?

[Big T]

Im going the other way, Med to Cherbourg. Im thinking about buying a Garmin Edge simply to pinpoint my position should I get lost - which I will-are they worth it?

One of the problems you will have, if camping, is being able to charge a Garmin Edge. A full charge only lasts for about 16 hours riding and it has a dedicated internal battery, so you can't swap the batteries. If you are staying in hotels, it's not a problem, but you may struggle if camping.

You may wish to consider a Garmin HCX Legend or Vista instead. These have similar route finding capability to the Edge, but you can use normal batteries. The Edge is really directed at racers and has functionality that you won't need. A Legend or Vista will be cheaper.

[psmiffy]

Im going the other way, Med to Cherbourg. Im thinking about buying a Garmin Edge simply to pinpoint my position should I get lost - which I will-are they worth it?

I cannot work out whether you are one of the Midi west Coast or straight across ones - anyway it is seriously difficult to get lost in France even with the worst of maps - if you are one of the former group then keeping an eye on where the canal/Gironne is and then the Atlantic on the left will keep you on track until almost the end - off course if you are seriously paranoid about getting lost you could follow the coast all the way round to Cherbourg