the great thing is not to panic.
Start off with 'bon jour' or after 5 pm 'bon soir'.
basic vocabulary is your first need, forget the fancy tenses and all that stuff your best friend is
'je voudrais..' = 'I'd like..' followed by whatever you want, e.g. 'le camping'.
When asking directions
droite is right and gauche is left but tout droit strangely is go straight on!
having received the info you want
'merci, au revoir' thank you, good-bye.
I have been converting a barn in France for several years and I still don't understand my neighbour very well but we get on fine anyway.
Good post. I've been to France half a dozen times in the last 6 years, always with others more competent in the language than me, and I'm gradually getting the confidence to ask for stuff myself, to the point where I could imagine going alone and getting by. My French is not 'correct', and relies a lot on the equivalent of 'me want cake please', but with plenty of smiles, and self deprecation, people seem happy to make the effort to understand. This last time, by listening carefully to the phrases my friends used to explain our trip, and then parroting them, I was able to chat to a few people independently. And I even made a joke! We pitched into a little supermarket for some dinner supplies, having ridden through some torrential rain. The owner asked if he could get us anything, and I said in French, yes, a big towel! A rather poor joke, but we all laughed. On the way out, I apologised for the 'flooding' we left behind as we dripped round the shop. I'd seen 'inondable' on road signs, not known what it meant and looked it up, and it stuck.
The thing I find is that I may be able to ask a question, but not to understand the answer - so speaking very basically may help there. If someone can clearly hear that you are foreign and speaking only basic words, they are perhaps more likely to speak slowly back to you. I gather that if you struggle to understand someone speaking fast, you can say "doucement, s'il vous plait", which means 'gently please'.
A phrase book/dictionary is good, and you can also get a thing called a Point It book, which is lots of pictures you can point at to signify foods, parts of the body, types of vehicle etc. And of course works for all languages.
Oh, and if you're cycling through anything smaller than a big town, be prepared to say bonjour, or nod to, everyone you pass - especially in small villages.
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