Independent Cycle Touring in France

Impressions of France

Dordogne: Highly recommended. Our ride from Souillac (where we disembarked from the train) to Bergerac was magical. Memories of dappled sunlight filtering through the walnut orchards, roses tumbling over stone garden walls, mediaeval towns and farmlands. Northwards from Bergerac via Riberac to Angouleme (Charente) was also very enjoyable over gentle hills, quiet and scenic. Pictured: La Roque-Gageac

On the most recent tour, we rode east from Souillac to St-Cere via Rocamadour. Also many pretty villages, and we departed the valley via a tributary valley and up a quiet tiny road, almost a track, a long climb but magical on a crisp spring morning.

Cognac: The Charente river, north of Angouleme, was somewhat average, but after that we quite enjoyed our ride northwest through the fields. We loved our nights stay with old folks at Nere who fed us rabbit for our table d'hote - something I surmised when we saw rabbit cages while parking our bikes.

Marais Poitevin, or Venise Verte: We based ourselves in Coulon, and rode through the marshes, along the Sevre river, and in the surrounding areas. Riding there, northwest from Nere to Coulon, was ordinary. We found the Marais area pleasant enough through the marshes, but otherwise unremarkable along the river. This area was not to our taste, although our opinion was possibly spoilt by lousy weather. The highlight was the best garlicky moules ever in a restaurant in Coulon. 

Loire, Loir and Cher valleys Seen on two trips: first, upriver from Tours to north of Chambord. The river itself is not that exciting, but Amboise is very pretty, and it's an enjoyable ride up past Chambord - lovely forest cycle tracks giving tantalising glimpses of the chateau. Turning northwards to head for Le Loir (a different river from La Loire), the flat farmlands charmed us with steeples of several villages visible at once. We stayed in Lavardin in the Loir, which is a delightful area filled with troglodyte dwellings in chalk cliffs.
    On another trip, we started in Orleans and rode down to the Cher river. We found the area a bit disappointing until we reached the Cher (our impressions of our respective chambre d'hotes also played its part: near Chambord, it was average, expensive and the hostess barely civil. On the Cher, in Bourre, we had a wonderful stay.) Further down on the Loire again, the velo route did not necessarily follow the river, but provided variety by taking us through fields and up the occasional steep hill! 

Perche, Normandy, Seine. Overland through the Perche from the Loir to Chartres is average riding. Chartres is a must-see for the cathedral and the Maison Picassiete - a house covered in mosaic.
    Normandy: the Eure valley quite pretty, and we got as far west as Bernay on the Charentonne river - beyond that Normandy looked too hilly. Reasonably attractive. There are a couple of voie verts, one on the Charentonne to Bernay and another north of Evreux.
    Seine: Les Andelys is a delighful town worth visiting. On the way there, riding northwards up the left bank of the Seine, we made a serendipitous choice of taking a road not marked on the map - a quiet narrow way right next to the river. A tributary of the Seine is the Andelle river, which we approached from the south over the plateau and rode west back to the Seine. An untouristed delightful valley with its own character and interesting discoveries, such as a ruined abbey and an abandoned Victorian cloth factory that looked like a cathedral. Returning south down the Seine to Vernon was unremarkable - too built up to have good views of the river.

Lot valley One of our favourite areas visited. Ridden westward in stages from Espalion to Aguillon, where it joins the Garonne. The Lot is easy riding, scenic, friendly, and filled with surprising pretty villages in addition to the famous ones such as Conques, St-Cirq-Lapopie and Cahors. We also rode the Cele valley between Figeac and the Lot - quiet and rural (although a major pellerin route, and accommodation fills up!) We spent a couple of nights in Balaguier-d'Olt; a charming village tucked away and a hostess who was delighted to have South Africans to stay, as she had once had an SA boyfriend! We took a day ride from there to seek out cazelles, old stone huts made by shepherds and unique to that area.
    Conques is extremely beautiful. It is also up a steep hill and a major pellerin stop. We could only get accommodation at an expensive hotel. However it was in Conques that we discovered a French gourmet delight: aligot. This is potato mash with lashings of garlic and cheese. Yum.

Tarn We had taken the train to Montauban and rode eastward upstream - in retrospect not a good idea as the river climbs. In addition a strong easterly wind was blowing over those few days which made riding very disheartening at times. Albi is a worthwhile stop for the cathdral, and upstream of that to Ambialet (pictured here) is very nice riding, until the unceasing hills start. Just because the road shows next to the river on the map does NOT mean that it is flat along the bank! We had to head inland (via HILLS!) to our chambre d'hote and stayed with lovely old folks at Le Cayla.  
    The Millau Viaduc is spectacular, and justifiably a French tourist attraction. From Millau, despite the  hills to the West, we persisted northwards up the Tarn, and luckily so - it flattened out most comfortably. On the recommendation of the old chap at Le Cayla, we rode the Gorges de la Jonte to Meyruis and back instead of the Tarn gorge, and had a wonderful ride.
    In the Tarn area you will encounter tunnels, so take a rear light at least.

Aveyron Famous for all its medieval villages, such as Najac, Cordes and Bruniquel, but more touristed and not as charming as the Lot. One of my worst cycling experiences was the road out of Najac, pushing the bike up an interminable hill. With each approaching bend, we thought that we might have reached the top - but we must have pushed for about 6km. Naturally, the other side was too steep to enjoy - coming down with brakes on and gritted teeth!

Camargue We visited here spontaneously, having run ahead of schedule, rashly deciding to go despite no research or preparation. In Montpellier our handlebar bag with passports was stolen in the tourist office. Once we had recovered from the shock, we headed for the marshes. The Camargue is quite different - very flat, but mosquito-infested, as a sleepless night in Saintes-Maries -de-la-Mer proved. It's worth seeing only for a change. Beyond the flamingos in the etangs, the odd white horse (no longer wild) and herds of taureaux (black bulls) - are lush green rice paddies. We cycled through them in stifling heat and humidity, once rained on by muddy drizzle, the sky shedding its load of Sahara dust.

Paris We had arrived back in Paris early to arrange for emergency passports, and had time to kill, so we rode extensively around the city, making use of the cycle lane map we picked up at the Mairie. It's very exciting to negotiate the Arc de Triomph on a bike! It was also enjoyable to take the train to Versailles, (where one can ride around the massive grounds) and ride back into Paris, stopping for coffee icecream (our favourite) in the Bois de Boulogne. 

Nantes-Brest Canal, Northern Brittany Starting from Nort-sur-Erdre, a little way out of Nantes, we commenced our trek up the towpath. It was our first canal, and the further up we went, the more enchanted I became by it - the history and the scenery. It seemed like a well-kept secret, as we encountered few people on the towpath. The town of Redon did not impress us, mainly because there was no reasonable accomodation in town, and we spent the night in the last available room of a hotel in the parking lot of a supermarket. At least the staff were friendly!
  Further up, the towns of Malestroit, Josselin and Pontivy were all gems. From Pontivy we did a day ride down the Blavet river, also navigable and with a towpath. We had an enforced extra night in Pontivy because of a derailleur that broke, 11km up the towpath heading out of town, on a Sunday. LUCKILY the very professional cycle shop there was open on Mondays! Although we had not intended at first to go much further than Pontivy, we were so charmed by the canal that it became a calling to go to the end.
    The canal breaks at Lac Guerledan, where a hydro-electric scheme was later constructed. Circumnavigating the lake, one encounters the hills of Brittany! There is a secret cycle track along the path of an old railway, which is not marked, and we knew of it only from reading a French canal guide.
    West of the Lac, the canal passes through Cotes d'Armor department, and they, of the three departments that the canal traverses, clearly spend the least effort in maintaining the cycle path. Consequently, the surroundings were wilder and more beautiful.        
    Crossing into Finistere it instantly felt flat and lacking in life - we saw only one jay, compared to the dozens we had seen in Cotes d'Armor. Our last day on the canal, the weather had turned on us, and we rode in drizzle to Guily Glaz, the marine lock near Chateaulin. 
    In another last-minute change of itinerary, we headed up to the north coast of Brittany for a couple of days. Although it was beautiful, the rolling hills were never-ending, and the weather was lousy. It is definitely colder and wetter in Brittany than anywhere else in France!

Mayenne/Sarthe We had a few days to explore the Mayenne and Sarthe. I found the Sarthe more charming than the Mayenne, and it was fairly close to the Loir valley, which I loved. We rode to Le Mans to catch a train back to Charles de Gaulle. Although accommodation was also difficult to find in Le Mans, it is a city well worth visiting for its spectacular mediaeval quarter, the Plantagenet City. Sadly the cathedral was closed in the evening, so get there before 6pm!

Alsace  We entered France on this trip at Sarreguemines on the Saar river, and looked for the best route through the upper Vosges mountains to reach Alsace. The route was good, the weather not - and we still had to find accommodation in the pouring rain. We spent two nights in Lupstein, near Saverne, drying out! Luckily it was near the railway line and we took a train into Strasbourg for the day. 
    Upper Alsace was a bit disappointing for me, also because the weather was miserable. Further south, it became more scenic with the winelands and medieval towns, but by then we were tired of the hills. One treat was a chambre d'hote at a winery - our 'welcome drink' consisted of an extensive wine-tasting of the vintner's products! We rode into Mulhouse to catch a train to Vesoul, at the top of the hills above the Saone.
    In 2011, we rode south from Mulhouse along the Rhine towards Basel and stayed in Leymen on the Swiss border, where it was a whole lot cheaper than Switzerland. The river and canal were nice enough, but we were rushing as we were late from getting horribly lost in Mulhouse after trying to find the supermarket in stinking heat, then being unable to follow the cycle route when a bridge was closed.

Burgundy  An extensive area with lots of interest, varying from vineyards and canals to mediaeval hilltop villages, and we enjoyed it greatly. We entered it in the Upper Saone area, charming, but more ordinary as we rode south.
    We rode the cycle route through the vineyards between Santenay and Beaune, pleasant. We explored the valleys behind the hills, reached via the voie vert to Nolay, and got spectacular views. (2011 update: the voie vert to Nolay has sadly degenerated and needs maintenance.) A cycle breakdown and rain combined meant we spent an extra night in Meursalt, and went to Dijon by car with our fellow B&B guests, but the road between Beaune and Dijon looked uninteresting, so we caught a train to Dijon to pick up the Canal de Burgogne and continue westwards.
This was reasonably attractive, with interesting points along the way, such as Chȃteuneuf-en-Auxois, Flavigny, Abbey de Fontenay and the Forges du Buffon. We cycled as far north as Tonerre, with the curious Fosse Dionne, then took the train (to avoid less interesting terrain and get out of the howling wind) to Auxerre on the Nivernais canal. This canal had lots of variety and we enjoyed our ride southwards.
    Overland to Digoin, to pick up the Canal du Centre, was a bit of a hike. Digoin has its lovely canal bridge, and from then we found this canal had a charm of its own that grew on us. We followed it around to Chalon-sur-Saone, passing by Santenay where we had been a couple of weeks earlier. 
    The route from Chalon-sur-Saone down to Macôn follows France's original 'voie verte', about 86km, mostly on a converted old railway. We trailed a rollerblader for the longest time, and he eventually told us that he skated a 100km round-trip that day - from Cluny to Chalon-sur-Saone and back! Although the route itself wasn't particularly scenic, it was worth spending time in the area exploring towns such as Brancion. We spent two nights at a charming chambre d'hote in Malay. South of Cluny, the voie vert no longer followed the train track  much and the ride was very up-and-down. We ended in Macôn, from where we took the train to Geneva.

Gascony Be prepared for hills! Neverending, rolling hills. Unfortunately for us cycled in very hot weather. Favourite towns: Nerac, Fources. Disappointment: Larresingle. Hyped, but not a patch on the mediaeval hilltop towns of Burgundy. We found the tourist office in Auch to be the least helpful we ever encountered in France. Next day, the train from Auch to Toulouse was replaced by a bus at the last minute, losing us two hours. Overall, Gascony is worth a look around if you are in the area, but don't make a special diversion for it.

Canal du Midi Historic and pretty with the plane trees along most of its length. Good cycle path for several km out of Toulouse, but after it ends, track degenerates for the rest of the canal and is rideable with difficulty in places - narrow and rough. Another travelogue I read described how a member of their party fell into the canal, bike and all, after riding over a tree root. I took it easy, not wanting to suffer the same fate.
     It rained, and we got so muddy that my back wheel seized from mud caked under the mudguard! We stopped at a boat hire company in Bram, wahing their boats, and asked them to hose down our bikes.  After Carcassonne, (a disappointment given its hype) the map indicated a voie vert. No such luck - a rough gravel path again, that we eventually abandoned for white routes in the vicinity of the canal. Stopped in Capestang for two days, and our host drove us to St Chinian to get a bike repaired - good bike shop. Just as well we hadn't gone to the big town of Beziers to look for a cycle shop - apparently there are none! After Capestang, headed north-east towards the Cevennes but the scenery was just miles and miles of vineyards.

Cevennes St Guilhelm-le-Desert is very well worth seeing. We then tackled the hills northwards to Ganges - a surprisingly easy ride for us who do not usually choose hills. After Ganges, we rode west to Uzes and the Pont du Gard. Nice ride in a quiet part of the country.
    The Cevennes also includes the Gorges de la Jonte, where we had a lovely ride a couple of years before (see tarn paragraph). This area is lovely and wild and I'd like to explore it more.

Provence I had once read that one should ride in Provence before the middle of June, due to the heat. Make that heat, tourists, prices, accommodation, etc... It was the middle of June but already stinking hot - almost dangerous to ride - and already chock-full of tourists, so the only accommodation we could find was a very expensive 1-epi chambre near Lacoste. Be prepared for the prices and if possible book ahead. Riding in Provence, the pretty villages are mostly on the perimeter of the valley, reached via nasty steep little foothills. However, it is very pretty and the Petit Luberon is very well worth visiting. We didn't see much of the Grand Luberon but it felt duller, accommodation was full, so we didn't explore and pressed on.

Drome (Haut Provence) We took the train all the way up to Luc-en-Diois, at the top of the Drome valley. Spectacular train ride from Veynes to Luc. Very pretty, cooler and quieter after the madness of Provence. Cycled over the Col du Miscon (roadside scene pictured) - a lovely ride in a wild valley.
    Our hostess persuaded us to go over the Col de Rousset and Vercors massif instead of around the mountain, along the rivers to Grenoble. A 20km long ride, climbing 850m, but well worth it. Got surrounded by huge clouds of flies during the climb, but Tabard mosquito repellent did the trick! Over the massif it was almost a secret world, following beautiful roads, especially the spectacular Gorges de la Bourne.

Savoie, Haut-Savoie North from Grenoble to Chamonix: Took a train from Grenoble - only red routes to the east - to Pontcharra, then up the Isere valley through Savoyard villages - very different from other parts of France, and a lovely ride.
    Instead of going through Albertville, we tackled the Col de Tamie. This was the only col not worth the effort, steep climb and no view on the descent. Only saving grace - grassy banks on sides of road were overflowing with ripe wild strawberries. Did we tuck in!
    Annecy is a pretty town with a 42km ride around the lake. The voie vert on the southern side is very popular and very busy on weekends. Enroute from there to Chamonix, we once more headed for the hills, to La Clusaz, as first part of the main valley road from Ugine to Megeve was closed due to rockfalls. Tackled the Col des Aravis, would have been more pleasant if not for the biting cold. These are the French Alps, after all! After a spectacular descent to meet the valley road to Megeve, the road from Flumet was busy, not a pleasant ride. Gave up at St Gervais-les-Bains and took the train: too cold, plus a horrifying looking red route to Chamonix including a very long tunnel.
    When staying in Chamonix, you will get a guest card which will permit free travel on the valley train. Enroute to Switzerland, we used it to bypass the busy section to Vallorcine, then rode over the Col de la Forclaz to Martigny. Easier done than we thought!

Massif Central2011 - after leaving the Dordogne valley, made our way to Aurillac and up the Route des Cretes, a scenic route towards the Puy Mary. Many ups and downs on the way, and a long steep climb up the Puy Mary. We went downhill to Salers, a famous pretty village which was somewhat ordinary to us, and headed north out of there since that was about the only reasonable way to escape the hills. After getting to Ussel we were boxed in and the only way out was courtesy of SNCF, to Le Puy en Velay, on an amazingly complicated series of bus and train journeys with mere moments to connect. This was undertaken on a rainy day which turned bitterly cold in Le Puy, (8 degrees and pouring on 1 June) and we were forced to take a train to our booked accommodation and miss out on what would have been a spectacular ride down the upper gorges of the Loire. We further trained it to Roanne, from where we attempted the canal from Roanne to Digoin. The towpath was rideable only for a while and the canal was fairly plain so it was not a sacrifice to rejoin the roads.

Doubs, Jura 2011 - after leaving Burgundy, we headed west to east via the Doubs valley and Canal Rhone au Rhin. We hadn't known anything about the area beforehand and were stunned at how beautiful it was. From Dole northwards, the canal and river run together through sheer cliffs well away from the road and the ride along the towpath is spectacular and rewarding. We followed it north to Mulhouse and the Rhine with some side trips into the Jura and to Belfort. Highly recommended.

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