Good area in France for a short cycle tour ?

Parcelman

Hi,

Off to France in the Summer with my wife for a long weekend (4 nights or so). We intend to take a couple of MTB's and make the break into a mini cycle tour. Maybe 4/5 hours a day in the saddle and would like to potter along taking in the scenery with long lunch breaks etc. Would ideally like a good mix of challenging terrain, places worth visiting and enough cafes to keep us going.

We would to stay in the same hotel for the duration of the weekend and ideally not travel more than 2/3 hours by car from Calais. Initial thoughts were to head to Deauville area on the Normandy coast

Any suggestions ?

bernithebiker

Normandy's not a bad place to cycle round, but if you can push on a bit more into the Loire valley, or even better Finistere or the Morbihan (both by the ocean), these are both excellent cycle venues.

You should get better weather too.

al_yrpal

Portsmouth to Cherbourg then back via Le Havre to Portsmouth. Leave a car in the muti story at Portsmouth ferry terminal. Not far, all the invasion history, lots of nice seaside towns with good seafood. Plenty of Logis or campsites. Honfleur is lovely. Not much challenging terrain though as with most of Northern France

Al

Parcelman

Thanks for the advice. I'll have a look at the places you suggest