France Trip

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This is a pretty good suggestion for a ride around the northern end of the Morvan:

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It’s 243 km (150 miles) so, it’s shorter than the routes shown above. As an added bonus, it sort of starts where you plan on staying.


I have got the book from which the route is lifted. It has lots of good suggestions, covering the whole of France.

https://www.petitfute.co.uk/guides-thematiques/t3-france-a-moto/n850211-le-morvan.html

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Tap around on the site, you can’t break it.
 
It's getting planned so much that there won't be much point in actually going.

What it maybe has done is give some ideas to those who have not been to France or are unsure how to go about putting together their own jaunt. The thread started with the classic list of ‘must do’ places, all miles and miles apart and only two weeks to do things. The idea of coming back via Germany has vanished entirely in the process, as has the Vercours, though the Dordogne has stayed and Brittany has been added. If nothing else it passes the time before next year.

And at least he didn’t just demand: “Me and my six mates are off to France next week. We need great routes, no feckin’ motorways and we need places to stay and stuff. 2,000 miles. It will be awesome” and then forgetting to say, thank you or even, please.

:beerjug:
 
Looking at the last leg of your route, the two days from Locmariaquer to Rotterdam, it rather depends on whether you plan on breaking this into two equal length legs or into two unequal portions.

I’d maybe be tempted to devote the second day * to a simple (further but quick) motorway run from somewhere further away from Rotterdam and spend longer to the west. The whole lot gets pretty congested once you start getting onto the axis: Arras, Lille, Gent, Rotterdam, unless you cut closer to the coast: Abbeville, Calais, Brugge. There is not much to recommend riding through Boulogne, I always take the motorway to miss the place out, no matter which way I am going. At some point you will have to cross the river Seine, at I guess roughly Rouen. I’d advise not going through Rouen itself (if you come anywhere near the place, hit the motorway, which sort of peters out into a drag past goods yards and industrial estates) but maybe head towards the Honfleur crossing or cut across at say, Caudebec-en-Caux or Tancarville. When we go to Le Mans from Calais, down the D roads, we most often cross the Seine at Tancarville. For such a large river, there are not so many ways of crossing it. The only other alternative is to go to the east-south-east of Rouen in the gap between that city and Paris.

* What time do you need to arrive at the terminal?

Funnily enough; Rouen is one of the only cities in France that i've not been well and truly lost in ; a group of us went straight in; straight through the centre; and straight out the other side; and that was when those horrible rd works were on. Totaly agree with manners costing nothing and making a huge difference. :beerjug:
 
Thanks, will order the book. As for planning I am enjoying doing it and it's something to look forward to.Maybe a route back to Rotterdam over three days. Total trip maybe sixteen nights.
 

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There is not a lot to commend (riding wise) a route along the coast. If it weren’t for the ‘must do’ D-day beaches, very few bods on this site would visit the Normandy coast between Carentan and Trouville, a distance of about 70 miles.
 
There is not a lot to commend (riding wise) a route along the coast. If it weren’t for the ‘must do’ D-day beaches, very few bods on this site would visit the Normandy coast between Carentan and Trouville, a distance of about 70 miles.

Ok thanks,The girlfriend says maybe we should spend more time in the Dordogne region and have a rethink on the route back to Rotterdam.
 
All the options are still there and all possible, up to and including forgetting about the Dordogne and Brittany / Normandy and going to the Vosges / Black Forest..... or the Alps!

In two weeks you could actually lap France in its entirety, which would be a great trip. I have done it three or four times, but Germany in a lap, only once. The last time I took a month (instead of two weeks) to lap France as I used small D roads in the main and, not least, I had the time available as a one-off. Lapping countries, especially large ones, is a great way of seeing ‘everything’; giving you a taste for what you might like to go back to and see in greater detail another day.
 
As a basic example only:

This is 2,000 miles, using a sensible combination of roads.

14 days is only 142 miles a day but you have no days off. Lob in some motorway or don’t go down as far as Nice and you get more time. Add two days to make it 16, if possible, and you get more spare time besides.

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In two weeks you could actually lap France in its entirety, which would be a great trip. I have done it three or four times,.

Me too. :thumb

The last time, it was done in an anticlockwise direction, rather than the somehow automatic default of going clockwise, and it was actually much more enjoyable.
Don't know why, but it was.
 
Each time I have done it, I have gone anti-clockwise around France. But I went clockwise around the edge of Germany. Funny old world. If I did Spain, I think I’d do it anti-clockwise, too.

I guess the anti-clockwise thing around France is because I want to come back via Calais. So it sort of makes sense to catch the ferry over to Caen and start from there.
 
The lap looks good. Don't think the girlfriend would be up for that though. I would but i don't have any pals who would want to do it.
 
Fair enough.

I think the question you and she have to resolve is, what is the main focus (beyond going to France for two or so weeks) to be? It seems to me that the Dordogne is perhaps the main driver? If so, maximise your time there.
 
Good Question. I think the Dordogne looks a nice area to base ourselves for a few days with plenty of nice areas to explore on the bike. I think after the Dordogne we might just decide where to go on the day. I am happy with our planned stopovers on the way down there.
 
It certainly is a good area to ride around in.

Me? I’d maximise my time down there and then beetle back to Rotterdam, along some decent roads.
 
It certainly is a good area to ride around in.

Me? I’d maximise my time down there and then beetle back to Rotterdam, along some decent roads.

Well thanks to you we have plenty of maps and books to look at when we are there. Plenty of time to decide how to get back up to Rotterdam. Not going to book any accommodation for our trip back up so we can please ourselves.
 
Here is a nice circular route in the Dordogne, which is 240 km (150 miles) long.

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It does though illustrate how big France (and any one area within it ) can be, as it’s 70 miles from Treignac to the suggested start at Sarlat la Caneda. Still, 290 miles is a good day out.
 
It does though illustrate how big France (and any one area within it ) can be.

Absolutely, France is deceptively big

In the first few years I was here we seriously underestimated the distances of some of our weekends away planning them with my old AA atlas

It’s a lot easier these days with online route planners like ViaMichelin or Google maps etc.
 
Rocamadour is worth a visit.
Brilliant B&B at Monpazier run by an old Kiwi couple who have travelled the world as engineers. Pulled his wifes car out of the garage so I could put the bike in (like anyones going to nick it in a French village) and best (continental) breakfast ever.
https://chezedell.com/
 
Rocamador, like the close by Sarlat la Caneda is 70 miles from Treignac. A 140 mile round trip, so possibly a day out on its own.
 
Thanks lads. All looking good and plenty of nice ride outs. Wish we were going tomorrow.
 
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