Cycle tour using Bike Express

Alain Quay

Please can anyone who has used the Bike Express recommend a good place along its route to start a
one week cycle tour? In view of amount of time spent on coach, I would prefer not to go all the way to Pyrenees and beyond.

Tail end Charlie

Orange, then either east and pick up the cycle route round the Luberon (Google "veloloisir luberon", there is an English version), or west up the Ardeche gorges and go anywhere in the Cevennes. More climbing in the second, but well worth it.

Alain Quay

Thanks Charlie, appreciated. Will look into.

mercia_man

Orange. Great touring country to both east and west as long as you don't mind hills and mountains. The Ardeche to the west of Orange and the Drome to the east are both excellent for a week's trip. I think my preference for just a week would be the Drome and northern Provence. The beautiful quiet countryside north and east of Buis-les-Baronnies is well worth exploring for the first part of your trip and then you could return via Ventoux from Sault or along the gorges just south of Ventoux.

The Orange drop off/pick up point is easy to find and close to the town centre. Orange is a small enough town that you don't have to spend hours trying to get in or out of it. You also get dropped off at a reasonable time in the morning - around 6.30am. Staying on the bus any longer to Perpignan, for example, may take you to equally nice touring areas but your backside won't thank you after hours on the bus! Getting dropped off an hour earlier than Orange at Valence means you'll still be in the dark in June. And I've found the pick-up point at Valence to be much more difficult to find than Orange. Valence is also a much bigger place with busy main roads.

Alain Quay

Thanks a lot Mercia Man, am looking into this.