Central France rides

[stevevw]

Any of you know any nice road rides in central France preferably in the Haute Vienne area. I am off to see family and friends in April (Limousin and Correze). I will be taking the bike and would like to escape to the roads now and again.

 

[yello]

That's asterix's neck of the woods (I'm a bit north of there). Maybe he'll have some ideas.

There are some challenging rides into the Creuse (not the river, the dept!) if you're interested... but it might be a bit of a hike for you depending whereabouts in the Haute Vienne you'll be.

 

[asterix]

You shouldn't have any difficulty in finding good cycling roads in the Haute Vienne. There aren't spectacular features as in the Alps, Pyrennees or Massif Central, just plenty of rolling (not much of it flat!), country scenery with few cars, off the trunk routes.

Most of my cycling areas are covered by page 118 of the Michelin road atlas, with Ladignac le Long (B2) as the central point. From there I like to cycle towards places such as Rilhac Lastours, Jumilhac le Grand, Nontron and Brantome. Segur le Chateau and Arnac Pompadour (horsey) are also worth a look. A pleasant road is the D78 westwards from Jumilhac. Following a river, it is flattish with little traffic and pretty scenery. A left turn just before the N21 takes you to St Paul la Roche and back to Jumilhac.

The 1:200,000 maps are useful guides but omit many useable small roads and I haven't yet found a series which cover a large enough area for cycling with such detail.

 

[Jonathan M]

I've holidayed in the region a coupleof times. Just get on the bike & ride, lots of choice, and as Asterix says, few cars.

I've found the IGN series of maps (Ordnance Survey equivalents) to be useful,if slightly expensive, but if you run Memory Map you can get regions in the MM format that seems a bit more cost effective.

 

[stevevw]

Thanks for the replies guys. I am looking forward to this now.

I am thinking of upgrading my Garmin to a 705 so I can just go off and explore the area safe in the knowledge that I will be able to get back to the start should I get very lost. If not at least the 205 will tell me where I am on the map.

Thanks again
Steve

 

[Christopher]

IGN 1:100,000 map is pretty good for cycling. Not every micro-road is thee, and contours are sometimes a bit hard to see, but about the best you can do for a one-off holiday.

You can get 1:50,000 IGN maps from the Ign.fr websitre, but the coverage is pretty limited i.e. they are small maps and not good VFM - I only got them as I almost live at my parent's place in France

 

[yello]

IGN 1:100,000 map is pretty good for cycling

Agreed. It's what I use too. If the road's not on it then you pretty much don't want to be riding that road anyway!

Maps 41 and 48 should cover pretty much the area you're looking at - the Haute Vienne, Dordogne, Correze and Cruese. The maps are around the €8 mark give or take, depending on where you get them.

 

[asterix]

.. A pleasant road is the D78 westwards from Jumilhac. Following a river, it is flattish with little traffic and pretty scenery. A left RIGHT turn just before the N21 takes you to St Paul la Roche and back to Jumilhac.