Becksy.....
This picture illustrates things perfectly:
If you look at La Lande les Maures, you can see the red D98 running west to east, the yellow D42 running south, down to the coast at Port de Miramar and what appears to be a white road running north to join the D14. The roads are not the same width on the map and only two are apparently D roads, one of which is red and therefore quite major.
However a bit of closer inspection shows that things might not be as they seem.
The D98 is indeed a pretty major road, justifying its red colour.
The white road, which might have put you off, turns out to be the D88. It’s not a full blown yellow D road but it’s quite nice and quite safe to ride along, as these pictures show:
Now compare the D88 with the yellow, green bordered D41 to the right, it is probably what most people whether in a car or on a motorbike would imagine a nice drive to be:
Which will then bring you to the D14, running west to east, part scenic running eastwards:
Part regular (not green bordered) running westwards:
I hope this has given you enough confidence to be sure that Michelin maps, coupled to a bit of imagination (mixed with common sense) and help from Google (if you need it) will see you right, more often than not. As they are primarily designed and published with car drivers or even lorries and bicycles in mind, they lean towards the side of caution; a motorbike will be fine, trust me. I did all this on a iPad, so it can’t be too hard.
If you want a great way to see Michelin maps and zoom in, get this free app:
But don’t forget to take a paper map, too.