Cycling france - calais to monaco

hawkrider

I took up cycling over the summer brake from uni and have fallen in love with the sport but admitlly am still a new comer. over the up coming summer i plan to take a few weeks out and want to travel accross france by bike (gutted as my cycling partner has had to drop out due to health reasons). I don't wish to stop with this challenge and looking to keep this alive somehow. i have never cycled on a continuse route over a period of weeks and wounder if this is possible and where do i beginne?

If anyone can offer help or connections with other groups this would be amazing, also if anyone can offer any advice or tips please hlep.

Many thanks

Oliver

pneumatic

Tip one - do it, it's a fantastic experience.
Tip two - search this forum for "touring" and "france" and you'll find a lot of shared wisdom there already.

Other advice - think about camping (there are sites everywhere in France), think about luggage (be ruthless), think about your bike (is it built for luggage), think about distance per day (I'd recommend an average of 100km per day, do more and you bank some time for a rest day somewhere nice).

Enjoy the planning phase!

CyclepathToHell

France is camping heaven imo. No place like it.

vernonlevy

I've cycled from Calais to Montpellier in about a fortnight and loved every minute of the adventure. I camped all the way and only wild camped once when I couldn't find a camp site.

Camp sites are generally cheap at around five Euros especially if you use the municipal camp sites.

Food and drink is cheap especially if you buy fresh fruit and veg and get your wine from a supermarket.

A chunk of cheese, a baguette and a tomato with fresh apricots and grapes swilled down with some cheap but tasty table wine made for a very satisfying lunch.

I used European Bike Express to get me to Calais and back from Montpellier.

Get a few camping weekend in here in the UK to get used to the discipline of cycle camping. Go for it!

xilios

Welcome to touring My first ride was solo and I had a great experiance, and I'm sure you'll love it also.
My wife and I have riden through France several times and always had a great experiance (even with the foul weather ).
Check out the links, tips and journals on our page below.
cheers

mercsport

I've done the channel to the Med' a few times now - and France happened to be on the way to or back from Italy - and can say that the roads are very good and well signposted .
As a 'wild-camper' cum bivouac'er type I can't comment upon camp sites other than in my brief acquaintance with the few I have tried they're a 'hell on earth' , particularly at holiday times .
I seem to remember six to seven days being about the norm' for Zeebrugge ( where I always started from ) to Nice . Not hard .
Have a good trip .

pneumatic

mercsport wrote:

I seem to remember six to seven days being about the norm' for Zeebrugge ( where I always started from ) to Nice . Not hard .
.

That depends on how you calibrate "hard". The direct route from Zeebrugge to Nice takes you down the Route des Grandes Alpes. I drove it this year South to North and I am now drooling to ride it, but I would classify the southern half of that journey as something slightly higher than "not hard"!!

andymiller

I'm sure the route from Calais is OK (and there's no doubt the best best thing about Calais is the road out of it), but there are alternatives jumping off points that are worth considering: eg why not go to Brittany or Normandy and explore western France before cutting across country - or following the Loire valley, or follow a diagonal route?

Avoid July and August if you can. Camping sites are fine, but 5€ is the lower end of the scale - I'd say budget for 5-10€.

andymiller

I'm sure the route from Calais is OK (and there's no doubt the best best thing about Calais is the road out of it), but there are alternatives jumping off points that are worth considering: eg why not go to Brittany or Normandy and explore western France before cutting across country - or following the Loire valley, or follow a diagonal route?

Avoid July and August if you can. Camping sites are fine, but 5€ is the lower end of the scale - I'd say budget for 5-10€.

mercsport

pneumatic wrote:

mercsport wrote:

I seem to remember six to seven days being about the norm' for Zeebrugge ( where I always started from ) to Nice . Not hard .
.

That depends on how you calibrate "hard". The direct route from Zeebrugge to Nice takes you down the Route des Grandes Alpes. I drove it this year South to North and I am now drooling to ride it, but I would classify the southern half of that journey as something slightly higher than "not hard"!!

Yes , perhaps you're right . It's been awhile since I was down that way . In recollection my excursions by way of the Alpes Maritimes were late season jaunts ( principally to bypass the early winter closures of the Alps proper ) and seemed to be fairly gentle - or at least shorter - than the normal way of things over the bigger passes of the Alps .
Still a bit of a fag of course .
My abiding memory of that area was once cresting whatever the highest pass is down there on the way N to Grenoble from Nice and the drop in temperature was so sudden as to be arctic and the seaside air , as if walking through a door , was no more ( on that particular trip - heavy warm rain became torrential icy rain - utter misery all the way home ) .

hawkrider

i really appriciate the help guys, im planning to go a wider way round atm cos im not sure if the direct route is possible, if anyone has maps of routes they cycled or could recomend that would be great. i will upload the one i think ill take when im done and if anyone can advice me on it that would be great. Also im woundering what equipment to take, if anyone has a previouse check list or recomend products or tents that would be wicked. Just not sure what to take cos i wont know till im their lol

Once again thanks everyone

Oliver

pneumatic

We entered France at Valenciennes (from Belgium), but I would recommend heading down towards Reims on minor roads (plenty of them - e.g. via Le Cateau, Guise, Laon) and then down through Burgundy (Troyes, Auxerre, Vezelay, Dijon, Macon). Try to go round Lyon, not through it, and then continue down the Rhone Valley, cut in towards Orange, pass the Ventoux to the South (but seriously consider dumping your luggage to climb it because you'll be fit by then) and head along towards Sault, Forcalquier, Gorges de Verdon (truly spectacular), Grasse, Vence and down to Nice.

I've got itchy knees just thinking about it. 8)

mercsport

hawkrider wrote:

i really appriciate the help guys, im planning to go a wider way round atm cos im not sure if the direct route is possible, if anyone has maps of routes they cycled or could recomend that would be great. i will upload the one i think ill take when im done and if anyone can advice me on it that would be great. Also im woundering what equipment to take, if anyone has a previouse check list or recomend products or tents that would be wicked. Just not sure what to take cos i wont know till im their lol

Once again thanks everyone

Oliver

Interminable variations upon a 'direct' route .

If you want to get anywhere swiftly on the continent applying a straightedge to map from 'A' to 'B' has always worked for me . That is , staying as close to that line as practicable . In France that includes the 'N' roads and , yes , going through the middle of some of the great cities ( ' Pneumatic'...Lyon wasn't that bad ! .. . Brussels was probably the worst of my experience - tunnels , underpasses ,multi-lanes etc., should you stray that far out of the way ) . Variations to avoid the inclusion of 'N' roads are invariably enjoyable and relatively quiet but take a heck of a sight longer .

As for gear , there's loads on this forum that you can archive I expect . It seems to be repeated a lot . Almost certainly you will take far ,far too much . All the little ' just in case' items mount up to a preposterous degree . Summer means for me , a set of shorts , shirt , socks , shoes ( Helmet , I'd suppose , ..if you feel vulnerable ) , and the rest is details . An ultra light tent , down bag and light rain proof jacket is about it . Oh , and a bag to put it all in . Panniers or - I've never tried it - a backpack .

pneumatic

ok, then traverse Lyon by day, and make sure you are safe by sundown. My experience of it and its reputation is of the "dodge city" variety. However, if you are wealthy, it is the gastronomic capital of France.

mercsport

pneumatic wrote:

ok, then traverse Lyon by day, and make sure you are safe by sundown. My experience of it and its reputation is of the "dodge city" variety. However, if you are wealthy, it is the gastronomic capital of France.

...... actually my last traverse of Lyon was exactly that : sundown . Dark when exiting up the hillside .

Would that I were wealthy ! I might have dined like the proverbial 'King' and spared myself the indignity of kipping upon the forecourt of a disused pertrol station that evening .