Western France

[charliemopic]

This years tour begins end of August for 2 weeks, going through the tunnel to Calais.
As you can see, I've travelled a similar route each year and would like to try something different this year.


My friend and I would like to visit the U Boat pens at St Nazaire on our way down to the Biescas area to then ride along the N260 to Andorra.
We always avoid the toll roads/motorways and would like to know if anyone has any experience of decent roads down the Western side of France?

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I’ve tidied-up the thread a bit, moving the debate about the location of Sutton and the subsequent crossing of the Channel / Bay of Biscay to the UK subsection.

Richard

 

[Wapping]

You are asking for a roughly 900 mile, non-motorway / no toll roads route from Calais to Biescas, via St Nazaire. Basically, from the north east corner, to the bottom of the north west corner, then down the western side of France. Here goes:

Most very long routes (especially non-motorway) are dictated by the time available. How many days have you set aside for the opening leg of your two week holiday, to go Calais > St Nazaire > Biescas, assuming you want to spend a full day of the total 14 days in St Nazaire itself?

From Sutton, it might be better to cross over via St Malo, if you plan to do St Nazaire and then the western sides of France. But too late for that, I guess?

This is broadly the most direct (motorway or non-motorway) direction:



https://kurv.gr/E5WBz

Me? I’d probably cut a bit more inland to the east, roughly along the red line. But, that might well be dictated to some degree or another by how long you want to take getting to Biescas:



Something along these lines:

https://kurv.gr/QT9Xs

The section to St Nazaire from Calais, takes you close to Le Mans, where we go each June. This is one of the routes we take:

Yes, it takes the motorway at the start but that’s because we want to get there in the day, stop for lunch and still arrive in good time to eat, then go to the track to see qualifying in the evening, along with night time practice.

Le Mans’ish to St Nazaire is then a modest 180 miles or so:

https://kurv.gr/G6spq

Or you could go opt not via or close to Le Mans at all, but instead work you way through Normandy and into Brittany, along sort of this line:



Time, mixed in with stuff to see, really is the big dictator.

This thread (it’s a bit jumbled) sort of gives a basic starting point to answer your question:

Thread 'GPX Route Through Western France'

Jul 16, 2026

Does anyone have fastest route with minimal tolls - mainly dual carriageway to St Jean de Luz that they could share, please? It'll save me having to plot one.
Thanks

• siddo
• Replies: 23
• Forum: France (other than Alps, Pyrenees)

That said, as it’s close on or over 900 miles (probably over thousand, once you’ve finished) - just for the first section - that you are asking for, some more information from your / your mate’s side might be handy; not least the days available for A to B and on to C to D and so on. For example, it’s assumed St Nazaire is a day standing still as it were. This affects B to C. Do you want more days off? Clearly, the distance(s) involved will show how many options there might and can be.



PS Take a gold star, Some bods ask for 1,000 mile routes, when they (and their six mates) are leaving on Thursday and it’s already Tuesday….

 

[Arsey]

I normally ride back up the west coast from Picos,so you’d be doing it in reverse .
Go do your St Nazaire thing then I’d head down via Saint Jean de Monts, then Les Sables D’Olonne.
Maybe plan a night in La Rochelle or Ile de Ré
I prefer the latter.
Hôtel La Jetée in Saint Martin de Ré is reasonably priced, great location and has a garage.
Then take the Royan-Le Verdon sur Mer ferry to avoid Bordeaux.
Backroads to near Marcheprime then I’d jump on the autoroute on till you hit Spain as too many village after that slowing your progress.

We did the entire N260 in May, staying the first night in Canfranc Station.
Not cheap,but stunning.

 

[Wapping]

The route in post #3 works, as it’s the most direct from St Nazaire. It’s probably dictated as much by time (Arsey is going home) as anything else. There is nothing wrong with going home, of course.

It shows the importance of giving the time available for what are long (900 plus miles) journeys and that’s just to get from Calais to Biescas, let alone your next sections. If you have three days in mind to go Calais > St Nazaire > Biescas, but plan on a day at the U-boat pens, leaving two days - all whilst avoiding motorways - you’d better get up and leave early.

 

[wessie]

Riding from Sutton down to the tunnel in the afternoon and staying in France might buy you a little extra time. If you want to ride to Ste Nazaire without using a motorway then you will need two lengthy days riding with an overnight stop probably where you cross the Seine or maybe Swiss Normandie if you want to ride for around 7 hours (then add time for stops).
The route to the Seine crossing largely runs alongside the A28 so you may as well get on it and make time. Others have suggested a way to get from Ste Naz to the Pyrenees.

Where will you jump off the N260? As soon as you enter Andorra? From Andorra will you start the journey north again or carry in east on the N260 from Puigcerda? This will dictate your route back to the Tunnel. A nice route would be up through the Cevennes to Clermont Ferrand and then through the Morvan to Troyes. Again, you might need to consider using the A26 from Troyes to get back to the Tunnel due to the time/distance ratio.

 

[Wapping]

As you can see, I've travelled a similar route each year

Does when you went here, give you a start?

 

[Arsey]

The route in post #3 works, as it’s the most direct from St Nazaire. It’s probably dictated as much by time (Arsey is going home) as anything else. There is nothing wrong with going home, of course.

It shows the importance of giving the time available for what are long (900 plus miles) journeys and that’s just to get from Calais to Biescas, let alone your next sections. If you have three days in mind to go Calais > St Nazaire > Biescas, but plan on a day at the U-boat pens, leaving two days - all whilst avoiding motorways - you’d better get up and leave early.

Not dictated by time at all. If it was I’d stick to the autoroute all the way .

 

[Wapping]

Not dictated by time at all. If it was I’d stick to the autoroute all the way .

In the sense of: It’s the most direct (non-motorway) and not going further to the east, as an alternative route. It’s perfectly good. You can all but see it in the opening picture in post #1.

 

[Wapping]

OP, whilst not being specific about the roads ridden (ie. road numbers, places passed through) the opening three days or so of this trip report are not so very different to your planned jaunt.

OK, he starts in Roscoff, but trundles down the west side of France, to not a million miles from your second target location of Biesca.

Thread 'Our 2026 trip to France, Spain and Portugal'

Jul 16, 2026

So day 1 of our annual motorcycling adventure is coming to an end. Due to late arrival of the ferry we didn’t get on board till 9.15pm. A lovely ride down to Plymouth via a fantastic country pub in Somerset, where we had a fab lunch, and then some great roads before a final blast down the A38 to the port. We have now departed the UK and arrive in Roscoff at 8am for our 320 mile slog down to La Rochelle for a relaxing 2 night stay. Once again I have to thank those people at home that look after my boys to allow us to enjoy these adventures.

So day 2 of our European tour. We arrived in...

• daviedevs
• Replies: 11
• Forum: Motorcycle trips

• 

It’s very broadly this:



It’s a fairly popular and well trodden route, whether starting on the north west corner of France or the north east at Calais. Now just join Calais to St Nazaire.



PS You could hack this around to substitute Calais for Caen and then bring in St Nazaire quite easily:



It’s lifted straight off RiDE magazine’s webpage:

RiDE -France: total motorcycle touring trips prepared for you

Our pre-planned routes get you round France in style…

www.ride.co.uk

 

[Wapping]

Asking ViaMichelin to pump something out, results in pretty much the same, unsurprisingly:

The only significant and viable variations being maybe to swing around to the east, along the green line and / or or take a chunk of Normandy / Brittany, under the yellow shaded line. But those both take longer, as they are further.



Your go now, OP.

 

[Wapping]

…using an overnight Portsmouth ferry to St Malo would make much more sense.

It would actually be better than going over an afternoon or evening earlier, to stay overnight near Calais / Boulogne, as you’d be booted off the overnight ferry at early o’clock, to be at least starting on the west side of France.

I looked at doing it for the jaunt to Sid’s do, down near Bordeaux. Unfortunately, I need to come back via Belgium and the single ticket prices (one for the St Malo crossing and one for the Chunnel or Dover ferry back) didn’t prove cost effective.

 

[wessie]

It would actually be better than going over an afternoon or evening earlier, to stay overnight near Calais / Boulogne, as you’d be booted off the overnight ferry, at least to the west side of France.

I looked at doing it for the jaunt to Sid’s do, down near Bordeaux. Unfortunately, I need to come back via Belgium and the single ticket prices (one for the St Malo crossing and one for the Chunnel or Dover ferry back) didn’t prove cost effective.

it's a very popular route and they price like airlines. If the boat is nearly full the price goes up a lot and only the dearest cabins remain available. Brittany Ferries is only cost effective if you can book well in advance. I read somewhere that demand for their crossing has increased significantly as more people seek to avoid the mess in the last few years at the M20, Tunnel and Dover during busy times.

 

[Wapping]

…. as more people seek to avoid the mess in the last few years at the M20, Tunnel and Dover during busy times.

That doesn’t surprise me.

Couple that to the mileage to Portsmouth from London being about the same as Folkestone / Dover and it becomes attractive. The only delay, at least for me in E1, is getting to the Portsmouth A3 road, either through the middle of town or looping around on the M25.

 

[Arsey]

In the sense of: It’s the most direct (non-motorway) and not going further to the east, as an alternative route. It’s perfectly good. You can all but see it in the opening picture in post #1.

Well the OP wanted to go down the west coast so I stupidly recommended a route which encompassed his request rather than something entirely different

 

[Ectopic]

I find it easy to beat the Google time on Autoroutes. I find it very hard to match the time on smaller roads in France. They can be beset with low speed limits and speed bumps through every town and village, and sometimes junction, so unless you adopt an approach with a little bravado and hope to dodge speed traps, I'd try and knock the first day out on motorways.

I've had poor experiences round Rouen so tend to skirt round via Lyon La Foret and Les Andelys.

The roads down the west coast of France are not particularly exciting so I would definitely try to detour inland a bit. Limoges, Brive, Cahors, Agen as a general idea.

 

[Wapping]

Well the OP wanted to go down the west coast so I stupidly recommended a route which encompassed his request rather than something entirely different

Did he? The opening post’s request doesn’t mention going down the west coast. What he did though ask for was:

… going through the tunnel to Calais….. visit the U Boat pens at St Nazaire on our way down to the Biescas area…. avoid the toll roads/motorways and would like to know…. of decent roads down the Western side of France…

Of course the north south coastal route is valid, as it’s arguably the quickest (ie. most direct) way - on decent, non-motorway roads - from A to B, St Nazaire to Biescas, it’s there in post #2 in the opening map.

The curve inwards and indeed the alternative to miss out Le Mans and instead take in Normandy and Brittany, both simply offer a possible ‘good roads’ alternative to the opening suggestion of post #2. Wessie worked that one out, then expanded further to embrace the return options involving (in part) the more eastern side of France. Ectopic has now made a similar suggestion too, vis-a-vis the western side’s leg.

The simple truth is, none of us yet know anything by way of the time the two fellows have set aside for their first leg of 900 or so miles from Calais to Biesca, via St Nazaire. The only time period we know for sure is that it’s two weeks, presumably door-to-door to do the whole trip, avoiding motorways. If it subsequently turns out that it’s two days to go from Calais to Biesca, via the U-boat pens in St Nazaire whilst avoiding all motorways, then a rethink on some level or other will be needed. If though it’s three days or who knows, maybe four days or more, then options start to present themselves more fully.

 

[Wapping]

OP, whilst paper maps have all but gone out of fashion and been replaced by phone or tablet friendly map app’s, a very good paper map to get hold of is Michelin’s 726 map.

Why? It is designed to assist anyone to create long journeys across a very big country, by stripping out all the ‘small detail’, leaving in just the ‘big picture’ roads and towns. The roads shown include the roads that Michelin have declared to be ‘Itineraire Bis’, which (sort of) translates as ‘Bis Holiday roads’. The Bis roads are marked with distinctive road signs. They avoid motorways but don’t take the driver down every small D road. In other words, the roads take the map holder from A to B (in your case, about 900 miles on leg 1) reasonably efficiently but, more more importantly, without touching a motorway, unless the driver changes their mind. What though the maps do show is where the motorways are toll free, which can be handy to know, of course.

OP, you might have seen the Bis signs or even followed them on your many trips to the eastern side of France, perhaps? The style of the sign has changed over the years but they look pretty much like:





PS: Here’s a sample: https://www.themapcentre.com/michelin-route-planning-726-france-2026-34715-p.asp

My older copy of the 726 map has a blue cover. I see it has now been updated to red. Other than that, it looks to be as good a map as it has always been.

 

[Arsey]

 

[karlp]

This post in itself it worth the £15 subscription