How I wish I had the courage to do something like that !

[HobbesOnTour]

However the terms "sedentary" and "guts" is nice word for all other responsibilities - family obligations, impact on spouse, financials and career.

Actually, I think "responsibilities" are very different from "sedentary" and "guts".

Nobody wants to be a burden on society and we all want to contribute to society so free-loading is not an option for many.

The OP is talking about being inspired by a tour of less than a month at 50km per day.
Career ending, financial disaster, free loading are extreme responses to such a tour, no?

and when it happens, it happens.

With respect this is likely to see it never happen. It suggests some outside agency will make it happen.

I understand that people have obligations and responsibilities.
Potential bike tourists can also influence those obligations and responsibilities.
If a time arrives when a tour may be possible it is up to the potential tourist to actually make it happen. Tours generally don't occur organically.

I knew a guy in NL with a business in second hand touring bikes, mainly Kogas. Bought with great plans to travel continents. Never got out of NL. Some great bargains.
Lots and lots of people want "it" to happen.

We have to make it happen.

 

[TheDoctor]

France, IMHO, is the best country in the world for cycling. It has the climate, scenery, facilities, and most importantly a good attitude from it's residents towards cyclists.

And wine. Let us not forget the wine!

...However it is a very interesting river and passes through a lot of towns and cities - Nantes, Angers, Tours, Amboise (my favourite place), Orleans (take a train to Paris for a diversion), Nevers..... The scenery is also varied as you head east/west depending on which way you choose to travel.
If you find rivers "less interesting" then it might not be the route for you, but I find them quite enjoyable!

And an awful lot of wine. Seafood-friendly Muscadets, fizz from Saumur, rose from Anjou, reds from Chinon and Bourgueil, fizz, whites and desert wine from Vouvray, all the way up to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume.

 

[gavroche]

And wine. Let us not forget the wine!

And an awful lot of wine. Seafood-friendly Muscadets, fizz from Saumur, rose from Anjou, reds from Chinon and Bourgueil, fizz, whites and desert wine from Vouvray, all the way up to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume.

Stop it ! I can't take anymore of that !

 

[Cathryn]

@gavroche - the good people in this forum have said everything I would say (and more eloquently). I would just back them 100%. You CAN do this. I heard a good podcast lately (cannot remember who with) but one thing they said was how many people say 'Oh I'd love to do what you've done but I never could'. Her response was that they could, it wasn't that hard, they just needed to want to do it enough.

You have an entire cheer squad here of people who will support you, help you plan, help you train...we LOVE planning tours for other people as much as we love doing our own. So if you want to, we will back you wholeheartedly!

 

[slowmotion]

@gavroche, I watched the clip and found it utterly inspiring. It didn't look too hard even for a complete sloth such as myself. What intrigued me was how they did or didn't secure their panniers when casually visiting a historic site for a couple of hours when they were on the road. Does anybody know how it's done?

 

[KnittyNorah]

how they did or didn't secure their panniers when casually visiting a historic site for a couple of hours when they were on the road. Does anybody know how it's done?

I'd love to know, too. It's what I want to do on my vaguely-planned hols this coming year, and why I'm leaning towards staying in one place and cycling for 'days out' rather than cycling from A to B and onwards to C & D on consecutive days.

 

[slowmotion]

I'd love to know, too. It's what I want to do on my vaguely-planned hols this coming year, and why I'm leaning towards staying in one place and cycling for 'days out' rather than cycling from A to B and onwards to C & D on consecutive days.

My guess is that there must be an organised system. If thousands and thousands of cyclists pour down a route, it can't be un-noticed by bike thieves etc etc.

 

[Arrowfoot]

This is the video that @gavroche is referring to. Lovely scenes, well curated and narrated.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DakL95Qf1VI

 

[Blue Hills]

It does, but with short diversions away from it. However it is a very interesting river and passes through a lot of towns and cities - Nantes, Angers, Tours, Amboise (my favourite place), Orleans (take a train to Paris for a diversion), Nevers..... The scenery is also varied as you head east/west depending on which way you choose to travel.
If you find rivers "less interesting" then it might not be the route for you, but I find them quite enjoyable!

I like rivers, ditto canals, just doubts about following for so long. I actually have a map of the route somewhere - before I had the confidence of sorting my own routes I had the idea of heading for it as a way east. thanks for the info.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

@gavroche, . . . . What intrigued me was how they did or didn't secure their panniers when casually visiting a historic site for a couple of hours when they were on the road. Does anybody know how it's done?

This is a tricky one, but generally my reply would be 'it depends'. I have different thoughts on the matter depending on whether I'm in the middle of Paris wanting to visit a museum all day or in a more rural part of France. Is this based on anything more than perception and wishful thinking? Probably not!

When touring, I have only ever carried a stout-ish cable lock together with a long (10ft) piece of thin flexible marine rigging wire that I had made up with a loop on each end. I can use this to thread around and through various loops on my panniers which might deter some scally that has forgotten to bing even a penknife on his crime spree. I like to think it works because nothing has been nicked in 40 years, but then I hadn't been pick pocketed anywhere in the world until my French trip two years ago.

If there's a larger city that I want to explore, then I try to organise the schedule to camp there. I then wizz round and explore the whole place on my unladen bike and if there's a particular museum or castle I want to visit at length, I usually go back to the campsite and return on public transport if I'm not happy to leave my bike in the vicinity. That's worked in Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Marseille, Miami, etc. Some people recommend using left luggage lockers at stations, etc, but they often charge by the bag and even when you can find one, I've found them more hassle / expense than they're worth.

But this is not a lot different from the UK. A token gesture suitcase cable lock might surfice for 30mins outside the cafe in Hawes but claymore mines might still prove insufficient if leaving your bike outside the Natural History Museum in London for the day.

Finally for perspective, I suppose I've always used cycle touring to explore the more rural areas of the various countries. I do pop into castles and churches where there's frequently someone who will keep an eye on your bike and kit. But most of the time I trundle along looking at the sights with everything I own within touching distance.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

And the final final thing - As long as you have your money and passport with you at all times, everything else is replaceable. I would hate to loose my bike after all these years, but it is suppose to be a holiday. If visiting the bigger urban sights is too stressful, then leave them and come back on a city break at another time. There's still miles of European bucolic idyll to explore where the risks appear minimal. And if you've saved some money in your 'self insurance' fund at home, if everything is stolen, a trip to Decathlon in whatever corner of Europe you're in, should get you on the road again.

 

[T4tomo]

Thank you so much for your heartwarming comments.
I will be doing the C2C up North next June over 3 or 4 days, so see how that is going first.
I have been thinking a lot of taking my bike to Orleans and start from there but going West on the Loire valley although I would prefer someone to accompany me. May be Chris would ? He is the one I am doing the C2C with and he likes travelling.

Well coast to coast is a lot tougher cycling that down the Loire valley, much more climbing involved, so if you manage that, even if you find it really tough, then the Loire will be a breeze.

good luck!

 

[nickyboy]

,@gavroche unless I'm mistaken about the C2C I think you and I may have different notions about guts and sedentry

Best of luck

I've ridden with @gavroche and he is a more than capable cyclist, he's just being modest. For a native speaker like him, I couldn't imagine anything much nicer than pootling around France on a bike

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

Well coast to coast is a lot tougher cycling that down the Loire valley, much more climbing involved, so if you manage that, even if you find it really tough, then the Loire will be a breeze.

Indeed. The Loire is three times the length and yet has half the total climb of the C2C!

 

[T4tomo]

Indeed. The Loire is three times the length and yet has half the total climb of the C2C!

although, whilst you could take in a few Breweries possibly on the / a coast to coast route, there are more Chateaus and Vineyards to sample in the Loire, which could make peddling later in the day a tad tough.