TdF: Advice needed

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I've been wondering for ages where I'm going to go cycling for this
year's tour. And having thought about it a little, I've kind of thought,
Northern France would be nice. However I know *nothing* about Northern
France, how to get there easily etc, terrain, camping etc etc.

The main ingredient is going to be "value for money", and get to see a
little bit of the TdF. So, am thinking 6/7th July the TdF is around Caen.
That could be something to aim for. Although would have to be home that
Sunday.

So, I could get to France a little early. Just wondering what experience I
can gain here (and I expect there will be plenty!). FIrstly, my French is
rubbish, I know nothing about camping in France (single bloke .. will it
be a problem?). And I'd like a bit of life about the place and less kids
the better!

Camping shouldn't be a problem. France is littered with camping sites.
From my experiences in France, although the majority of camp site owners
speak English, they do appreciate an attempt to speak French and they'll
accomodate your howlers with glee. Most towns have municipal camp sites as
well as the privately owned ones. Toilet and shower facilities caan vary
from the absolute basic to plush 5 star experiences. You shouldn't have a
problem getting a pitch. If you want beer, buy it in a supermarket, it's
much cheaper than in a bar but if you want a beer in a bar, 'un bierre
pression s'il vous plait' should do the job.

Bon chance!

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I've been wondering for ages where I'm going to go cycling for this
year's tour. And having thought about it a little, I've kind of thought,
Northern France would be nice. However I know *nothing* about Northern
France, how to get there easily etc, terrain, camping etc etc.

The main ingredient is going to be "value for money", and get to see a
little bit of the TdF. So, am thinking 6/7th July the TdF is around Caen.
That could be something to aim for. Although would have to be home that
Sunday.

So, I could get to France a little early. Just wondering what experience I
can gain here (and I expect there will be plenty!). FIrstly, my French is
rubbish, I know nothing about camping in France (single bloke .. will it
be a problem?). And I'd like a bit of life about the place and less kids
the better!

Thanks,

Nick

Loads of campsites.

If you make the effort to speak even a little French - it's appreciated.

France is a great place to cycle - much more civilised than Old Blighty.

Take a phrase book, pencil & small notepad - between checking out useful
phrases & picture doodles, meaning is often made clear.

Put it this way - my son, who speaks no French, loves cycling in France and
loves the welcome the French give to cyclists.

Be friendly, polite and make a willing stab at some basic phrases in French
and you'll have a grest time.

Cheers, helen s

vernon levy said:

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I've been wondering for ages where I'm going to go cycling for this
year's tour. And having thought about it a little, I've kind of thought,
Northern France would be nice. However I know *nothing* about Northern
France, how to get there easily etc, terrain, camping etc etc.

The main ingredient is going to be "value for money", and get to see a
little bit of the TdF. So, am thinking 6/7th July the TdF is around Caen.
That could be something to aim for. Although would have to be home that
Sunday.

So, I could get to France a little early. Just wondering what experience I
can gain here (and I expect there will be plenty!). FIrstly, my French is
rubbish, I know nothing about camping in France (single bloke .. will it
be a problem?). And I'd like a bit of life about the place and less kids
the better!

Camping shouldn't be a problem. France is littered with camping sites.
From my experiences in France, although the majority of camp site owners
speak English, they do appreciate an attempt to speak French and they'll
accomodate your howlers with glee. Most towns have municipal camp sites as
well as the privately owned ones. Toilet and shower facilities caan vary
from the absolute basic to plush 5 star experiences. You shouldn't have a
problem getting a pitch. If you want beer, buy it in a supermarket, it's
much cheaper than in a bar but if you want a beer in a bar, 'un bierre
pression s'il vous plait' should do the job.

Bon chance!

French are well used to non french speaking brits so don't worry.
Shopping easy in supermarkets without speaking a word!
Camping no prob - usually you just turn up and pitch your tent and
somebody comes to collect your cash, although at holiday times
sometimes some spaces get booked and reserved so look out for signs esp
on Friday evenings when new parties arrive.

cheers
Jacob

"wafflycat" <w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Loads of campsites.

If you make the effort to speak even a little French - it's appreciated.

Fotunately "Je parle un peu de Francais. J'habité en Paris por six mois."
Okay, it's not great, but I should be able to stuble about in my French and
have got a dictionary. A little bit of a quick brush up will be required,
and sharpish. (Digs out Michel Thomas CD's that have never been listened
to).

Quoted message said:

France is a great place to cycle - much more civilised than Old Blighty.

Sounds great! I'm just trying to figure out how to arrange it around the
World Cup. Need to Leave Caen at 12.30 on the high speed ferry and be back
home/pub by 8pm. Should be do-able. Now I need to work out where to get the
7am ferry a week or so before.

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Fotunately "Je parle un peu de Francais. J'habité en Paris por six mois."
Okay, it's not great, but I should be able to stuble about in my French
and have got a dictionary. A little bit of a quick brush up will be
required, and sharpish. (Digs out Michel Thomas CD's that have never been
listened to).

My O level French from 1974 was sufficient to see me through three visits to
France though I was flummoxed by Breton. Having lived there for six months
you shouldn't have a problem with communicating.

J'ai netyoyé mes bougies - I have cleaned my sparkplugs

Never thought I'd need to use it but for some reason that phrase lodged and
came in useful when trying to sort out a reluctant to start car with a local
garage in France.

You'll be fine.

"vernon levy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Fotunately "Je parle un peu de Francais. J'habité en Paris por six mois."
Okay, it's not great, but I should be able to stuble about in my French
and have got a dictionary. A little bit of a quick brush up will be
required, and sharpish. (Digs out Michel Thomas CD's that have never been
listened to).

My O level French from 1974 was sufficient to see me through three visits
to France though I was flummoxed by Breton. Having lived there for six
months you shouldn't have a problem with communicating.

J'ai netyoyé mes bougies - I have cleaned my sparkplugs

Never thought I'd need to use it but for some reason that phrase lodged
and came in useful when trying to sort out a reluctant to start car with a
local garage in France.

"Le chien est dans la piscine .. avec le cheval". Not really needed to use
that one myself, but you never know. 🙂

Having just spoken to my brother, it seems like this could become a little
bit of a history tour as well, visiting the D-Day beach landing sites etc.
I'd be interested to know about leaving my tent pitched and setting off for
the day. Do any campsites provide any secure storage. Although, I can't
imagine I'll have much that would be nicked, apart from the tent and
sleeping bag.

I've never taken cooking equipment, and in fact don't own any. Advice on
this part of camping?

Thanks again all!

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never taken cooking equipment, and in fact don't own any. Advice on
this part of camping?

All depends on your camping aspirations. I have a camping Gaz stove and
aluminium pan set and a Trangia methylated spirit stove. I prefer the
Trangia as it copes will windy weather better and I quite enjoy the trangia
tea making ritual that has become part of my camping routine. The first
thing I unpack at the campsite is the Trangia and i set it up and light it
with water in the pan while I pitch the tent. By the time I've pitched the
tent the water is boiling and ready for tea making and the stove is ready
for the next function food -cooking.

Last weekend I was camping with a colleague and we had the luxury of two
Trangias - meant we could have a gut busting fry up with minimal wait.

While camping in France, admittedly with a motor cycle and no need to
replenish glycogen stores and not wanting to miss much action at the race
track for Le mans 24hr we used canned foods such as ratatouille, baked beans
and casoulet (sp) topped up with bread and cheese and savoury spreads and
copious amounts of ale.

Here in the UK cycle camping ,quick cook pasta or cous cous, uses less fuel
than rice to cook and can be garnished with pasta sauce or tinned fish -
mackerel bolognese was a regular dish. It is possible to live without a
stove but I found it impossible to live without the early morning cuppa
supped before thinking about breaking camp.

ping bag.

Quoted message said:

I've never taken cooking equipment, and in fact don't own any. Advice on
this part of camping?

Tranja however you spell it. Tranger? Meths available in supermarkets
as cooking alcohol 'alcohol a brule' or something similar. Thermos
useful for hay boxing packet soups etc and coffee. Corkscrew.

cheers
Jacob

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Tranja however you spell it. Tranger? Meths available in supermarkets
as cooking alcohol 'alcohol a brule' or something similar. Thermos
useful for hay boxing packet soups etc and coffee. Corkscrew.

Corkscrew? Nah....the screw top wine is perfectly quaffable

elyob wrote:

....

Quoted message said:

The main ingredient is going to be "value for money", and get to see a
little bit of the TdF. So, am thinking 6/7th July the TdF is around Caen.
That could be something to aim for. Although would have to be home that
Sunday.

So, I could get to France a little early. Just wondering what experience I
can gain here (and I expect there will be plenty!). FIrstly, my French is
rubbish, I know nothing about camping in France (single bloke .. will it be
a problem?). And I'd like a bit of life about the place and less kids the
better!

While you are in that part of France, I would highly recommend the
Cider, Pommau & Calvados, especially if purchased from the local
farmers. Grapes are not grown around there, but apples are.

It is also the home to Camembert cheese, so take a moment to try some of
the non-commercial versions.

--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

"I fought the Dharma, and the Dharma won." (Allen Ginsberg)

elyob said:

FIrstly, my French is rubbish,

Mine isn't great, not used in 20 years since O-level. I got on ok
though back in April in Paris. A mate told me the trick is to make
some effort to speak French (and you only need a couple of dozen
phrases to get somewhere to stay, travel and feed yourself), and when
it becomes obvious you're English, they'll just revert to that.
Worked well for me anyway.

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck
MARS Flight Crew http://www.mars.org.uk/
UKRA #1108 Level 2 UYB
Tripoli UK Member #9527 LSMR

Quoted message said:

While you are in that part of France, I would highly recommend the
Cider, Pommau & Calvados, especially if purchased from the local
farmers. Grapes are not grown around there, but apples are.

Had a long and interesting chat with 2 german cyclists on a cmp site in
france over a few drinks. We compared, contrasted, etc all the drinks
we'd encountered in our travels - and realised with a flash of
inspiration that we had liked ALL of them. Could a been the booze
talking though!

cheers
Jacob

normanwisdom said:

Quoted message said:

While you are in that part of France, I would highly recommend the
Cider, Pommau & Calvados, especially if purchased from the local
farmers. Grapes are not grown around there, but apples are.

Had a long and interesting chat with 2 german cyclists on a cmp site in
france over a few drinks. We compared, contrasted, etc all the drinks
we'd encountered in our travels - and realised with a flash of
inspiration that we had liked ALL of them. Could a been the booze
talking though!

I couldn't agree more. When I was last in Germany, the drink that
slipped down best along with the beer was Apfelcore (sp?). When I was in
Paris last I preferred Pastis and when I am at home in Scotland, nothing
is finer than a good dram.

--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

Change is inevitable...............except from a PhotoMe
passport booth

On 22 Jun 2006 11:33:03 -0700, "normanwisdom" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

French are well used to non french speaking brits so don't worry.

A friend of mine and his wife entered a restaurant (in Italy not
France) and asked for the menu in English. The waiter brought them a
menu. The waiter walked away and my friends started discussing what
to order and general chat in Welsh. The waiter overheard them and
came rushing back looking embarrased, "I thought you were English or
American" then exchanged the menus for almost identical one but with
lower prices.

So you may want to speak French with a native accent.

elyob said:

Having just spoken to my brother, it seems like this could become a little
bit of a history tour as well, visiting the D-Day beach landing sites etc.
I'd be interested to know about leaving my tent pitched and setting off for
the day. Do any campsites provide any secure storage. Although, I can't
imagine I'll have much that would be nicked, apart from the tent and
sleeping bag.

I've never come across such, but again have never had any trouble.

Quoted message said:

I've never taken cooking equipment, and in fact don't own any. Advice on
this part of camping?

I would strongly advise a Trangia. Brewing up a coffee on the roadside to
accompany the fresh croissants from the village bakery is one of the joys of
camping in France. You'll receive a lot of cries of "bon appetit".
The stoves look larger than gaz stoves but all the pots nest. Sometimes I take
a mini tarngia nested inside my larger one so that two pots can be cooked on at
once. a major benefit is their stability on virtually any surface. I would
recommend the stainless steel version over the non-stick, although the standard
serves me very well.

The Trangias use meths which is very cheap and widely available in supermarkets
and DIY stores, unlike gaz cannisters, which are both costly and may not fit a
stove purchased in the UK (ISTR the seal can be different).
The meths may not be coloured purple as in the UK, and is clear - in French it
is 'alcool a brule".

Don't forget the corkscrew for the vin.

John B

Ian Blake said:

menu. The waiter walked away and my friends started discussing what
to order and general chat in Welsh. The waiter overheard them and
came rushing back looking embarrased, "I thought you were English or
American"

I was in a small shop in North Wales once. Two customers were talking
away in Welsh. As soon as I spoke to the shopkeper they switched to
English and continued their conversation. I think they had assumed I
was English then heard my Scottish accent.
Or it might just have been they had finished pointing
out my beer belly to each other?
Iain

Was also thinking of doing a similar tour. If going by ferry found
these to be the cheapest.

http://www.ldlines.fr/

Take a look at the Formule1 hotel chain, basic, clean room for about
30 euros (£21) really good value especially if two can share the cost.
Quite a few in Normandy. Have just come back from France yesterday and
as previous posters have said a little French goes a long way - have
found it almost impossible to get anyone to speak English even if they
can.

Have a great trip.

"nobody760" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Was also thinking of doing a similar tour. If going by ferry found
these to be the cheapest.

http://www.ldlines.fr/

Take a look at the Formule1 hotel chain, basic, clean room for about
30 euros (£21) really good value especially if two can share the cost.
Quite a few in Normandy. Have just come back from France yesterday and
as previous posters have said a little French goes a long way - have
found it almost impossible to get anyone to speak English even if they
can.

Have a great trip.

Thanks for the ferry tip. I was about to pay £110 for a return trip, sailing
to St Malo, returning from Caen. Fortunately your tip has got me a return
for under £40. Result!

However I have already spent that saved money on a thermarest sleeping mat,
hopefully they won't get too annoyed when I start setting up camp on the
ferry!

Out of interest, what should I do with my tent etc on the overnight ferry?
Most stuff I won't need. Do they lock up the bit where my bike is overnight,
or do I have to take everything with me?

My plan is to leave on Tuesday evening, overnight ferry to Le Havre,
returning on the 7th July afternoon.

So, apart from the 6th and 7th July (where I will be watching the TdF), what
else should I aim to do over there. I've just bought a couple of maps, but
know nothing about the area. I plan to do a little bit of D-Day history,
possibly Bayeaux and others. Would appreciate a few "don't miss" places
anyone can recommend.

elyob said:

Thanks for the ferry tip. I was about to pay £110 for a return trip, sailing
to St Malo, returning from Caen. Fortunately your tip has got me a return
for under £40. Result!

St Malo is a lot prettier that Le Havre, especially from the sea...

Quoted message said:

Out of interest, what should I do with my tent etc on the overnight ferry?
Most stuff I won't need. Do they lock up the bit where my bike is overnight,
or do I have to take everything with me?

Bike and contents should be quite safe locked on the car deck, just
take what you need for the crossing.

Quoted message said:

So, apart from the 6th and 7th July (where I will be watching the TdF), what
else should I aim to do over there. I've just bought a couple of maps, but
know nothing about the area. I plan to do a little bit of D-Day history,
possibly Bayeaux and others. Would appreciate a few "don't miss" places
anyone can recommend.

Rouen? Mont St Michel? Or just explore the "Suisse Normande",
roughly the valley of the Orne river, due south of Caen,
http://www.suisse-normande.com/.

Brendan

PS Given others' recommendations of "vin, fromage, vin, calvados,
vin" a few extra useful phrases might include "j'ai la gueule de
bois" or "j'ai mal au cheveux" as excuses for your poor start in
the morning :-)
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
[email hidden] http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html