My tips for cycling in France

[briantrumpet]

After 17 years living in France I still love cycling here. For me out of season is best. We're in an area that is popular with holiday makers and the roads get busy at times. It's still easy to find quiet lanes and avoid the traffic if you know the area.
A generalization, but we've found there can be more danger to cyclists from Brits . They pass too close and seem more impatient.
It has never happened when I've been riding, but Brits on the wrong side of the road isn't uncommon, very scary!

Yes, out-of-season is a joy in the Drôme... it's a joy in the summer season too, but I'll tend to avoid certain roads a bit more - not that most aren't still OK, but just not as much fun.

Hardly any GB tourists here (I think I've seen two in 2.5 weeks), but the Belgians tend to provide the cr@p driving.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Whenever I've been to France riding on the right immediately feels...well...right. when I come back to Blighty, it takes some getting used to riding on the left.

Having grown up with miles, I also find kms so much easier to use.

Why does Britain have to do things differently and perhaps, less goodly.

Hat do you find hard about miles?

 

[Moodyman]

Hat do you find hard about miles?

Inches, yards, miles. 36 inches to a yard, 1760 yards to a mile. Doesn't follow a straightforward logic.

mm, cm, m, km follows a pattern of tens, hundreds and thousands.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Inches, yards, miles. 36 inches to a yard, 1760 yards to a mile. Doesn't follow a straightforward logic.

mm, cm, m, km follows a pattern of tens, hundreds and thousands.

How often do you cycle distances in inches ? You don’t need any of the others just miles is fine.

 

[Moodyman]

How often do you cycle distances in inches ? You don’t need any of the others just miles is fine.

As I said, I grew up with miles and am comfortable with these. But, if I was new to measurements, I would find kms so much easier to work with.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As I said, I grew up with miles and am comfortable with these. But, if I was new to measurements, I would find kms so much easier to work with.

But you haven’t explained how. 1.5 miles is just as easy to work with as 1.5 km. 150 yards is just as easy to work with as 150 metres.

 

[DRM]

We are just back from doing the Velodysee from Roscoff to Spanish border on a tandem

We were amazed at the readiness of drivers to stop and allow us to cross the road at junctions/roundabouts and where the route swaps to the other side of the road.

Did get sworn at one day for riding wrong way up a one way on the road instead of the pavement. My bad

I noticed this in Brittany one year, l went out Sunday morning to do a loop, and caught a club run, I was invited to tag along for a bit, it was an eye opener to see drivers stop and let the group sweep straight through the roundabouts without stopping, first one was surreal as I was on the brakes and ready to unclip, but the pace stayed the same through the roundabout and straight through the village, I couldn’t help thinking this would have been carnage at home.

 

[Fram]

As I said, I grew up with miles and am comfortable with these. But, if I was new to measurements, I would find kms so much easier to work with.

Decimalisation was a huge improvement in the 70s and "imperial" measurements are ridiculous compared to the alternative of metric.

 

[briantrumpet]

Decimalisation was a huge improvement in the 70s and "imperial" measurements are ridiculous compared to the alternative of metric.

I think this debate belongs elsewhere... not that I don't have views about it...

 

[Julia9054]

Whenever I've been to France riding on the right immediately feels...well...right.

Me too. As a strongly left handed/sided person, I find it physically easier to look over my left shoulder and I put my right foot down when I stop which is kerb side when riding on the right

 

[straas]

I hired a bike on Il de Re, and had a go on the cycle paths there.

Absolutely incredible! pedal along for a bit, have a few prawns and a glass of white, bimble off. Bliss.

 

[Once a Wheeler]

Jimmy Doug has some good observations.
For me, signage such as this is a major annoyance in France:

Disregard the danger sign and look at the direction signs. This is a crossroads where you could go right, straight-on or left. On many occasions I have turned left, in this case to go to Briançon, only to realize a few kilometres down the road that the correct route is straight on. A lot of local authorities do not seem to know about the use of vertical arrows to indicate the straight-on direction. Vertical arrow straight-on signs may be a bit more common in France now than they used to be but their use is certainly not systematic. Sometimes, but not always, signs such as this Briançon example are slightly angled towards the straight-on route when this is the intended direction. However, this then leaves the sign pointing at no-man's-land and looking like a 'go left' sign that has suffered a tap from a passing lorry. One sort of gets used to it over time but a clear ←︎ (left), →︎︎ (right), and above all ↑︎︎ (straight-on), certainly take some beating: with the ↑︎︎ (straight-on) convention needing systematic top-down and bottom-up imposition throughout France. Here is a stab at what this sign should look like:

 

[oldworld]

Wow! This thread is 10 years old. The original post is very helpful but everyone's experience is different. I've never had a problem with french drivers. They've never tried to squeeze past me. They hang back until they can obey the highway code. This means a gap of 1 metre in towns and 1.5 metres everywhere else. British holiday makers take the skin off your elbow when they pass
Hunters do pose a danger on small roads away from villages. They aren't supposed to but hunt along the hedges. My wife got peppered with shot, luckily the hunter was some distance away so the shot was mostly spent and she was just shocked.

 

[Biker man]

An interesting read. I do like to read the perspective of others non-French French residents, there's often a great deal I can empathise with or at least recognise. I've lived in France for 4 years now and am starting to settle to it (that is, what was once foreign is becoming the norm and taken for granted). I do still try to make allowances for difference and try not to be judgemental but I'll admit it is difficult sometimes!

Priorité à droite can catch you out. Fortunately for me, it's not that often that it is an issue - since where I live is rural so there is very little traffic. It's worth keeping in mind that in rural France, many people do drive as if there'll be nothing coming the other way, or crossing an unmarked junction at the same time. You can understand why - usually they're right! So don't be surprised to see something coming towards you in the middle of the road! That is simply how many people drive. It's regularly remarked upon by ex-pat Brits but completely unremarkable as far as the French are concerned - vive la difference eh!

I can see the sense in priorité à driote in some situations. Where 2 roads of equal significance cross in the middle of the nowhere (both are 'main' roads, who is to say which is the 'route principale?) then priorité à driote is a clear and unambiguous rule.

But equally there are situations where I am completely dumbfounded as to the wisdom of it... in towns particularly. Yes, you should stop to allow traffic to join from a side road! I know it's only my perspective but my lord it seems weird!

Is there a English written
French highway code you can read before you go.

 

[Punkawallah]

But don't dress well in yellow when on a bike. Any other colour, but not yellow. Which is a bit awkward when your club kit is yellow...

Why would this be, please?