route advice

Hi all have been over to France a couple of times now, and both times have been caught out by the size of the place and my wee holiday usually consisted of hundreds of motorway miles just trying to get to some destination which when planned on the map didn't look to far. However this year is definitely going to be more exploring in a smaller area and less motorway miles. I'm off at the end of June for around a week to ten days see how it goes nothing booked (apart from the ferry) mostly camping and cheap motels. To get to the point I'm in the process of nailing together a rough route, if any one has knowledge of the area, and must not miss sights, hints tips, and as (I hope you can see the map) I haven't picked a route back to Zeebrugge yet appreciate any advice my interests are mostly visiting ww 2 sites, architecture, and ridin the bike in a lovely area cheers

Des

Hi Fleetwood,

Lots of people make the mistake of believing France is the same size (or smaller than UK). I think it's because an UK atlas distorts the view. It's twice the size with the same population.

I have some routes that will take you off the superslab motorway at Cambrai and then take you down to Dijon area, a little bit south of the town of Gray, at the bottom of your map. On your map it will go thro' Rethel / Chaumont.

They are all country type roads, a mixture of N (National) and D (equiv of our B roads) and can g'tee you some excellent riding.

They will take you a bit west of where you want to go but, by looking at a map, you should be able to work them in.

Places to see:

Verdun

Maginot line

Any of the WW1 grave yards

American WW1 memorial

Rheims

Any of the champagne cave tours

Dijon

Most of the countryside in between

Loads of cheap hotels, Formula 1 (v basic) -to - Ibis (basic and functional, but you could be anywhere) - to - Logis de France(small family run. They can vary a bit but, on the whole are reasonably good).

PM me if you would like the routes.

Richard

Thanks for the routes Richard, much appreciated cheers