North to South of France.

[psmiffy]

..stay out of the big towns if you can...nightmare navigation etc.

The obvious routes - apart from Paris and Lyon there are no big towns that pose any difficulty - Its easy to get into the centre of Paris Marginally more difficult to get out out south - Lyon is dead easy to get in and there is a great big River you can follow to get out - anywhere else is not worth worrying about

its a Fallacy that towns are difficult - towns are often some of the most interesting pieces of the ride - Ive done France North to South eight times and Ive not bought a single stadt plan for any town

 

[DooDah]

but they are going next June! On balance June is a good time to go....

@s7ephanie is right, June has been a pretty wet month in France over the last few years, and I live in the normally dry South-West. July is normally a better month, but it can be very hot. July and August are the most difficult months to find accommodation and if you do find it, it will be more expensive. IMO early September is the best time in terms of weather, accommodation costs. The trouble you will face is the weather in the mountain regions, it is really pot luck as to whether it is stupidly hot or cold, wet and even snowy. If it were me, I would choose late June or early September.

 

[DooDah]

On another note this website is full of useful info: http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/

 

[Mr Bunbury]

A friend and I did a very similar route to yours a couple of years ago: we started at Caen and rode to Marseille via Mt Ventoux. We took 8 riding days, which was restricted by the length of the summer half term holiday (one of us is a teacher), a typical day would be 100-110km, with a couple of longer days thrown in. This was early July, we credit cared toured, we always found accommodation on the night and we both enjoyed ourselves hugely. The Loire is beautiful country and Mt Ventoux is, as people have said, a must.

My tour journal is here.

 

[asterix]

The obvious routes - apart from Paris and Lyon there are no big towns that pose any difficulty - Its easy to get into the centre of Paris Marginally more difficult to get out out south - Lyon is dead easy to get in and there is a great big River you can follow to get out - anywhere else is not worth worrying about

its a Fallacy that towns are difficult - towns are often some of the most interesting pieces of the ride - Ive done France North to South eight times and Ive not bought a single stadt plan for any town

The Loire is beautiful country ..

Agree about the Loire. My first tour was there. It's so relaxing my daily mileage got smaller and smaller and using youth hostels I met so many interesting people.