Touring Calais to Nice 2012

[MattAnderson]

Hi there,
I will be touring this route next year Feb/March and will be camping along the way.
If anyone has a cycle path pdf file or any tips and suggestions for this tour that would be more than welcome
as this is my first tour.
Cheers
Matt
Email - matanderson56@hotmail.com

 

[Blue Hills]

me to

could anyone with the info post it here though rather than just sending it privately?

 

[yello]

Are you prepared to free camp as many French campsites won't be open that time of year.

 

[yello]

I'm sorry there's not been more response Matt. I can't help you on the specifics of your question about routes since my own tactics is to buy a map and work things out on the fly.

I have a start point and time, and an end point and time - the middle bit I make up as the mood grabs me! I'm not one for research and am quite happy to take what comes my way, even if it does mean missing out on a couple of 'must do' things..

The first tour can be daunting, I know that. All I can say is that you can never really go too far wrong or get lost. There are people around who will help if needs be, towns full of shops, etc etc. People are people (even the French!) and there's nothing so very usual over here!

Bonne route!

 

[Dave Davenport]

I'm sorry there's not been more response Matt. I can't help you on the specifics of your question about routes since my own tactics is to buy a map and work things out on the fly.

I have a start point and time, and an end point and time - the middle bit I make up as the mood grabs me! I'm not one for research and am quite happy to take what comes my way, even if it does mean missing out on a couple of 'must do' things..

The first tour can be daunting, I know that. All I can say is that you can never really go too far wrong or get lost. There are people around who will help if needs be, towns full of shops, etc etc. People are people (even the French!) and there's nothing so very usual over here!

Bonne route!

+1 except I don't even tend to have a specific end point. And yes, campsites will be a problem at that time of year.

 

[MattAnderson]

Camping is not a problem will just free camp at night leave early morning and thanks @yello for the information will be heading calais to paris- lyon lyon to marseille and then up to antibbes should be an awesome ride hopefully maybe push in a little further for some warmth though.

 

[frank9755]

What has worked well in France for me is to just have a general idea of where I am heading, then get a Michelin road atlas and rip out the pages I think I'll need. Then at night in my tent I scribble the next day's route in red pen on the map.


I would avoid cities and aim for small towns. That is where the real France is!


Quite a few of the municipal sites will, although closed, be decent wild camping options.


It will be a bit chilly in the mornings in northern France that time of year. The extra hour time difference has quite an impact.


Have a great time!

 

[psmiffy]

It will be a bit chilly in the mornings in northern France that time of year. The extra hour time difference has quite an impact.


Have a great time!

I would of thought that at that time of the year it would be chilly most of the day in more than just the north of France plus daylight time will be relatively short

I have cycled most of the route outlined (but in the summer) at least a couple of times - never really encountered any sort of concerted cycle routes - except maybe bits of the loire

I would be prepared for a bit of snow and definelty sleet -need to cross into the rhone valley and it goes up to around 1000m - med coast its not a given that it will be warm

 

[MattAnderson]

Yeah thanks for all that advice, will be pushing the tour through to March now but still working on the route. I do want to avoid cities and looks the trusty road atlas will be the way to go! any ideas on average km's covered per day?(roughly obiously)

 

[frank9755]

Any ideas on average km's covered per day?(roughly obiously)

I can tell you what I did but obviously can't say whether that would be right for you as it depends on how fit you are, what time you want to start, how heavy your gear is, how many breaks you want to have, how confident you are to ride on the odd main road, and a bunch of other variables.

But, as you ask, last year, when I went from Dieppe to Montpellier with camping gear I did up to 100 miles per day (160km) in Northern France where it is flat. In the Massif Central this dropped to about 75 miles per day (120 km). That was in May. In March I'd knock perhaps 15 miles off for needing to start later due to colder / darker mornings.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Allow for a rest day, or at least a very short/easy day after 7 to 10 days.

When we did Bilbao to St. Malo last year we took 13 days in total to do 720 miles, but then we never get going 'till mid morning.

 

[vernon]

You need to make sure that you have plenty of warm clothing and a decent sleeping bag. I used to camp at Le Mans for the 24hr motor cycle race at Easter which could vary from mid March to Early April. Only once could I describe the weather as being warm and more often than not there was frost on the tent in the mornings.

More often than not I wore gloves and a beanie hat along with a woollen pullover when I crawled into my sleeping bag.