Cycling in Charente

The good doctor

Hi,

Im off to France next week to visit a friend and will of course be taking my bike. Does anyone now of any good online rsources for creating routes. The village is called Cellefrouin and looking at Google earth its in the back of beyond, ive also just ordered a Garmin so hope to be able to use this to some advantage.

Thanks

John

mike ives

Try Bikeroutetoaster(.com?). I use it all the time and find it excellent.

The good doctor

Thanks Mike,

i've found the place I'm staying on the map which is cool I might wait till I get there to plot some routes but thaks again.

John

dag_on_a_bike

Your Garmin will be invaluable.

Used mine on 3 previous trips to the Perpignan area. Wouldn't be without.

Off to Ceret in 10 days - Garmin is a necessity.Laptop going too so I can pre-plan/upload routes.

I use City Navigator Europe maps and have yet to find anywhere that's not shown (although did come across one new road that didn't exist on the map which caused a minor routing problem).

Chirg

Hey John

I go to that area three times a year. All my routes are in and around the square of St Claud, La Rouchefoucauld, Conac and Matha (including a 200km circuit round the four of them). West of the N10 is flatter and usually better weather. East of the N10 has more hills (think Surrey Hills, not the Pennines). There are loads of routes where you can cycle for an hour at a time without seeing a car.

For routes in Garmin Road Trip I just set waypoints at lots of small villages and then link them up to make a route before uploading it to my Garmin. Just stay off the N141 (made that mistake before!).

Give me a shout if you want any suggestions.

mooli

I was a little further south in the Charente last week and had a great time. As Chirg says, rolling hills rather than vertical ascents but very enjoyable. The Department try hard to encourage cycling and have mapped out some routes on their website:

http://www.cg16.fr/tourisme-sport/tourisme/charente-velo/boucles-velo/index.html

The good doctor

Thanks again, I like the simplicity of using villages as waypoints.

John

Bentyler

I live and ride out of Mansle just down the road from Cellefroin. So easy to find into Mansle off the N10 and follow signs for St Claud.
Why bother with a Garmin just pick a few large villagesmake a note of the names and navigate from village to village making your own route. Many of the backroads do not even feature on my BM,s sat nav.
Good cake stops at Vertueil, the Mill, Seppings at Condac, bar in the square, cake shop next door in Mansle.
Come over to Mansle on a Wednesday 2.00 outside the Marie for an 80km club run.
E mail me if you want any details of weekend club sportives.
Unfortunately I am measuring my riding in hours, recuperating after a prostate op.

The older I get the faster I was.