Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

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looserlama
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Joined: 11 Nov 2014, 4:00pm

Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by looserlama »

Hi everyone!

This summer I'm planning a long trip through Europe, and one of the legs of my trip with be going up through France (in June). I already have a general route plan, it goes something like this:

Perpignan up to St. Ambroix, then head towards Le Puy. Then up to Cluny, from there north to Beaune, then over to Gray and up to Épinal and Nancy, then Metz and finally north to Luxembourg or Trier.

I've found bike routes for that whole path, but I was wondering a few things:

1. Do you have any suggestions for specific areas/roads that you found very cool or scenic? (Ones that are on or near that route)
I hear Le Puy has cool scenery as it is volcanic, but is going up that way better in general than going up more to the east, towards Lyon? Note that I'm not very interested in spending much time in cities, as I've already been to many many french cities (having grown up in Switzerland).

2. Do you have any tips or warnings for biking through France?
I know that France is supposed to be pretty bike-friendly, but one thing I was kind of concerned about was the priorité à droite rule, which sounds a bit dangerous for bikers. Any opinions or advice?
I also know that french drivers are fairly wild, is that usually an issue? Or are there many bike roads without cars?


3. We were planning on camping most of the time, and occasionally getting a hostel. From the maps I have it seems like there a some campgrounds, but not everywhere. I was wondering if you've ever had issues finding camping spots?
On that note, is non-campground camping tolerate in the areas I'll be going?

Thanks for any and all help or advice you can give!
tim_f
Posts: 251
Joined: 12 Oct 2009, 10:37pm

Re: Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by tim_f »

In France is it unusual not to find a camp-site where I need one when planning a route. I find that just goggling place name and camping will find a site. Have occasionally camped in small town parks when things have not gone to plan and I have not reached the camp-site I planned.

I normally plan a route on the smallest possible roads and find these to have virtually no traffic - and what there is to be careful around cyclists. Re " priorité à droite rule" just be careful in small towns and villages at junctions.
tatanab
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Joined: 8 Feb 2007, 12:37pm

Re: Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by tatanab »

1. Le Puy is certainly worth visiting for the dramatic volcanic plugs and a walk around the cathedral. If you want to cut east afterwards towards the Rhone valley and Lyon then that is easily done.
2. Drivers are very good. Only once in many years of touring in France have I had a problem and that was with a tipper driver rushing for his lunch. Priority to the Right is something to watch for in towns, but there is usually a sign to warn you as you enter the town if it applies. The same on the open road, if there is an junction or series of junctions you are usually warned. I am also of the habit of looking at the approaching road and if I can see a post for a sign the chances are it is a Give Way sign and I also tend to look for the white line across the junction of the joining road. Priority to the right is getting so rare that I suppose they need to put up the warnings. A yellow diamond sign with a white border and a black line across it denotes that your road no longer has priority. Bike routes- there are some that are very good indeed and some that are not good for a tourist. However, being an old country France has a huge network of tiny back roads and that is where I spend 99% of my time.
3. Camping - maps will show only a very few sites. If you are looking at Michelin maps then they show only those sites that happen to be in the Michelin Guide of the year the map was produced. So possibly only 10%. There is a book that lists ALL campsites in France, it is available from Amazon France or possibly Amazon in your country. A s you can see in the link a new edition is due in February (picture is 2014 edition) http://www.amazon.fr/GUIDE-OFFICIEL-CAM ... el+camping
looserlama
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Joined: 11 Nov 2014, 4:00pm

Re: Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by looserlama »

Awesome, thanks for your replies!

I'll definitely go through Le Puy then, as I've never actually seen a volcano.

Good to know there are signs for the Priorité à droite rule. I'm always careful when I come to a junction anyway, but having signs makes me feel a bit more comfortable.

Thanks for the tip about the campsite book, but frankly I'm trying to minimize the number of hard copy books/maps I'm bringing, so I think I'll just stick with googling campsites or using the ones already marked on the map. I don't think that should be an issue. If I decide to come back and do a trip only through france, that book would be really useful though!
tatanab
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Joined: 8 Feb 2007, 12:37pm

Re: Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by tatanab »

looserlama wrote:I'll definitely go through Le Puy then, as I've never actually seen a volcano.
There are a few bowls in the landscape around which are the remains of the volcanoes. What you see in Le Puy (tourist websites show it nicely) are the plugs left when the rest has eroded away. It is quite dramatic, and the walk on steep cobbled streets by the cathedral and up to the statue of the Virgin Mary are well worth doing. You can climb stairs inside the statue for a higher viewpoint, or you could last time I was there about 25 years ago.

Camping book - I use it for a bit of planning before I go, but it also contains small maps which at least give an idea of which towns have campsites (10,000 of them) and I photocopy those to take with me.
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voiturebalai
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Re: Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by voiturebalai »

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Audax67
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Re: Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by Audax67 »

Of course if you're going north up the Rhône valley there's a detail called the Mistral. Two hardened long-distance chums of mine set out to do the Perp-Strasbourg diagonale last summer and had to jack it in at Montélimar because of it.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
looserlama
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Joined: 11 Nov 2014, 4:00pm

Re: Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by looserlama »

That's true, I didn't think of the Mistral... That will definitely pose a problem, especially for the Perpignan to St. Ambroix part of the trip. Luckily we've given ourselves a lot of time for this trip, so hopefully can survive by doing shorter legs each day, especially when it's blowing strong. I don't really know how else to avoid the Mistral?
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MrsHJ
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Re: Biking in France (Perpignan - Luxembourg)

Post by MrsHJ »

looserlama wrote:That's true, I didn't think of the Mistral... That will definitely pose a problem, especially for the Perpignan to St. Ambroix part of the trip. Luckily we've given ourselves a lot of time for this trip, so hopefully can survive by doing shorter legs each day, especially when it's blowing strong. I don't really know how else to avoid the Mistral?


I'd be interested in other people's views but this type of wind has always seemed worse in the afternoon and early evening so IF I'm right an early start might help. We have come across it before but only for a couple of days.

Le Puy is very memorable, I remember camping there in the way up from Nice. Good food too.
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