Michelin maps?

I'd like to pick up some Michelin maps of the French Alps and Pyrenees. Are the green (high
resolution) maps better for cycle touring, or are the yellow (lower resolution) maps adequate?
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/

 

The yellow maps are okay for these areas, as they show almost all the roads, but in non-mountainous
areas the Green IGN maps are far better as these areas have much more roads.

 

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:25:37 -0700, Terry Morse <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'd like to pick up some Michelin maps of the French Alps and Pyrenees. Are the green (high
> resolution) maps better for cycle touring, or are the yellow (lower resolution) maps adequate?
> --
> terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/

I'm not sure that Michelin publishes green (1:100,000) maps for all areas of France. When we toured
in Southern France, my wife and I had to purchase several IGN maps for areas that weren't covered by
Michelin at the 1:100,000 scale. All of these maps were readily available in France.

That said, I much prefer to use the 1:100,000 maps while touring - the yellow maps (1:200,000) are
better used for planning.

Jack Fortune Atlanta, Georgia USA

 

Terry Morse <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I'd like to pick up some Michelin maps of the French Alps and Pyrenees. Are the green (high
> resolution) maps better for cycle touring, or are the yellow (lower resolution) maps adequate?

Lonely Planet publishes a book called "Cycling around France" or something like that ("France by
Bicycle", you get the idea). The maps of the Alps and Pyrenees are very detailed and include route
descriptions, how to get to the climbs, where you'll end when you're up and over, where the steeps
are. Well worth the extra weight of a full book vs. maps.

Andy

 

amh wrote:

> Lonely Planet publishes a book called "Cycling around France" or something like that ("France by
> Bicycle", you get the idea). The maps of the Alps and Pyrenees are very detailed and include
> route descriptions, how to get to the climbs, where you'll end when you're up and over, where the
> steeps are.

Thanks for the pointer. I placed an order for "Cycling France".
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/

 

I like the Lonely Planet book, but I also like having my own maps.

Something to consider as alternative to buying individual 1:200000 yellow maps: a book of
Michelin maps spiral-bound, "France Atlas Routier et Touristique", which covers the whole
country, plus 50 city maps and an index of places. Once you've bought it, only take the pages you
need for specific tours.

I agree that the 1:200000 maps do not cover every little road, but Sharon and I enjoy some
route-finding challenge. Some of our best memories of Loire region were on little tertiary roads not
on the yellow maps, where we weren't sure exactly where we were. But after some interesting muddling
around, we found our way to some road that was on the map.

Biggest time I got lost was when both the correct road and my incorrect road were well-marked on the
yellow map. Instead of the achievement of reaching the Col de la Croix de Fer, I climbed to a remote
mountain village I never heard of -- and it was wonderful.

Ken

 

As far as I know, the green Michelin maps are enlarged versions of the yellow ones. They are easier
to read but do not provide more information. Standard 1:200000 Michelin will show you almost every
usable paved road. Their weak point in mountaneous areas is that they only show little altitude
information. If you want to know more precisely what lies ahead, use the
1:100000 IGN. However, in my experience, the IGN will wear out faster in wind and rain, and may also
contain (few) errors, one thing I have never seen on a Michelin map.

Jacques (try to find me on the Michelin map #520 !)

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:25:37 +0000, Terry Morse wrote:

> I'd like to pick up some Michelin maps of the French Alps and Pyrenees. Are the green (high
> resolution) maps better for cycle touring, or are the yellow (lower resolution) maps adequate?
> --
> terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/

 

By the way, Michelin has an online utility to help you plan your trip. The medium magnification is
precisely what you will find on a yellow 1:200000 map. See http://www.viamichelin.com

or a typical result: http://www.viamichelin.com/b2b2c/fra/dyn/controller/ItineraryDisplayPortal;jse-
ssionid=0000CCVFCGMOB51ACY55BWLZRNI+ud6ioiac?productId=50038&action=mapNavigation&direction=4&from=-
605&mapIdFromBack=-.9swtr08qz9px&rnd=1050955101751

Jacques

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:25:37 +0000, Terry Morse wrote:

> I'd like to pick up some Michelin maps of the French Alps and Pyrenees. Are the green (high
> resolution) maps better for cycle touring, or are the yellow (lower resolution) maps adequate?
> --
> terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/

 

"jacques" <[email protected]> wrote in message news[email protected]...
> As far as I know, the green Michelin maps are enlarged versions of the yellow ones. They
> are easier to read but do not provide more information. Standard 1:200000 Michelin will
> show you almost every usable paved road. Their weak point in mountaneous areas is that they
> only show little
altitude
> information. If you want to know more precisely what lies ahead, use the
> 1:100000 IGN. However, in my experience, the IGN will wear out faster in wind and rain, and may
> also contain (few) errors, one thing I have never
seen on
> a Michelin map.
>
> Jacques (try to find me on the Michelin map #520 !)
>
> On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:25:37 +0000, Terry Morse wrote:
>
> > I'd like to pick up some Michelin maps of the French Alps and Pyrenees. Are the green (high
> > resolution) maps better for cycle touring, or are the yellow (lower resolution) maps adequate?

The old green maps weren't just enlarged versions of the yellow ones: some of them definitely
included more info. That said, I believe Michelin has revised its line of maps. The old yellow
1:200000 maps are being replaced by a new yellow series at 1:150000 or 1:175000, on thicker paper,
and printed on both sides. As far as I can tell, the 1:150000 don't appear to have any greater
detail than the 1:200000; they're just easier on the eyes and easier to handle. I think these newer
maps are pretty good. They're called "Local" maps.

At the same time, I have a weakness for topographical maps so depending on my purposes I often
prefer the IGN maps even though the paper is less sturdy. I have occasionally found errors in
footpaths on IGN maps but thus far (knock on wood) I've never found an error in a paved road.

I have mixed feelings about the Lonely Planet book, which I just received as a gift, though my
reservations are sorta common to any book that gives specific routes.

 

Hi,

Robert Chung wrote:
>
> I have mixed feelings about the Lonely Planet book, which I just received as a gift, though my
> reservations are sorta common to any book that gives specific routes.
>

I agree. I found the following quote significant: "Once your route is following a particular road,
continue on that road until the cue sheet tells you otherwise." It is written in bold letters. I
prefer to find my own way and explore more than this suggests.

Ride On! Don

 

Last year, I used Cycling France as my main route idea source for visiting the Dordogne/Lot, the
Loire, the Alps, the Pyrenees. I never followed any one of their routes exactly. But every day I
included some section from one or more of their routes. I compared the Lonely Planet book with three
other guidebooks: clearly it was the most helpful English-language resource in print as of 2002.

Perhaps you would be happy with the Cycling France book if in the next edition they added this
"permission" statement somewhere in the introduction: "If you're the kind of person who wants to
just use our routes as a source of ideas, that's OK with us."

Ken
_______________________________________
Don Lesco wrote
> I found the following quote significant: "Once your route is following a particular road, continue
> on that road until the cue sheet tells you otherwise." It is written in bold letters. I prefer to
> find my own way and explore more than this suggests.