3 weeks cycle camping in France from May 26

looe

Hi,
next Thursday (May 26)evening I start my cycle camping trip in France. Please follow me at Twitter @Touring_Cyclist as I will not have time to do any write ups on here. I will ride slowly,( no mile hunting) and explore the country.

yossarian82

Good luck. Might see you there I am leaving for a 3 week camping trip round France on the 30th. Big country though so probably not...

looe

Yossarian82 wrote:

Good luck. Might see you there I am leaving for a 3 week camping trip round France on the 30th. Big country though so probably not...

I am going the Brest to Nantes canal and up the Loire river and after that I don't know. Look out for a CUBE bike with a Burley Nomad trailer.................that's me

ram038

Off to France 4th June for 2 weeks cycle\camping from the Med to Bay of Bascay and then up to St Malo. My first time now beginning to feel I have bitten of more than I can chew.but hey if you don't try it you'll always regret it. Hoping to meet cycle tourers on the way. Enjoy

yossarian82

looe wrote:

Yossarian82 wrote:

Good luck. Might see you there I am leaving for a 3 week camping trip round France on the 30th. Big country though so probably not...

I am going the Brest to Nantes canal and up the Loire river and after that I don't know. Look out for a CUBE bike with a Burley Nomad trailer.................that's me

Nice. I am heading down to Lyon from Dieppe then either heading into the Massif Central if my legs can take it, if they can't I am going to head along the Loire as well so who knows. I will be on a Surly Crosscheck with panniers looking knackered!

looe

Leaving Looe at 6 for the overnight Plymouth to Roscoff ferry. So much looking forward to my 3 week cycle camping holiday

mz__jo

Good Luck all you lucky people. I will spare a thought for you as I sit in Limoges nursing my useless knee.

Have good rides and take care out there.

Cheers Jo

Yecomb

I'm driving down to southern france for about a ten day tour. My plan is to dump the car and get the train to Millau, up the Tarn, across and down the Lot then over to the Dordogne and a bit of the Vezere.
All depends on how I manage in the heat as most tours have been in northern england and scotland so far. Snowing on me in Scotland last June - at least it keeps the midges off.

Does anyone know how easy it is on the trains with bikes, specifically the Ter trains?

Bit of a traditionalist so on a Dawes Super Galaxy with ortlieb panniers.

have fun.....

mz__jo

How soon are you going? Got time to look up your likely lines beforehand? TER are generally easier on bikes than Corail and TGV (the main lines) but because they are regional the policy on access varies from region to region. Some will have bike facilities on every train, some will have a more or less frequent access depending on the line. I don't think that you will need to strip the bike and put it in a travel bag like you do on some Corail because TER are local. The hardest bit is stringing together the changes you need for inter-regional journeys but it is all available on the web with a bit of hunting. I don't know the links off-hand, someone else will probably post them before I find them.
Cheers Jo

rdt

mz__jo wrote:

Good Luck all you lucky people. I will spare a thought for you as I sit in Limoges nursing my useless knee.

Have good rides and take care out there.

Cheers Jo

Hello Jo,

We're driving to France in July, staying in Brantome for a week, and then thinking of heading towards Limoges and N/NW of there, maybe to the Creuse river area? No fixed plan.

Any suggestions of sights to take in, areas to aim at, or suggestions for day rides? It's a big country you're in there, so a bit of local knowledge is always handy! Cheers.

Yecomb

Thanks Jo,
I'm going during the last week in June. i've had a look on http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ and the Ter train shows bikes allowed for both legs of Figeac-Rodez-Millau.

I'm guessing you're a local now so maybe you could answer a couple of questions.

I'm hoping you can just wheel the bike onto the Ter trains, but do you know if they have a limit or how long in advance you should book? I'd rather stay flexible if I can.

If I dump my car somewhere like Rocamadour for 10 days (and ride from there), is it likely to attract any attention? (I'll try and be discreet).

Cheers,
Peter

mz__jo

rdt wrote:

mz__jo wrote:

Good Luck all you lucky people. I will spare a thought for you as I sit in Limoges nursing my useless knee.

Have good rides and take care out there.

Cheers Jo

Hello Jo,

We're driving to France in July, staying in Brantome for a week, and then thinking of heading towards Limoges and N/NW of there, maybe to the Creuse river area? No fixed plan.

Any suggestions of sights to take in, areas to aim at, or suggestions for day rides? It's a big country you're in there, so a bit of local knowledge is always handy! Cheers.

I will answer this in depth perhaps PM. There is no shortage of things to see, all od mine will come from local FFCT sources. Will you be in Limousin for the 14th July? Randonnée at Chamboulive. Good fireworks at Confolens (Charente) the 14th, less good at Limoges the 13th, loads of smaller displays everywhere. Ideas coming up when I've had a chance to look them up.
Cheers Jo

mz__jo

Yecomb wrote:

Thanks Jo,
I'm going during the last week in June. i've had a look on http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ and the Ter train shows bikes allowed for both legs of Figeac-Rodez-Millau.

I'm guessing you're a local now so maybe you could answer a couple of questions.

I'm hoping you can just wheel the bike onto the Ter trains, but do you know if they have a limit or how long in advance you should book? I'd rather stay flexible if I can.

If I dump my car somewhere like Rocamadour for 10 days (and ride from there), is it likely to attract any attention? (I'll try and be discreet).

Cheers,
Peter

I think the bike policy is on the regional link for the SNCF region that you have already looked at. As far as I know you do not need to reserve (I don't think you can), you just turn up but the bikes are on a first come, first served basis. I don't know the capacity of the vans, I imagine that it varies. I would be surprised if you had a problem though. I will try to check this with a french friend who does this sort of thing in a group in his club.

I think that Rocamadour would not be a good place to leave a car for any length of time. You would be safer in the centre of Brive I would guess. Being on english plates it will be difficult to be completely unobvious; stealth will be difficult to achieve. If in doubt have a word with the gendarmerie, at least that way they can't say they didn't know.

Cheers Jo

mz__jo

rdt wrote:

Hello Jo,

We're driving to France in July, staying in Brantome for a week, and then thinking of heading towards Limoges and N/NW of there, maybe to the Creuse river area? No fixed plan.

Any suggestions of sights to take in, areas to aim at, or suggestions for day rides? It's a big country you're in there, so a bit of local knowledge is always handy! Cheers.

Going north from Brantôme you're in the Parc Naturel Perigord Limousin (or the Pays des Feuillardiers). Nontron is worth a look, St Mathieu is pretty, Chalus is famous for King Richard the Lionheart (and is also pretty). There is little spectacular but the countryside ispretty and there is very little traffic. Go into Aixe sur Vienne via Rochechouart and Cognac le Forêt to avoid the N21. Rochechouart is also worth visiting.

North of Limoges there is no shortage of scenery, a bit mountainous in places. Again all the minor roads are quiet. Visit Le Dorat, Lesterps (en Charente), St Germain de Confolens (also Charente), Nexon, Brigueil, Mortemart, Montrol Senart etc all little towns sometimes with big abbeys. Going east Royères de Vassivière and the Rigole du Diable, Gentioux-Pigerolles and the upper valley of the Creuse (our winter ski station if it snows), Eymoutiers, the lac de Vassivière, Uzerche. All pretty, nothing spectacular, and roads perfect for cycling (even the ex-N20).

I could go on for hours. I will PM with some of the permanent randonnée contact details. There are some details for the BRL, which is "organised" by my club, on the club site, link in my signature on this post.

Cheers Jo

rdt

Thanks. I'll get the map out at the w/e, scope out the places you've named, and start cobbling a rough plan together.

rdt

mz__jo wrote:

rdt wrote:

mz__jo wrote:

Good Luck all you lucky people. I will spare a thought for you as I sit in Limoges nursing my useless knee.

Have good rides and take care out there.

Cheers Jo

Hello Jo,

We're driving to France in July, staying in Brantome for a week, and then thinking of heading towards Limoges and N/NW of there, maybe to the Creuse river area? No fixed plan.

Any suggestions of sights to take in, areas to aim at, or suggestions for day rides? It's a big country you're in there, so a bit of local knowledge is always handy! Cheers.

I will answer this in depth perhaps PM. There is no shortage of things to see, all od mine will come from local FFCT sources. Will you be in Limousin for the 14th July? Randonnée at Chamboulive. Good fireworks at Confolens (Charente) the 14th, less good at Limoges the 13th, loads of smaller displays everywhere. Ideas coming up when I've had a chance to look them up.
Cheers Jo

Sorry, I'd missed this first reply of yours. We're in France the 2nd week of July, but meandering our way, so not getting to your neck of the woods until about the 24th.

mz__jo

rdt wrote:

Sorry, I'd missed this first reply of yours. We're in France the 2nd week of July, but meandering our way, so not getting to your neck of the woods until about the 24th.

OK One PM in your box. A bit more to come.

Cheers JO