France Vs.Holland Vs. UK

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I have to decide by tomorrow WTF I am going to do with the next 2 weeks ish.:

Option 1

Stay here , do nothing for two weeks on my own. Cheapest option, but I won't have a the new bike until later in the year anyway so i'm bound to get bored.

Option 2

Ride/camp across France on my own, Calais to Montpellier.
Could be expensive, especially in the south. Concerned about the traffic going down the Rhone south of Lyon as it is the holidays and all of France will be heading south.
je no parle pas the lingo. 14 days ish.

Option 3

Go to Holland on my own and spend a week dossing around on the beaches of nord holland camping. Fine if the sunshines, hell if it doesnt. 7 days ish.

 

[psmiffy]

NOBRAINER-Ride/camp across France on my own, Calais to Montpellier.

 

[rich p]

France, definitely IMO. Wonderful countryside of all sorts, flat, hilly, scenic everything.
I don't know why you're worried about the traffic - there are so many roads in France you have a choice of routes to any place. Cycle on the smaller roads and you'll barely see a car some days. The French traffic will be on M ways and N roads and you'll be on minor roads.
As for the language an enthusiastic, friendly approach overcomes all the problems. I've cycled through Poland and Slovakia and made a point of learning "Please, Thank you, the nos 1 - 10, beer, large". It was enough. Municipal camp sites are cheap as chips. On my recent trip the cheapest for one person was 2.5 euros. read my crazy guy thing below for a taster!

 

[Aperitif]

France. Go into several bike shops and select your bike of dreams en route! (They'll post it back to the UK...)

 

[John the Monkey]

France - if you're worried about the lingo, grab the "Rough Guide" phrasebook.

 

[snorri]

Holland definitely.
Plenty of clean cheap camp sites, friendly natives, no language problems, good beaches, plenty to do in the towns if the weather is not so good, good cycle facilities, considerate drivers, well signposted, fresh cooling breezes by the seaside, it is energising to be in a modern dynamic country.
France

 

[John Ponting]

Got to be France.

as above really - stick to D roads, pay little for camping, stop for lunch at little villages, pick up a bit of the language as you travel. Just hope you are not strict vegetarian - in France BEEF is meat while anything else is not.

 

[maurice]

France, you won't regret it.

 

[jay clock]

France. The UK is home and I like somehwere different for a hol. Holland is flat and I like variety.

With one or two very rare exceptions in France there is always a tiny road as an option, and the second half of August is slightly quieter than the first half.

Unless you are very near Dover I would also consider one of the western Channel crossings. If you can get to St Malo you have a slighlty shorter ride to the Med

Don't worry about the language - smile and make a joke of it!

 

[Tim Bennet.]

France - but if you want to keep the cost down, do a loop using the ferries both ways.

And for pity's sake, use it as an opportunity to break free from your procrastination and wean yourself off your need for anal retentive preparation:

1. Have your wheels seen to by any expert before you go and stop worrying about breakdowns. Zero need to find a bike shop in 25 years is your target reliability.
2. Leave everything electronic behind except your camera.
3. Only buy the first map around the ferry port. (IGN 1:100,000 scale).
4. If your chosen route lays to the east, find a little road heading east and ride along it. When you've had enough for the day; stop.
5. Any book shop / paper shop / tobacconist will sell you your next map when you need it.
6. DO NOT follow any f**king cycle routes. The world is covered in cycle routes, 99.999999999% of which haven't had some plonker fix signs up on them.

It doesn't matter where you go or what you see, but you will learn to NOT take your everyday life with you. Once you have broken free of all your self imposed 'needs', you'll find endless touring possibilities springing up everywhere you look.

 

[Tony]

Everything Tim says I fully endorse! You are right about the mad rush south, though, and all of France (and most of Holland and Germany) will be on the south (Med) coast. A loop with ferries is a fine idea. How about heading out and back to/from the Atlantic coast?

 

[vernon]

Option 2 - it's the best of the bunch.

You should have the route that I used - I posted it in response to one of your requests quite a while ago. Apart from Lyon, the route is a breeze - nothing really hilly apart from one deep valley crossing somewhere in the south. As for costs - it's as cheap as chips if you buy your food/ingredients/wine from supermarkets bulked out with the finest offerings from the many patisseries. The route's easily done in 14 days and there's sufficient things of interest on the ride to eliminate boredom.

Although I chose to speak French throughout my ride, all of the camp sites had multilingual signs and owners/employees who could speak some English. No French is needed to shop at supermarkets. I wouldn't get hung up on the lack of French - you'll cope.

Like Tim Bennet said just do it. You first postulated a Channel to Med ride eons ago, got lots of advice and then did something totally different. You'll find lots of problems if you persist in looking for them. Make your transport bookings now or you'll end up sulking at home.

 

[vernon]

Everything Tim says I fully endorse! You are right about the mad rush south, though, and all of France (and most of Holland and Germany) will be on the south (Med) coast. A loop with ferries is a fine idea. How about heading out and back to/from the Atlantic coast?

Riding south through Provence and westwards through the Carmargue was not especially fraught in August last year. There's still lots of quiet roads.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Vernon the route I had in mind is the same one you posted pretty much, except I may go Calais> St Omer> Arras Bapaume> Albert and then cut down to Troyes via bay sur somme. The CTC route however follows the green N and D roads for the most part I notice. Looking at the map these seem to run in the more direct 'as the crow flies' directions whereas the smaller white and yellow roads seem to zig zag everywhere and then all converge on the nearest town centre....anyway...att eh moment the plan is to ride the D & N roads as per the CTC route...is that a big mistake??

 

[mcr]

If you're worried about traffic, avoid the N roads like the plague (even those with cycle paths along them), unless your aim is to get from A to B by the most direct route, which isn't my idea of touring! Remember that France has twice the mileage (kilometrage ?) of roads as Britain for the same number of people - and on the whole they're better maintained than here, so take your luck with the Cs as well as the more minor Ds. And speaking as someone for whom hills don't come easily, I would recommend from experience the slightly more undulating countryside to the west of the Saone/Rhone rather than doggedly keeping to the river valley itself - much nicer.

And don't the French start heading north from their hols any day now?