Cycling in France - suggestions?

[Kinetic]

I'm planning a 7 day cycle trip in France.

Could anyone suggest an itinerary?

Ideally, it would fulfill all the requirements below:

* I would like to cover a distance about 400 km (about 80 km a day)
* Travel is downstream along a river
* No steep sections (maximum climb about 200 m a day)
* Visually stunning and diverse landscape, both culturally and
geographically.
* I would like to stop at some vineyards for wine tasting
* I would like to stop at a culturally interesting city for a day
* Good choice of ad-hoc accommodation in private rooms or farmhouses
along the way
* No cycling on roads with heavy or moderate motorised traffic


Help much appreciated,

Milo

 

[Arthur Clune]

Kinetic wrote:
> I'm planning a 7 day cycle trip in France.

how about round Bordeaux? The city is nice and there's obviously
plenty of wine around. It's also very flat up and down the coast
from there

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

 

[Pinky]

Choose a section of the Loire -- beautiful area and lots of good white wine
and a few good reds too -- also lots of delicious, inexpensive sparkling
wines. How about from Orleans to Angers which is about 400 kms (with minor
diversions as always happens on my tour when I see something interesting)
and both cities have all the connection transport facilities you could wish
for!

Orleans to Blois is about 80 kms and you follow the left bank of the river
most of the way
Blois to Montlouis sur Loire ( 70 kms but lots of vineyards to stop at)
Montlouis to Montsoreau ( 86 kms - a flat ride with lots to see)
Montsoreau to Angers ( about 70 kms along side the river)

That gives 4 good riding days lots of places to stop and dine,wine and sight
see. A really nice part of the Loire!

I had planned on doing the Loire from source to the Atlantic this year but
due to unfitness I did the Rhein ( and Mosel) instead. If you are interested
I would suggest you beg, borrow, steal or even buy John Higginsons book
"Cycling the River Loire"
--
Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom.
www.tapan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

"Kinetic" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm planning a 7 day cycle trip in France.
>
> Could anyone suggest an itinerary?
>
> Ideally, it would fulfill all the requirements below:
>
> * I would like to cover a distance about 400 km (about 80 km a day)
> * Travel is downstream along a river
> * No steep sections (maximum climb about 200 m a day)
> * Visually stunning and diverse landscape, both culturally and
> geographically.
> * I would like to stop at some vineyards for wine tasting
> * I would like to stop at a culturally interesting city for a day
> * Good choice of ad-hoc accommodation in private rooms or farmhouses
> along the way
> * No cycling on roads with heavy or moderate motorised traffic
>
>
> Help much appreciated,
>
> Milo
>

 

[Nigel Cliffe]

Kinetic wrote:
> I'm planning a 7 day cycle trip in France.
>
> Could anyone suggest an itinerary?
>
> Ideally, it would fulfill all the requirements below:
>
> * I would like to cover a distance about 400 km (about 80 km a day)
> * Travel is downstream along a river
> * No steep sections (maximum climb about 200 m a day)

You'll struggle at under 200m/day. I did a trip a few weeks ago, perhaps
80km per day in north east Normandy and was climbing 500 to 800m per day.
Some of the 800m days were distinctly hilly (for someone from East Anglia),
but the 500's not a problem.

What I'd recommend is looking for gentle climbs, then they're not a problem.

> * No cycling on roads with heavy or moderate motorised traffic

In my experience, just stay on the lesser departmental roads, and watch for
a few which are obvious main routes. The rest is pretty quiet.

There are one or two superb cycle paths around which follow old railways,
some well over 30km long.


- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

 

[John Kane]

Pinky wrote:
> Choose a section of the Loire -- beautiful area and lots of good white wine
> and a few good reds too -- also lots of delicious, inexpensive sparkling
> wines. How about from Orleans to Angers which is about 400 kms (with minor
> diversions as always happens on my tour when I see something interesting)
> and both cities have all the connection transport facilities you could wish
> for!
>
> Orleans to Blois is about 80 kms and you follow the left bank of the river
> most of the way
> Blois to Montlouis sur Loire ( 70 kms but lots of vineyards to stop at)
> Montlouis to Montsoreau ( 86 kms - a flat ride with lots to see)
> Montsoreau to Angers ( about 70 kms along side the river)
>
> That gives 4 good riding days lots of places to stop and dine,wine and sight
> see. A really nice part of the Loire!
>
> I had planned on doing the Loire from source to the Atlantic this year but
> due to unfitness I did the Rhein ( and Mosel) instead. If you are interested
> I would suggest you beg, borrow, steal or even buy John Higginsons book
> "Cycling the River Loire"
> --
> Trevor A Panther
> In South Yorkshire,
> England, United Kingdom.


I'll second this even though I have only driven it. Lovely country. A
friend did a couple of day -trips by bike there and found it very good.

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

 

[John Kane]

Pinky wrote:
> Choose a section of the Loire -- beautiful area and lots of good white wine
> and a few good reds too -- also lots of delicious, inexpensive sparkling
> wines. How about from Orleans to Angers which is about 400 kms (with minor
> diversions as always happens on my tour when I see something interesting)
> and both cities have all the connection transport facilities you could wish
> for!
>
> Orleans to Blois is about 80 kms and you follow the left bank of the river
> most of the way
> Blois to Montlouis sur Loire ( 70 kms but lots of vineyards to stop at)
> Montlouis to Montsoreau ( 86 kms - a flat ride with lots to see)
> Montsoreau to Angers ( about 70 kms along side the river)
>
> That gives 4 good riding days lots of places to stop and dine,wine and sight
> see. A really nice part of the Loire!
>
> I had planned on doing the Loire from source to the Atlantic this year but
> due to unfitness I did the Rhein ( and Mosel) instead. If you are interested
> I would suggest you beg, borrow, steal or even buy John Higginsons book
> "Cycling the River Loire"
> --
> Trevor A Panther
> In South Yorkshire,
> England, United Kingdom.


I'll second this even though I have only driven it. Lovely country. A
friend did a couple of day -trips by bike there and found it very good.

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

 

[Dylan Smith]

On 2006-07-05, Kinetic <[email protected]> wrote:
> * No steep sections (maximum climb about 200 m a day)
> * Visually stunning and diverse landscape, both culturally and
> geographically.

In my mind, those two requirements are mutually exclusive,
unfortunately!

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

 

[Elisa Francesca Roselli]

Kinetic wrote:
> I'm planning a 7 day cycle trip in France.
>
> Could anyone suggest an itinerary?

Several have suggested the Loire. You might want to check out my thread
on Google:

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.r...6d1?q=Flyzipper+Tours&rnum=1#82fec81a07bdf6d1

Flyzipper Does Tours-Langeais

It is about a brief portion of a possible itinerary and includes some
pictures and web links about Loire à Vélo, a network of cycling routes
off main roads. The terrain is flat and many of the cities around there
are of cultural interest. Tours is a wonderful, culturally rich town to
visit and the TdF goes through there yearly around this time.

Cheers and enjoy your trip,

EFR
Ile de France

 

[Kinetic]

> > * No steep sections (maximum climb about 200 m a day)
> > * Visually stunning and diverse landscape, both culturally and
> > geographically.
>
> In my mind, those two requirements are mutually exclusive,
> unfortunately!

Not really! Last year I did a 350 km cycle trip along the Muhr river in
Austria which fulfilled all above requirements. Starts at 1000 m above
sea level and ends at 200 m, going through some lovely alpine valleys
and gorges. All of it on a gently downhill cycleway next to the river,
with very few climbs.

There must be something similar in France...