Cycling French canals from top to bottom, possible, maps?

stinger67

Trying to find info on the French canal system, maps, guides, books, websites, etc?

From what I can find on the net it looks as though you can go from Le Harve - Paris - Lyon - nearly all the way to Marseille

http://www.cyclotour.com/FranceCanals.htm

but can't find any detailed on-line info, so I'm guessing people on here would have some experience of this, is it possible using all those routes or any unusable? Any maps or books you can get or any links to websites with more details appreciated?

Thanks.

eranou

You may find this book useful. The link will take you to Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Cycling-Along-Wat ... 0933201907

And maybe another useful link

http://www.ruelmain.co.uk/French%20Maps ... %20Map.htm

Hope it helps.

stinger67

Thanks for the , erm, one reply!? :?

The book looks interesting, but not $131 interesting, I'm on the lookout and searching elsewhere for it - thanks.

The maps in the link don't really link up so there's big gaps and I was hoping I would be able to buy something showing the whole network - a simple fold up map, not a book or atlas? Maybe I need to look at or ask on boat/narrowboat websites?

Surprised nobody has done this and offer anymore advice or help? Is the canel network not cycleable or does everybody choose to use the roads? I have 2 ideas in mind, one is to fly somewhere for a trip - expensive and a pain transporting bike or just get ferry over to France and go - easy, cheap, accessible?

john ponting

have you googled 'cycling french canals' ?

Certainly gives you a good start.


http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q= ... utes&meta=


There are details of some canal routes on www.burgundy-by-bike.com.

andymiller

an interesting project but I don't think there's any onestop guide - I suspect that you will need to research each of the major links. do you read French?

This site

http://www.voiesvertes.com might be helpful

There are a lot of guidebooks to the canals in burgundy (look on tthe www.cartovelo.com site or the burgundy-by-bike site) - from there on it looks like the major route is along the Rhone. There is a guidebook (in French) here:

http://www.cartovelo.fr/product_info.ph ... cts_id=243

and a website here

http://www.dulemanalamer.com/htm/en/zone.php?id=2

So that basically leaves getting from the northern coast to Burgundy.

andymiller

Oh and according to this

http://www.bestwebbuys.com/Cycling_Alon ... c=b-search

or

http://www.bestwebbuys.com/9780933201903

you might be able to get the cycling the Waterways of France book for $19 from Barnes and Noble.com

vernonlevy

stinger67 wrote:

Thanks for the , erm, one reply!? :?

The book looks interesting, but not $131 interesting, I'm on the lookout and searching elsewhere for it - thanks.

The maps in the link don't really link up so there's big gaps and I was hoping I would be able to buy something showing the whole network - a simple fold up map, not a book or atlas? Maybe I need to look at or ask on boat/narrowboat websites?

Surprised nobody has done this and offer anymore advice or help? Is the canel network not cycleable or does everybody choose to use the roads? I have 2 ideas in mind, one is to fly somewhere for a trip - expensive and a pain transporting bike or just get ferry over to France and go - easy, cheap, accessible?

The problem is not a lack of interest in your query but a lack of riders who, having done a similar ride, are registered on this forum and have loggedin recently enough to read your query. Not everyone beats a path to www.bike radar.com and you might get additional contributions to your knowledge base by going to the ctc web site www.ctc.org.uk and the cyclechat forums www.cyclechat.co.uk.

dvmurray

Regarding maps try the IGN series (similar to the UK OS maps). You can get them at various scales so they should show canal paths.

http://www.mapsinternational.co.uk/prod ... E+NATIONAL

David

raybo

You also might try this link: http://home.versatel.nl/mouringh.marga/index_eng.htm.

This website is dedicated to canals path in France. Each one has a separate link where it is described with a few pictures. The descriptions are travel journals and not all that packed with touring information but the site does provide a good idea of where one might find a canal path to ride on.

Ray

culverwood

You've checked out the Trento Bike Pages for France no doubt.
http://www.trentobike.org/bycountry/France.html

We cycled through North East France on the Marne and Saone canals but these are probably away from where you are going.

antonylp

Take a look at -

http://uk.franceguide.com/special/cycli ... odeID=1094

there is some info. on riding the canals in Burgundy

andymiller

Raybo

Looks like your link is dead I'm afraid.

raybo

andymiller wrote:

Raybo

Looks like your link is dead I'm afraid.

My mistake. It is the period at the end of the link. Try this:

http://home.versatel.nl/mouringh.marga/index_eng.htm

Sorry for the typo.

Ray

andymiller

Thanks raybo. I didn't think of that.

This looks like a great project for someone - though a bit of an adventure too!

Stinger

Might be worth seeing if you can find a narrowbaot/canalboat enthusiasts site? could be some peeps have done this journey on water?

buttercupjan

I've cycled along part of The Canal du Midi - let me know if you need any info on that.

Jan

andymiller

Looks like stinger has given up, but for the record....

Here's the address for the French equivalent of British Waterways.

http://www.vnf.fr

Among other things it has a useful looking network map

http://www.vnf.fr/vnf/img/cms/Tourisme_ ... 261409.jpg

I also came across this site

http://www.chemindehalage.com/

Which has this graphic (showing the waterways covered by their guides):



which suggests that there might be a diagonal route - along the Nantes-Brest canal, then the Loire, and then the Rhone.

chazzam

As the owner of the website www.ruelmain.co.uk I was very interested in the comments about its canals section.

The coverage of the site is fairly good south of Paris, but it does not include the big commercial waterways, and mistakes/omissions may have crept in (though I guess the omissions would have crept out).

Its very difficult to know without direct personal experience whether a canal is cyclable. Most are, but sometimes you end up on the wrong bank in rutty fields and no towpath.

I welcome any comments you want to include (email address on the web site) and will answer any questions I can.

I would love to do the Grandes Randonnees as well as the canals but can't find a suitable set of data. If anybody can help please say. I might just plot them by hand.

megilleland

I would love to do the Grandes Randonnees as well as the canals but can't find a suitable set of data. If anybody can help please say. I might just plot them by hand.

This is the site for the Federation Francaise de la Randonnee Pedestre. 180,00kms of local paths and Grand Randonnes which cover France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Andorra, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland. You can find the guides (Topo Guides) to the routes on their interactive guide and map. The site is in French only, but you can find your way around with a translator.

bike_the_planet

stinger67 wrote:

Trying to find info on the French canal system, maps, guides, books, websites, etc?

From what I can find on the net it looks as though you can go from Le Harve - Paris - Lyon - nearly all the way to Marseille

http://www.cyclotour.com/FranceCanals.htm

but can't find any detailed on-line info, so I'm guessing people on here would have some experience of this, is it possible using all those routes or any unusable? Any maps or books you can get or any links to websites with more details appreciated?

Thanks.

It's not your route directly, but if it's any help...

In 2008 my wife and I took off for five months pedalling in Europe. We followed waterways extensively and found some great routes. The following itinerary would be great for a few weeks/months pedalling around.

1) Ferry to Roscoff.

2) Backroads to Morlaix

3) Voies Vertes (Greenway) V7 from Morlaix to Carhaix Plouguer (converted rail trail) - a pretty routes that avoids the worst of Bretagne's hills (and, man, there are some hills there!)

4) At Carhaix folllow the tow path on the Nantes Brest Canal through to near Ancenis. The surface is pretty good all the way. However there is a detour just East of Gouarec via another Voies Vertes to Murs-de-Bretagne. From there you can head south downhill back to the canal.

5) At Ancenis pick up the Loire-a-Velo - the path that follows the river Loire - which meanders East up through Tours, Blois, Orlean then steadily south to Nevers and Digoin.

6) If you want to head Lyons direction then unfortunately there is no cyclepath past Lyons along the Rhone. There are back roads but they can get busy in the peak holiday times (July and August) There is supposedly the Lac du Leman a la Mere route coming - a purpose built cyclepath that will go from Switzerland via Lyons, Valence etc to the Mediterranean along the Rhone, but I have heard no more about this planned route recently.

7) From the Mediterranean you can head west and pick up the Canal du Midi west of Montpelier. The tow path is only suitable to suspended MTBs until Beziers where it is surfaced. More bumps and then 50 kms East of Toulouse where it is piste-like right into the centre of Toulouse.

8.) At Toulouse get on the Canal Garonne. The tow path goes virtually uninterupted North West to Bordeaux.

9) From Bordeaux northward there are a whole load of Voies Vertes that can take you north back up towards Nantes, although we didn't try them.

Many of the voies vertes can be investigated at http://www.af3v.org/

Hope this helps.

Cheers