4-5 day cycling holiday in France

Pdoghue

Hello,

I am looking for recommendations for a 4-5 day cycling holiday in France with my wife.

Looking to fly out, rent bikes, travel light, and stay in BnBs.

The aim would be about 60-70 km per day. An A to B route.

Any recommendations based on your experience? Any good agencies for renting bikes, panniers, accommodation, etc.? The Loire Valley perhaps. Nantes to Tours perhaps.

Thanks
PDoghue

Idleater

Pdoghue wrote: »

The Loire Valley perhaps. Nantes to Tours perhaps.

The Loire is great, it's actually nicer I found further on from Nantes, as in the area from saumur, chinon on to Sancerre. The eurovelo6 route is well signposted and maps are available in local tourist information. The route follows the river so is generally flat, though there are up and down sections in through the vineyards.
If you are taking it easy it's fantastic as you can stop and wine and cheese your way along. If you are self sufficient there are loads of campings and we found several nice hotels from country village to 5* boutique.

Now we did the route with the car and I had my race bike with the oh renting a generic city style bike on occasion.

Another area that I recommend would be Brittany which is very similar to cycling in Ireland with nice rolling roads and nothing like the alps or Pyrenees to contend with.

Qualitymark

Long years ago I stayed a week or so in Hyères in the Deep South, and found people there were exceptionally kind and nice. Here's some cycling routes around there:
http://www.bikemap.net/en/regional/France/Provence-Alpes-Cote+D'Azur/Hyeres/#gsc.tab=0

We turned up in Hyères, a pair of gob****es who'd been hitching on trucks down from Dublin through Macon and Avignon and south, and went looking to book a cheap hotel. Not a one was to be found. I suggested that we should hire bikes, and we went into the nearest shop. Here, the kindly shop man

a) took our huge backpacks
b) told us to go and get a cool drink, and he'd see if he could find us a place to stay
c) suggested that we buy a tent

When we came back, refreshed and tent-owning, he had booked us into the French section of a very nice campsite, and set aside two good bikes for us to hire.

The shop appears to be long gone - I think it was Ets Cycles, run by Mr Ets. But everyone we met was just as kind and good to us, and it was a lovely place to cycle around.

Pdoghue

Thanks folks.

outfox

We did Bordeaux out to some town east of Cahors last year over a week, and got a train back to Bordeaux. Bike hire company collected the bikes when we got on the train. Can't recommend them though - 4 of the 6 bikes were incorrect fit.
Stayed in B&Bs. Scenery and cycling roads were fantastic all the way. St Emilion on the way is well worth a look.
I'd definitely recommend this area, if you can find a good bike hire outfit in Bordeaux.

Carawaystick

I think the Canal du Midi has a towpath you can cycle, it's by definition flat. And long!

What sort of distance per day do you have in mind?

brownian

Canal du Midi towpath not really suited to road bikes - lots of gravel and roots.

Brittany - good bike path network, quite flat, but rather dull, and so much like Ireland that you might as well stay at home IMHO. Lovely towns though, and good Aer Lingus links to Rennes. Took own bikes, can't comment on rentals there.

Loire -excellent choice for first bike holiday in France. Good network, moderate riding, great time of year to go (grapes, sun flowers), lots of nice towns and chateaux to visit, plenty of bike shops to rent form.

Burgundy (Beaune, Dijon, wine country) - hillier than Loire but still easy enough country. Nice scenery, savage wine, good towns. Trip to Verdon gorge an advanced option, but apparently fantastic (haven't done it yet).

Provence - some nice towns, quiet roads, good weather. Hillier than the last few options. We really liked it, as the scenery is lovely - try St Remy, the Alpilles, the Luberon hills.

Pyrenees - for lots of good big climbs (TdeF stuff) in a good town, try Bagneres de Luchon. Good bike rental shops, excellent quiet and challenging roads (Porte de Bales was TdeF 2 days ago, Superbagneres climb is great fun, not far from many big-name cols). Alternatively, the folks at velopyrenees.com are really nice and do a great job.

Throughout France, 2 good things - (a) lots of trains, and the local ones all take bikes, so A to B biking is simplified. (b) campsites often rent out chalets, roulottes (caravans) and permanent tents/yurts... these are a decent alternative to gites, B&Bs, hotels and so on.

Enjoy - it's a top country for biking. And I haven't even mentioned the Alps!

SeanLally

I am planning a trip to Bagneres Luchon in June and need to rent a road bike can you recommend a shop?

JMcL

+1 for the Loire, I had several holidays leisurely cycling around the area - mostly around Chinon but extending further east as far a Montrichard Lots to see, plentiful quiet roads and a lovely part of the world. I'd agree with Idleeater, the more interesting part is definitely to the east of Nantes, though I did a bit of Eurovelo 6 last year (very short bit as had the - tired - kids in tow), and my head was filled with ideas of continuing on to the Black Sea :-)