Help Needed: Novice planning a cycle tour through France

mclellan742

Hi,

I am planning a cycling trip with a friend for 2 weeks starting in mid-june. We're both and university and are prety fit, we're going to be cycling on road racing bikes and camping for most of the way. The plan so far is to fly to Lourdes in the Pyrenees and end up in Paris, before getting the Eurostar home.

Between point A-B we can't decide whether to cycle through the centre of France and through the Loire Valley etc OR take a route up the West coast before cutting inland to Paris somewhere around Rennes.

It'd be great if anyone could offer any help and advice on route planning, bearing in mind we'll be camping where ever possible!

Thanks a lot,

Nick

andymiller

I wouldn't worry too much about camping in France - unless you are going really off the beaten track. Lots of places have a 'camping municipal' which are usually a good bet - although there are also good economical private sites as well.

If you're planning to go as far as Rennes wouldn't it be just as easy to well head for Roscoff/St Malo etc as head for Paris? (Brittany is one of the nicest bits of France - it would be a shame to miss it).

mclellan742

Thanks, I'll have to look in to that! Most of the routes I've seen of people touring France seem to go fairly central through france - staying away from the coast. I've read forums that say sticking to the west coast becomes 'boring!' I'm in two minds as to just take a central route now