French cycle trip route - suggestions / comments

[torqueofthedevil]

I plan on a cycling holiday in France in late spring / early summer next year - I'd prefer around may if the weather will be good enough then and no risk of snow where I'm going.

I'd like to think I could cover around 60 miles a day but the intention is just to enjoy myself and take in the surroundings, atmosphere, enjoy the food and activities to do in each areas. Therefore I don't have a specific destination that I'm heading for.

I like the Loire valley area so I'm thinking of flying to Avignon and cycling the Ardeche Gorge to Vals Les Bains, then Le Gerbier de Jonc then Le Puy en Velay. From there I've not really planned anything but head further up the Loire and / or generally head for Paris or Dijon. When I run out of time just catch a train home.

Plan to just stay in B&B's along the way.

And comments or suggestions or similar holidays been done?

Cheers

[torqueofthedevil]

Oops wrong forum please could somebody move to pedal powered? Thanks

[leyorkie]

I took the ferry to Bilboa and rode back up to St Malo.
Just put a ruler on the map and followed that route taking any diversions to interesting points or for accommodation Had to call ahead each day to reserve accomodation, not good when there's no accommodation and the next village is another 20k.
60 miles per day no problem but early starts, to avoid the heat, meant that we often arrived at 3 or 4 pm
Have you considered the Bike Express service that travels around Europe? Drop off and pick up at various points.
http://www.bike-express.co.uk

[torqueofthedevil]

Thanks for reply, I had been looking at bike express but the website was down. Just looked now - it looks interesting but only had a quick glance but it looks limited in terms of set dates? I was hoping to get a train to Paris and the tgv to the south - I can't believe how quickly you can get down to the Avignon from Paris! I'm sure it was about 3 hours!!

Somebody else had commented elsewhere that the routes out of Avignon are serious alpine routes which would be too much for me really so maybe I would start further north. I've been to Le Puy en velay before and it looks like yorkshire so In happy I can cope with that.

I used to plan on doing the bilbao - st malo route but wasnt sure if it would be a bit bleak / busy roads / windy over there?!? I loved in round Le Puy so I'm tempted to keep over there but certainly not definate!

I'm open to all ideas. I want the cycling to only be half of what the holiday is about - with time to do other stuff there - relax and have nice meals, see he towns and cities and do some other activities ie kayaking.

[ecs]

I did Towcester to somewhere near Bordeaux last spring. The cycling in France is lovely, so we're planning on doing something again this year but we'd skip out the UK and start in France. You can see the segments on Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/127518434
https://www.strava.com/activities/127808063
https://www.strava.com/activities/127843717
https://www.strava.com/activities/128104715
https://www.strava.com/activities/128509068
https://www.strava.com/activities/128813049
https://www.strava.com/activities/129096820
https://www.strava.com/activities/129423040

Shows you how far you can go at a leisurely pace (and hopefully some inspiration for a route)! I would like to pick up where we left off last year and carry on down to the Med

[leyorkie]

Bilbao. Half a day to get through and out past the airport and then you are into rural Spain.
Any large town is not pleasant but it was soon over and past.

[Gruffy]

torqueofthedevil said:

Thanks for reply, I had been looking at bike express but the website was down. Just looked now - it looks interesting but only had a quick glance but it looks limited in terms of set dates? I was hoping to get a train to Paris and the tgv to the south - I can't believe how quickly you can get down to the Avignon from Paris! I'm sure it was about 3 hours!!

I read somewhere that they'd recently decided to ban bikes on the route to Avignon, claiming they needed the space for passengers instead. It's a real shame as I quite fancied a crack at Ventoux using the train to travel down.