jwh said:Hi there - me and my girlfriend are looking to do a week tour somewhere in france - we're both new to touring and the longest day ride we've done is the 56 mile london to brighton earlier this month.
I'm hoping someone could give us some recommendations for routes - we can both manage between 30 and 60 miles per day easily enough so if anyone could share a memorable route - we'd be most grateful.
We were thinking of do london to paris - but it'd be quite costly with eurostar and travel back to Exeter - we're hoping to cycle down to plymouth and get a return boat from there - but any advice for a tour would be excellent.
Thanks all
Boats from Plymouth might be pricey - cheapest way across the western channel at the moment is LD lines ( http://www.ldlines.com/ ) from Portsmouth to Le havre, but obviously Portsmouth is a fair bit further from you than Plymouth. However you could probably take your car and bikes over with LD for the cost of taking just the bikes on Brittany Ferries from Plymouth.
As a first time tour I can recommend following the Loire along between Angers and Tours - there's plenty there to occupy you, nice scenery, usually good weather, lots of wine testing, plenty of campsites and places to stay, and not too challenging in terms of terrain - no mountains! There's also a very good network of marked cycle routes which take you off the main roads and out into the country, although the system falls down a bit negociating some of the big towns.
Otherwise, if you do go Plymouth-Roscoff, then just ride off the boat and you're in the heart of Brittany, lots of small backroads, rugged coastline, small villages - a bit like parts of Cornwall and Wales. If you want a target, head for the Quiberon peninsula and the standing stones at Carnac.
One bit of advice for a first timer in France - don't leave it too late in the evening before finding somewhere to stay, whether you're camping or B+Bing. You run the risk of either finding places full, or with no one there to book you in (especially with some small Municipale campsites), or just not finding anywhere at all, open or not. The same goes for eating out – the French tend to eat early, especially in rural areas, so if you go out at 10pm looking for a meal you may well be out of luck.
Anyway, go for it - you'll have a great time.
