First ever bike tour along Canal des Deux Mers - logistics help, please?

[topheavycyclist]

Hello. I've been cycling for quite a while, but I've only ever done weekend cycling locally and the most I've ever really cycled is probably about 20 or so miles. I'm slowly building up my cycling at the moment (intending to cycle 28 miles next Wednesday) and having recently watched the Channel 4 show where Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel cycled along the Canal des Deux Mers, it's massively appealing as a francophile gourmand who doesn't love hills but would like an adventure, and so I'm starting to plan for doing it in June of 2026.

The preparation for it (i.e. learning to cycle a couple of rides a day totally 40-50 miles) is something I can pretty easily train myself, but I'm really unsure about the logistics of this stuff. How do I get my bike down there? Train seems complicated (St Pancras -> Bordeaux + Montpellier -> St Pancras) especially with an eBike and the plane is even worse. I could just hire a bike but as I'm currently heading through middle-age and carrying too much weight I know I'll appreciate having a good quality ebike for the journey but ideally with all of my own kit on it and set up perfectly (i.e. my own one, with the phone mount with charger tied into the bike battery, camera mounts, radar mount, etc).

I'd love to get some thoughts from people please who have done this sort of stuff before on what is me worrying too much about things I don't have experience of and what I'm missing that would be obvious to others?

 

[StuAff]

You won't get an fully assembled bike on Eurostar into Paris, unless it's a folding one- in a box only, and only on certain services. Hire might well be your best option.

 

[topheavycyclist]

I've been doing a shed load of research. I think my current options are:

* Pack up the bike and use trains
* Pack up the bike, courier it to and from France, travel by air/train personally
* Travel by air/train and then hire a bike
* Drive down, do ride, train back to car, drive back

The easiest one is the hiring. The easiest one for keeping my bike is the driving one.

What would others choose to do?

 

[bluenotebob]

What would others choose to do?

I'd drive .. it's not a 'climate-friendly' choice but it would make your trip far easier.

Ferry prices aren't cheap though. You'd need to shop around for a good price.

You'll also need to find somewhere safe to leave your car for however long you plan on cycling.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

Have you looked at the European Bike Express? You travel on a coach and your bike is towed behind in a trailer. Various pick up and drop off points.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

I'd drive. We've done this before, leaving car at prearranged accommodating for as long as two weeks.

My top tip would be to look for chambres d'hotes that do tables d'hôtes evening meals. You eat with the hosts.

 

[Cathryn]

I’d drive as well. The logistics are so hard otherwise

 

[topheavycyclist]

Thanks all ... loving the consensus!

 

[Gillstay]

40- 50 miles a day along the flat should be quite easy esp once you have done a few days. If you went on the train, then hiring a bike I would suggest taking a good small tool kit so you can adjust the set up to suit you. You may not need an e bike either if its all canal.

 

[mjr]

I've done ferry/train & bike to Benelux, Germany and northern France, but we drove the bikes to Alsace and I've yet to see a route to southern France with a bike that is affordable and easy, so I've only hired there or beyond. Folding bikes are easier but not everyone has them, the luggage is a compromise and some parts are usually customised so hard to find if anything breaks on tour.

 

[T4tomo]

I’d drive as well. The logistics are so hard otherwise

Indeed our annual "tour" is approaching next week. I say "tour" we are driving (Le Shuttle) down to the Loire Valley, staying in one place and doing a series of day rides, carefully leaving plenty of time for wine tasing food and lounging by the pool!

A -> B is good as a sense of travel but complicates the logistics, and you end up living out of a bag, never unpacking

 

[mjr]

A -> B is good as a sense of travel but complicates the logistics, and you end up living out of a bag, never unpacking

Or you end up repacking each morning. Either way, you have to be organised (maybe a stack of packing cubes), or very good at luggage selection to make it easy to live out of a bag (everything accessible from the openings, but not springing or falling out).