Anyone done E2E through France? ..........Nord a Sud??????

prb007

Planning this next year..........
http://joglemay2011.blogspot.com/

and whilst wandering around tinternet (as you do), was just wondering if anyone has done the French equivalent (is there a French equivalent of the iconic JOGLE/LEJOG?)

Typed Cherbourg (obvious entry point for many of us) to Cap d'Agde into Google maps
and it comes up with a do-able 1055kms/650miles (or 2/3 of JOGLE!), in a generally NNW-SSW direction, taking in;
Caen
Le Mans
Tours
Bourges
Clermont-Ferrand
St Flour
Millac
Med coast at Cap d'Agde

admittedly the route Google gives you is A roads (their A roads are motorways), but just wondering if anyone on here has done it or anything similar?

etapechamp

hi there is a website ive used many times you can get maps etc and its free to download if you have a garmin etc, have a look, it works in uk and europe, routes are planned avoiding main roads, but using d classified roads, http://www.bikehike.co.uk

millimole

I'm sure I've seen a French Hexagon permanent on either the UK Audax or the FFCT site. It would be extremely hard work, but very rewarding to go to the five 'corners' of France (no idea where they might be in fact, but I'd suggest something like Dunkerque, Biarritz, Perpignan, Menton, Strasbourg)

Edit - found it at http://diagonales.homelinux.net/adf/index.php with the map at http://diagonales.homelinux.net/adf/?page=1&menu=1 (you'll need a bit of frog to get through it )
I was nearly right it's Dunquerque, Brest, Hendaye, Perpignan, Menton, Strasbourg, but not in that order.

prb007

millimole wrote:

I'm sure I've seen a French Hexagon permanent on either the UK Audax or the FFCT site. It would be extremely hard work, but very rewarding to go to the five 'corners' of France (no idea where they might be in fact, but I'd suggest something like Dunkerque, Biarritz, Perpignan, Menton, Strasbourg)

Edit - found it at http://diagonales.homelinux.net/adf/index.php with the map at http://diagonales.homelinux.net/adf/?page=1&menu=1 (you'll need a bit of frog to get through it )
I was nearly right it's Dunquerque, Brest, Hendaye, Perpignan, Menton, Strasbourg, but not in that order.

I have a bit of Frog; but not as much as Babelfish.com!

'Whereas c' is Vélocio which, the first in 1929 employed the word of DIAGONAL, c' is Philippe Marre who created into 1931-1932 the DIAGONALS OF FRANCE. It s' acted, and it s' always acts, to connect between them, by the diagonals, the 6 tops of l' French hexagon: DUNKIRK, STRASBOURG, CHIN, PERPIGNAN, HENDAYE, BREST. This gives 9 different DIAGONALS, and even 18 if l' the two directions are counted'

I like the way it translates Menton into 'chin', but leaves the other place names intact!
Still not 'le Jog' (pardon the pun), though is it - will do more digging!

ex-pat scot

Look on ACP (Audax Club Parisien) diagonales for classic routes, as has been said.

I've done the following route, in 1991:

Santander- Biarritz- across the Pyrenees to the Med @ Hendaye- along to Rhone valley - up Rhone valley then across to Grenoble, Annecy, Montreux, then round Mt Blanc then back via Eparnay to Le Havre.

buttercupjan

I've cycled north to south too - Cherbourg, all down the west coast (Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Canal du Midi, across to the Mediterranean coast, along to Nice and then ferry to Corsica.

If you want any more information, feel free to ask.

BJ

prb007

Ten of us doing JOGLE next May and was just musing over a trip for 2012,
to see whether Nord-Sud was feasible and if so, which route is most popular?
Do the French have a generic JOGLE randonnee, like we have and if
so where does it start/finish?
As the country is (vaguely) square - which 'diagonale' would entail
the longest 'kilometerage' ...
To use 'obvious entry/exit points i.e. ferry port in/airport out (probably Nice, if riding N/S)
On Google maps (driving);
Le Havre - Nice 1240kms
Cherbourg - Nice 1300kms
Calais - Nice 1230kms

all (surprisingly) less than JOGLE!

If I re-route on Google Maps, via Annecy, Chambery, Grenoble, Gap and Mont Ventoux,
it still only comes out at less than 1500k or approx 1 JOGLE; factor in another 500k for getting lost, then wandering about the Alps and you have a 2000km tour of France, doable in a fortnight, by my reckoning at 80/100 miles or 130/160km per day!

mmmmm, I feel a plan coming on

prb007

ex-pat scot wrote:

Look on ACP (Audax Club Parisien) diagonales for classic routes, as has been said.

I've done the following route, in 1991:

Santander- Biarritz- across the Pyrenees to the Med @ Hendaye- along to Rhone valley - up Rhone valley then across to Grenoble, Annecy, Montreux, then round Mt Blanc then back via Eparnay to Le Havre.

don't know which I'm more impressed by - the trip or your fleet of bikes
I did a similar route in a camper van about then - that was hard enough! :shock:

mididoctors

prb007 wrote:

Planning this next year..........


admittedly the route Google gives you is A roads (their A roads are motorways), but just wondering if anyone on here has done it or anything similar?

use to ride London the Pyrenees at the start of every summer

london>southampton>ferry to caen

its easy riding to be honest.. unless you go out of your way looking for the hills

malcolmfrost

Did Irun (just over the Spanish border) to Caen in 5 days last year, ferry to Calais then TGV to Irun, ferry back to Portsmouth via Caen.

boblo

Yup did Caen to Montpellier last summer. PM me if you want any info.

karlirich

rode le havre to alps to see the tour last year see www.nortonwheelers.co.uk for a write up ... its just so much easier to plan such a route in france, we took a bout 50 pages ripped out of a 1:200,000 atlas and planned the next day the night before

gerrypat

I've cycled Cherbourg to Nice and also from Spain to the Italian border. To be honest, I would just pick your A and B and design a route based on the many small, departmental roads that run through France. Including tourist sites is another matter, but you can easily find roads to ride on anywhere you go. Here's the blog entry for the Cherbourg-Nice ride:

http://gerrypatt.wordpress.com/2008/11/ ... nice-2001/

Bonne Route!

jnr_seahorse

I am in the early stages of planning a ride to Monte Carlo next summer.
Currently pouring over the road atlas!

Started a blog on Tuesday!
http://southdowns2montecarlo.blogspot.com/

peter_andrew

Hi
Worth a fiver!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Downhill-all-Wa ... 1840245603
Its amusing and will give an insight into a route and other things to think about.
Peter

pneumatic

We did a long diagonal NE to SW from Zeebrugge (yes, I know it is in Belgium! we crossed the border near Valenciennes) to St Jean Pied de Port on the way to Santiago. See the signature link below for details.

As others have said, the loose leaf atlas method of route planning is ideal. France has about three times as much metalled road per head of population than the UK and so you can ride in peace almost anywhere.

prb007

jnr_seahorse wrote:

I am in the early stages of planning a ride to Monte Carlo next summer.
Currently pouring over the road atlas!

Started a blog on Tuesday!
http://southdowns2montecarlo.blogspot.com/

What are you pouring over your atlas - a wine from the region, perhaps?

prb007

this also looks feasible;
Santander-Calais, 800-odd miles, do-able in a week, I reckon..

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... F8&t=h&z=5

v718

organised ride from these people www.detourdefrance.fr hope you have a good one done this 4 times in the last 4 years