Anyone got advice for travelling to France?

[keewee]

Hi

I'm planning a trip to France in Aug or Sep for 10 days & have never been before (I'm from NZ living in England) can anyone suggest a itinery? Or where to avoid at what times. Plan to camp or stay in B&B. Any advice would be much appreciated but looking for some nice riding away from the crowds.

Cheers

Keewee

[YEN_POWELL]

Hi

I'm planning a trip to France in Aug or Sep for 10 days & have never been before (I'm from NZ living in England) can anyone suggest a itinery? Or where to avoid at what times. Plan to camp or stay in B&B. Any advice would be much appreciated but looking for some nice riding away from the crowds.

Cheers

Keewee

I think the whole of France buggers off for a few weeks in August, causing chaos on the roads. It's that bad we even learnt about in school french lessons in 1978.

[djadams]

If you don't mind a bit of a slog to get down there, the Pyrenees and Alps are just amazing. Well, compared to the UK they are. Unfortunately you're rather spoiled by coming from NZ, but that's your problem...

Check out a route map and a few snaps here The page only seems to work in MS internet explorer (as opposed to Opera, Firefox or Netscape) due to dodgy google coding, but you can see where we went and we had an awesome time. AMAZING roads. If you have Tomtom, I could send you our routes as a series of POIs.

We got the Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry on the way out and then back from Calais to Dover but nothing stopping you riding down to the Pyrenees.

If you fancy a poignant stop near Calais, I genuinely recommend visiting a WW1 memorial. A favourite (if you can call it that) is the Canadian memorial park at Vimy Ridge, which has an awesome white limestone monument (currently undergoing restoration so all covered up) plus preserved trenches and tunnels. As you wander around you can't help but notice that like so much of Northern France there's craters everywhere and not a single tree that looks over 90yrs old. There's bound to be some ANZAC stuff kicking about if it's of interest. Thought-provoking stuff, for sure.

Apart from that, for good biking, I'd hot-foot it to the south for the mountain scenery.

[Austin]

last time I went by bike was in the eighties, but have been a few times by car since with the family.

IMHO....
1. Central France can be very very hot. Too Hot!! Be prepared - cool vented gear and avoid mid-afternoon riding.
2. Road quality is either brill, or crap; twisties or arrow straight. Generally a lot quieter than UK.
3. Watch for speed traps - cars will flash their lights at you miles before the speed trap - but their will be one. Fines are on the spot. I have never been done. :P
4. I have heard of tales of trouble with credit/debit cards at filling stations, but I have never had any problems.
five. Supermarkets Cafe's and big chain restaurants are tempting coz they are easy and convenient. Don't bother - get into the villages and seek out small restaurants. Quality is normally fantastic and fixed price menus good value. I look for "Les Routiers" signs.
6. France ain't cheap anymore - except booze from the supermarket, otherwise same or more than here.
seven. Best places I have been - Biaritzz and St Jean de Luz; Ardeche Gorge, and Provence/Alps (Route Napoleon ]
8. Don't bother with Brittany, Jura/Haute Savoie, I didn't like Loire, Lot Dordogne or Anywhere on Med coast.
9. Have agood go at the lingo. THere are places where the French simply will not speak in English even if they clearl understand you, yet others where they will willingl talk to you in English.
last one.... don't underestimate how big France is. Getting to the South and back in ten days is quite an undertaking.

I am North Spain with the family in 2 weeks

[Recycler]

You can't beat the mountains. I've found the Alps more dramatic but can't say I've seen as much of the Pyrenees.


The top half of France is dull as sh1te barring a few exceptions, like the WW1 battlefields.

Oradour-sur-Glane (just NW of Poitiers) is worth a visit if on route. It's a 'preserved' village that was wiped out by the Nazis around D-day, with an ajoining museum.


UK credit cards do not work in automated petrol stations, but only the unattended 24hr ones - otherwise they're fine.

Bon Voyage.

[keewee]

Thanks for all your replies. I think i will look at heading away the 1st week of Sept. It doesn't look like I will make it the South, would be really rushing it. Can't wait to get away, some of the scenery looks amazing & will be searching out some ANZAC historical areas as well.

[FatFergie]

Hope you enjoy France as much as we enjoyed NZ last month. Apart from the rugby which was dissapointing! We were looking forward to some great football, and all we got was some very cranky, dour all blacks with more braun than brains. When did they stop having fun? Have you seen the Aussie Tv ad with the handbags?
http://www.unison.ie/0/stories.php3?...719&eid=224827
still beat us though!
Check out Brittany, but not in August, it's holiday time then.
Cooler than the east and south so easier for biking, scenery not as dramatic as alps or pyrenees, but some great roads, culture, food, music. Like someone else said, use French as much as you can even though in Brittany it's not the prefered language it's still appreciated.
incidentally are you still planning your round the world? I met a belgian guy in coromandel on an xl600 who'd come via Turkey, India, Indonesia, Aus. He looked knackered!

[sean]

drive on the right!!!!

[Galloper]

Make it to the South!! It's well worth it.

My usual format is to jump on the Peage and head for somewhere like Bourg en Bresse or Chalon sur Saone. It's about 400 miles so easily achievable in a day.

You're then in easy reach of some of the best riding in Europe.

Get the large scale Michelin Map of France and look for the green highlighted (scenic routes) bits. Pretty much the whole of south eastern France makes for great riding.

Formul1 hotels are cheap, about 25 euros a night. Hotels are a bit more widespread than in the UK, look for Logis de France, good but about 50 euros.

Keep your tank topped up on Sundays, a lot of filing stations are closed and the automated ones don't take UK cards.

If you stay in the mountains, it's a lot cooler and a Transalp is perfect on any alp

If you're staying in a small hotel, check the time for dinner, it's normally a set time, usually 7pm.

Head south and have fun.

[keewee]

Loads of good advice cheers guys. My mate has pulled out so I'm 50/50 on whether to go. I think the 1st week of Sep is when I'll go. As for Fat Fergies question about riding back to NZ - absolutely, will be in 2-3 years though. Is going to take me that long to prepare!!