- Intro
We toured through France on bicycle first in November 2006, making our way south from Strasbourg along the eastern edge of the country via Lyon and Narbonne before crossing into Spain. On our way back through Europe in Spring 2007 we crossed into France on the western side taking in the pilgrim town of Saint Jean Port de Pied, then going north nearly as far as Bordeaux and turning east towards the Ardeche. We left by crossing the Alps into Italy. We both speak French and had been to France several times before taking up bicycle touring. As a result, France was a relatively easy country for us to tour in and one where we felt at ease.- Route
Mostly explained in the Intro section. Check out the MAP to see in detail the route.- Road condition
We had no problem with the road condition. Like in any country, rural roads can sometimes be slightly bumpy but overall they were in good shape. We did find a couple fantastic cycle paths and French drivers tend to be very courteous towards cyclists.- Map
We are using a Michelin road atlas at 1:200 000 scale. It is great for finding back roads but we did find some errors in terms of marked campsites. Sometimes sites which were marked turned out not to exist and many campgrounds were not marked at all.- Highlights
The whole area around Millau and the Tarn Gorges will remain in our minds for quite a while. The Tarn Gorges are absolutely beautiful and the main road running through the gorges is not as hard as you might expect! Millau is definitely worth a stop to see the famous viaduct and you can then climb a twisty road nearby to get a view of the bridge. Strasbourg has been a long time favourite of ours for its tarte flambee (Alsatian pizza) and great beers. Alsace has many picturesque villages to cycle through. Of course wine is a highlight in France and there are endless opportunities to try the local cuvee. The Ardeche region is also beautiful. On the food side, French bakeries are a delight for the hungry cyclist and, in contrast to many shops, they are open on Sunday and at odd hours so when all is lost you can usually find a bakery to save you!- Lowlights
Internet access was a definite frustration for us. There were very few cybercafes and when we did find them the price was €3-4 an hour, outrageous compared to the rest of our trip! In theory you may be able to get cheaper or free access at “points jeunes” or “mediatheques” but they have restricted hours. We never found free access in a tourist bureau, which we did find commonly in Spain and Portugal. Shop hours can be frustrating too. Many shops are closed on Monday as well as Sunday and smaller supermarkets will shut for at least three hours from midday.- Particular challenges
Some of the rural areas can be very rural indeed. We were caught out a couple times when we expected to find small shops in villages but found nothing to fill our panniers for kilometers on end! Public fountains are less common than in southern Europe so we sometimes had to work to find water. Cemeteries are a good place to look. To use French payphones you will have to buy a card (available in tabacs or gas stations) as the phones don’t take change.- Camping
French campgrounds were reasonably priced. We generally paid between €10-12 per night at privately run sites and there are a few municipally run campgrounds which, like their Portugese counterparts, are simple but good value. Wild camping is possible but we didn’t see so many obvious places to pitch our tent as we did in Portugal or Spain and we got the feeling that it was slightly more disapproved of by the general public.- Budget
We set a budget of €25 per day in Europe and had to work to keep to that budget in France. In particular we felt food was more expensive than in Spain or Portugal. We certainly had no room for meals out and cut out morning coffees, which we had been enjoying regularly in southern Europe. If you are thinking of touring Europe on a budget, France might be the country to arranging some WWOOFing to keep your costs down.- Ratings
Beer - Below Average - Kronenburg beer is a light lager, but French beer isn’t really on the cards when you can have such nice wines and a very reasonable price.Cheese - It almost goes without saying that in France the cheese is excellent. Every region has its own specialty so there’s sure to be something to your taste! Our favourites are the famous Roquefort blue cheese and the many varied goats cheeses, particularly those with pepper or herbs on top and made by local farmers. You often see goats cheese on sale at markets.
