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Non-epic cycle touring in France - advice needed

(52 posts)
  • Started 6 years ago by sallyhinch
  • Latest reply from I were right about that saddle
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  1. sallyhinch
    Member

    So we're planning a two week cycling holiday in France, probably along EuroVelo 1 (the Atlantic path). Anybody done this? My preference is to do this in a civilised fashion - sleeping in a bed, stopping for a long lunch, possibly pottering around sightseeing in the afternoon, and not spending four hours battering into a headwind because we've booked somewhere 30 miles away and we have to be there by 9pm.

    So my question is has anyone done this sort of thing and have they any advice? And specifically, is it possible to book accommodation as you go in France? A million years ago, you used to be able to rock up at a town, drop into the Tourist Information Centre (or foreign equivalent), get a list of local hotels and B&Bs and they would book your night's accommodation then and there. Has the Internet killed this completely? I'm not sure I fancy trying to navigate AirBnB on my phone and I'd rather not have the whole trip scheduled down to the last millisecond in advance.

    There will be two of us, both adults, neither particularly keen on or equipped for camping. It would be good if we were still married by the end of the trip.

    I understand that as cycle touring goes this is definitely letting the side down but if there are other non-epic creature-comfort loving people out there who can advise I would be grateful

    Posted 6 years ago #

  2. amir
    Member

    Good q. I hope you get some good responses as this what we'd like to do too

    Posted 6 years ago #

  3. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Where is 'France'?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  4. gembo
    Member

    Depends how poor an area is,I guess. There is The Island down that way that only takes bikes. I think it will have scarce accommodation. If not during school hols you might manage this by just rocking up? Lot of euro camping down that way too.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  5. rider73
    Member

    not that route specifically but on my 3 month tour of france/europe...

    i found hotels.com / booking.com etc. and thier own APPS to be great for planning a few days ahead each time for basic hotels, even on the day - a break from cycling (i.e. a long stop at a cake shop) at lunch usually brought up some results (and some good bargains)

    out of season you can usually rock up to the hotel in the early evening at a towns main street and they have a bed - although i remember one time there was some local concert was on and it was full and a little panic set in, but they usually point you to another hotel or make a call - as always the french appreciate you knowing a little of the lingo and from that point i always found them friendly and helpful.

    bon voyage!!!!!

    EDIT: and not camping - fine, who cares, as long as your on your bike and weeeeeing along enjoying the sunshine.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  6. sallyhinch
    Member

    Thank you for the reassuring responses! We're thinking second half of June, so not exactly off season but also not during the school hols, so hopefully that will make life easier.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  7. sallyhinch
    Member

    And it sounds as if I had better brush up on my O-level French

    Posted 6 years ago #

  8. Nelly
    Member

    "And it sounds as if I had better brush up on my O-level French"

    Duolingo is useful

    As is Google translate

    Posted 6 years ago #

  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    The only time I've failed to find a bed for the night in the Hexagon was in Normandy. There was a horse-bothering festival on and every bed for fifty miles was taken. Mibbe check for potential hippic hiccups on your route?

    Other than that make it clear to all and sundry that you are Scottish. Carry flags or Irn-Bru and get tattoos as necessary.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  10. sallyhinch
    Member

    This is the UK equivalent of the maple leaf flag on the backpack, isn't it? Oh that we've come to this. That said, the first time I was in France on exchange it was just after the Heysel Stadium collapse and I had to make a big deal of my Irish grandparents.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  11. dessert rat
    Member

    Did part of Eurovelo 1 from Saint-Nazaire to halfway to Roscoff, after doing Eurovelo 7 from Orleans about 5 yrs ago.

    It was tremendous. We camped which was OK as French campsites aren't too bad, but it was hot and I'd def have prefered a proper bed each night. Man it was hot.

    For some unknown reason we decided on some stupid rules, none of the following were allowed.
    - visible lycra.
    - carbon anything.
    - any electronic mapping aids.
    and all bikes had to be older than the youngest person (so pre 1977). These stupid rules did not help, esp when lost.

    I recall seeing lots of small hotel. I would think you'll be fine for accom.

    @ Gembo - 'The Island', you mean Ile de Re ? a wonderful place and accom will be difficult there, should be fine on the other one: Ile de Oleron.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  12. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    These stupid rules did not help, esp when lost.

    Don't want to get too meta but I abhor the concept of 'lost' while touring France. Unless you wind up in Dreux (Maintain eye contact. Back away. Run. Keep running.) where you are will generally do fine. You're not 'lost' you've just found a new way.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  13. paulmilne
    Member

    "And it sounds as if I had better brush up on my O-level French"

    Just make sure to preface EVERY encounter with "Bonjour". If you think you're saying it too much you are probably just about right.

    "The Bonjour Effect: the secret codes of French conversation" by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow is very entertaining and educational.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  14. GDR
    Member

    Have you tried looking at the Cycling UK forum? There is usually lots of advice on cycle touring and it may be that some of your questions are answered there. I have cycled a few times in France. The first time was years ago with my kids when they were about 10. It was an absolute joy. Never felt unsafe and the only times we were tooted at was by drivers trying to encourage us.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  15. unhurt
    Member

    This thread is confusing me as @Iwrats has yet to offer anyone French lessons in another attempt to develop a CCE barter economy.

    @sallyhinch not-France advice but as @rider73 says you can probably book stuff for the night on your phone via websites / email (thus removing the need to phone people in another language oh gods the horror...). It worked in Quebec for motels/YH/campsites when I wanted to know where I was going to sleep?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  16. Nelly
    Member

    @unhurt "you can probably book stuff for the night on your phone via websites"

    Ah, but without getting all Farage on you, in my (fairly extensive) experience of France, unless you are talking international or v large chains, they have a bit of a laissez faire attitude to bookings over t'internet materialising into what you actually want !

    I would always pick up the phone - its not that difficult if you work out what you need in advance, and you have much more of a chance of actually getting that room / table etc etc

    I booked a table in a fairly exclusive restaurant in Tignes in December for a date in January, and even fitted in an demi-argument as the guy wanted to shunt us to 7pm - I refused and requested 8pm politely, and got it.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  17. sallyhinch
    Member

    Thanks all.

    @GDR - I avoid all cycling forums except this one as a rule. In fact, I avoid all forums and use this one for general non-cycling as well as cycling advice, if only for the entertainment value.

    IainMcR's post has reminded me I also wanted to ask about maps (the paper kind). We'll probably use the GPS on the other half's phone but I'm working on the assumption that our phones will run out battery/signal/data at the least opportune moment (hence the desire to just roll up and book in person, rather than trying to ring up or use an app). Also I like maps and unless I've spent time looking at one and navigating from it I get hopelessly confused about where I am, which may lead to exciting discoveries but may also lead to missing trains and ferries ...

    Posted 6 years ago #

  18. gkgk
    Member

    Some people I know used to ask the morning receptionist to book next hotel along the way but these days bedtime phone+app+wifi makes sense.

    Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels With Donkey in Camargue book is essential reading for anyone quizzing hotels+cycling authenticity. Hostelries most nights. See also Bonnie Prince Charlie using 1700s airbnb, barely camped a night in that trip.

    You can buy the yellow maps in the french newsagents and supermarchés and (going back a bit) in that bookshop in George Street if too excited to wait.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  19. Nelly
    Member

    @sallyhinch

    Re GPS, you can pick up used Garmin etrex pretty cheap these days and load maps sourced from web.

    Garmin do bike mounts for them all.

    They are much better on battery life than phone GPS.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  20. sallyhinch
    Member

    Good point - I actually have an ancient Garmin. The map interface is pretty basic.

    I'll definitely need to go map shopping though... That's always the best part about planning a holiday

    Posted 6 years ago #

  21. paddyirish
    Member

    I'll definitely need to go map shopping though... That's always the best part about planning a holiday

    This! I've just put in an order at Stanfords for maps of the area we are visiting in Austria in the summer. Can't wait to get them...

    Posted 6 years ago #

  22. fimm
    Member

    OOh paddyirish, where in Austria are you going?
    (Sorry sallyhinch, I know nothing about cycle touring in France...)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    This isn't a thread about hotels in France but about one of Life's Big Questions; how to value plans against possibilities. Plan to stay in town A and you'll never see towns B, C, D....make no plans at all and you only ever see your own town.

    I'm an extremist, in that I value total cycle autonomy and am willing to go to the effort of lugging ration packs and other junk around in order to be able to stop anywhere I fancy.

    In Alastair Gray's Lanark there's a passage where the 'hero' flies so high he finds himself looking into the pupil of God's eye. He hears the words 'Is, is, is, if, is...' indicating that the world is four-fifths predetermined and one fifth susceptible to free will.

    So toss a coin in Nantes? Heads you go up the Loire, tails down the Atlantic seaboard. You'll get a room either way.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  24. sallyhinch
    Member

    As someone who values certainty and also gets over anxious about being at the place where I've said I'd be, at the appointed time (to the point of ruining being in the place where I am for myself and everyone around me), I'm trying to learn to adopt a more relaxed approach, while still ensuring we don't end up sleeping in a bus shelter. It's a learning curve. It also sounds like if we can't manage it in France, we won't be able to manage it anywhere.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  25. sallyhinch
    Member

    Plus, this thread has gone quite a long time before succumbing to even mild drift.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  26. rider73
    Member

    @paddyirish - i was there last summer for 4 weeks.

    loved it.

    cakes, coffee, food, mountains, walking, cycling, it had it all - and austrians so friendly.

    some "A" roads were a bit high speed, but mostly they had cycle ways and country roads .

    it got very busy around mid July - before that, fine and plenty of accomo.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  27. steveo
    Member

    how to value plans against possibilities

    Its a bit early on a Wednesday morning to be that existential

    Posted 6 years ago #

  28. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    to the point of ruining being in the place where I am for myself and everyone around me

    That doesn't sound like you. I'm about to post some vague plans here that I'm told are desirable but that will make me feel like a Nazi.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  29. paddyirish
    Member

    @fimm/rider73.

    Know and love Austria well. Ideal for our kids at the current age. Have stayed in Alpbach in the Tyrol the last 2 years- cycled to Hintertux at the end of the Zillertal the first year and up Kitbuhelerhorn the 2nd year.

    We're going back there the 2nd week. The first week, trying something different, staying in Bludenz in Vorarlberg and will use that to explore that area and the Bodensee. Minipaddy wants to a cycle round the shore to take in 3 countries and a walk to do the same- right across Lichtenstein into Switzerland (who am I to stop her?).

    I have my eye on a route which takes in the Silvretta High Alpine road and then maybe back via the Arlbergpass if I have the energy and take the train if I don't.

    However the road world championship is based in the area and I fancy trying the finishing circuit around Innsbruck. Apparently it is brutal.

    I'll have to see if I can negotiate more than one pass.

    Any hints/tips welcome.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  30. Frenchy
    Member

    Minipaddy wants to a cycle round the shore to take in 3 countries and a walk to do the same- right across Lichtenstein into Switzerland (who am I to stop her?).

    Does she know that, slightly further west, she could cycle (or even walk) all the way round Germany?

    https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/47.6998/8.6917
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCsingen_am_Hochrhein

    Posted 6 years ago #

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