South France Oyrenees, Easter 2019

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Perister

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Hello,

I am looking for a 9 Days trip to the south of France, Dordogne or possibly Pyrenees area, the week following Easter.
I will have 9 full days in France, but no idea where to go.
the only limitation is that I will be riding 2up this time, so 'plan as you go' is not an option this time :(
the other limiting factor is that since my GF will be riding along, I can't have 1000Km or 11 hours days on the bike, again :(
a possible plan would be to ride for 2 days south, find a nice place, and spend 3 to 3 nights, then ride to another location and again spend 2 nights, if there are nice rides in the surrounding area.
any suggestions along these lines?

many many thanks in advance!!
 
Go to the RiDE magazine website. They have lots of suggestions, designed to answer your question.

https://www.ride.co.uk/routes-content/france-total-touring

Or this for the Loire:

https://www.ride.co.uk/routes-content/the-loire

Or this:

https://www.ride.co.uk/routes-content/other-routes-in-central-france

This is just a taster. Whilst you may well have to mix and match a bit, it's easy enough to work out what to do.

We assume that, as you appear to be in Bristol, you'll be crossing by the western sea crossings, not via the Chunnel.
 
You should be able to take three (relatively) gentle days to get towards the Pyrenees, three days ther, and three days back. it might be worth considering the weather though the higher passes in the Pyrenees may still be closed by snow or, if they're open, chilly and covered with run off meltwater. Personally, I wouldn't head for the Pyrenees as it eats into available time, but stay in and around the Dordogne and Lot where it should be a bit warmer by Easter.

With the ease of use of hotel apps, leaving things to chance isn't the risk it used to be. So don't close your mind to the idea of remaining flexible and, perhaps, following the better weather. Mediocre scenery and roads in the dry is better than the most spectacular scenery you can't see through the horizontal rain!

Chartres might be a nice place to head for night one. Plenty of places to eat and stay, a big cathedral to gaup at. Perigueux is about five hours ride from there.
 
For something to do I put Caen to Oloron into the excellent Kurviger website, asking it to give me a route between the two, avoiding tolls roads, minor roads and goat tracks. It is pretty good.

https://kurviger.de/en?point=caen&p...e&avoid_unpaved_roads=true&layer=Esri Streets

You could move the route a bit eastwards, to go down through Tours, Poitiers, Perigueux, Agen, Auch and Tarbes. Either way, three easy enough days. Try it by entering the towns in sequence into the Kurviger website.

Then, on the Kurviger map, go to the top right corner and click on the little box with layers, like a cake. Select, 'Top Plus for Germany and Europe'. This is pretty close to a classic Michelin map. Play about in the other maps, you really can't break it. It's free, too.

Arm yourself with a Michelin 726 map

9782067236585.png


It is perfect for what you need. It strips out all the minor roads and towns, leaving you the decent(ish) roads to use from A to B. If you want to avoid motorways, follow the green Bis 'Holiday' routes. It is exactly what they are designed for. These are not the same as the green lined scenic roads, you hear about all the time. They are specific 'holiday' routes that avoid motorways but avoid you having to go left, right, left. left right down every yellow D road in France, when you really want to be doing something more productive.
 
many thanks to all for the tips
the map is ordered already!
next task is to check out the site, and hope for decent weather :)
 
Why can’t you wing it with your GF? There are great hotels all over France and at that time of year there will be plenty of room.

I ask because the weather can be unpredictable at Easter - last year it was freezing rain. This year Easter is later so you maybe okay but if you’re travelling down the west in the rain you can head east where it’s often a lot dryer.
 
As mentioned any high passes can be shut until the middle of June as I have found myself in the past

There’s some great roads in central France and being flexible with where you are going at that time of year might make your trip better?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
We live in the Lot, just south of the River Dordogne, you will be able to find hotel rooms at the last minute as it is still a very quiet time of the year. The Pyrenees will still have a lot of snow in April. It has been a very dry winter down here and the last month very warm, if it does change head east as suggested above. Try the area around Carcassone. If you need any help when you are down here PM us.
 
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