In article <
[email protected]>, Martin Robson <
[email protected]> writes
>"Michael Coleran" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
>> I'm doing a French coast to coast in April www.channel2med.co.uk for a
>local
>> charity. Travelling light so no camping, just cheap b&bs. Mainly
>travelling
>> on country roads & through villages. Any info regarding independent
>hostels
>> and the like in villages and small towns?
>>
>I did a 500 mile tour last summer through Brittany. Best kept secret are the chambres d'hotes (B&B)
>on the Gites de France web site. Use them and you'll have a ball. Go to
>
http://www.gites-de-france.fr/eng/index.htm.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Martin
>
>
I can endorse the chambres d'hotes idea. The only drawback is that they tend to be in the
countryside, where you may be hard pressed to find a choice of restaurants within easy travel. Of
course many provide dinner for a very reasonable charge. You normally just get whatever madame is
cooking for monsieur, very good food indeed but not for those with a difficult or faddy diet. Hotels
in towns are also very good value. I do a cycling hol in France most Junes, I reckon to be looking
for a hotel by about 16:00. Many towns have a tourist office which will phone around and find a
hotel, but a lot of them close early. Only ever had two problems, both in large towns (Bordeaux and
Toulouse) where a convention or exhibition had booked every hotel in town, and for 60km around in
the case of VinEexpo in Bordeaux (every 2 years in June, avoid it like the plague).
Cheers,
Pete
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--
Peter Grange