# Cycle routes from campsites in france



## Molev (Dec 12, 2012)

Trying to make plans to go over to France soon and would like to find places to stay that have direct access to cycle routes ie disused railways or canals. Preferably not too far south. 
Any recommendations would be great.

Thanks


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

I only know southern French sites, around Annecy or the med.

Or would Belgium / Netherlands be any use to you?

TM


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## Molev (Dec 12, 2012)

Only got a week so probably a bit too far south, thanks anyway


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## Tony0851 (Apr 4, 2013)

Hi Molev. We have just come back from France. We stopped at a lovely aire in A place called Froncles you can cycle for miles by the canal it's not to far south I would check it out its in the aires book.


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## dalspa (Jul 1, 2008)

We too have just returned from France and always pick our stops to be able to cycle. Here are some of our routes, all not too far south:-
1. Le Crotoy to St. Valery on Baie De Somme. Cycle route around bay.
2. Charleville- Mezieres to Fumay to Givet in Meuse valley. Cycle along route of river.
3. Lac du Der-Chantecoq near St Dizier. Cycle route all round the lake.
4. Givry (just west of Chalon sur Saone) to Buxy and southwards to Macon . Cycle along former railway line including longest cycle tunnel.
5. Joinville (just north of Froncles as previously mentioned). We stopped on good aire at Joinville but did not ride on the towpath due to wet weather, but route looked good.
All of the above are flat (wife does not like hills), and good tarmac off road routes and have aires local/on route. Look for canals and they will usually have towpaths. Most towns seem to have tourist information offices and they usually have good free cycle maps.

DavidL


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## musicbus (May 1, 2005)

Try French website voirverte.

If my memory is correct it is the best source 

Cheers

Barry


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## mandyandandy (Oct 1, 2006)

We cycle, flat if possible, I agree with your wife regarding hills. 
Le Crotoy is a great place to cycle, you can also take your bikes on the train and cycle at the other side of the bay too, we did this and had a great time. They produce a brochure which you can download and print off, cannot find where I put it  

However this may help and lead you to it, going to work so not got time. 

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&langpair=auto|en&rurl=translate.google.com&tbb=1&u=http://www.somme-nature.com/nature/velo/les_circuits_cyclo_de_la_somme&usg=ALkJrhhuWS6KnG-a-YNt4G7NPsspxoVDFA

sorry for length, would shorten but again time is out. 

Mandy


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## Molev (Dec 12, 2012)

Thanks guys really helpful, will start planning!


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## Whitebirdyman (May 9, 2005)

I am also just back from France and can endorse the suggestions by Dalspa above (We were on the aire at Givry at the same time for a couple of days). In addition I would also mention:
* there are a lot of cycle routes around Berck if you are in the Le Crotoy area
* there is a voie verte running from Dieppe to Forges les Eaux, if you base yourself at Neufchatel on Bray you can cycle both ways rather than do it as a one long return trip
* not a cycle path, but at the Lac du Der there are a number of villages with wooden churches and you can make a nice circular tour of that, the roads are very quiet.
* in the Rhone valley there is an incomplete route called ViaRhona. I stayed in Tournon and you can cycle the 22 km into Valence quite easily.
*from the aire at Conty, near Abbeville, is a green route meant for walking, but it would be cyclable if you had a trail bike and knobbly tyres.

One thing I found on my recent trip was that many sections of path were quite poorly surfaced. I had taken a road bike and the paths were often not suitable so I cycled on road. On a trip earlier in the year I had taken a cyclocross bike and found that was overkill for the good surfaces I was on that time, so if you have a choice of bikes it pays to do some research before you set off (or take a couple to cover different eventualities.

Jim


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## charlieivan (Apr 25, 2006)

Molev said:


> Only got a week so probably a bit too far south, thanks anyway


You could have a look at Neufchatel-en-Bray, camping Sainte Claire.
There is a disused railway cycle path just outside campsite that runs to Dieppe in one direction and Forges-les-Eaux in the other. It is about a 2 hour drive from Calais. Many people use this site as a stopover on way back to the ferry as it is a 12euro ACSI site. Couple of good supermarkets and fuel within 800m and plenty of eating out places.
We are also setting off for a trip to France to do some cycling and I have just had a look at this Cycle routes

We are heading to Le Crotoy so will probably try St Valerie to Abbeville following the canal.


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## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

head down to the Loire valley and try some of the routes along the river itself.

http://www.cycling-loire.com/cycling-loire-map

the Loire valley is also part of the Eurovelo project which aims to develop long distance cycle routes across Europe - the Loire sits on Eurovelo 6 - http://www.eurovelo6.org/ - which is a cycle route from the Atlantic to the Black Sea via the Loire, Rhine and Danube.

the proposed routes across Europe are here - http://www.eurovelo.org/

so plenty of opportunities to cycle around Europe on marked routes. many are still in the development phases - no 6 mentioned is still developing - but the French section of Eurovelo 1 is now fully mapped and open. known as La Velodysse - http://www.lavelodyssee.com/ - it tracks down the Atlantic coast from Roscoff to Henday on the Spanish border.


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## scrinchy (Jul 17, 2007)

we stayed on municipal site at Ouistreham and cycled on the canal path to Caen and miles along the sea front. There seems to be a project for a cycle path on the shore line - saw signs of it all through Normandy


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## FDB (Oct 29, 2007)

We stayed for 5 days in Heric this summer so that we could cycle on the Nantes Brest canal. Heric is about 15 miles north of Nantes and Heric was about 5 miles from the canal. 

We are tuggers so there may be Aires closer to the canal. Great for cycling, lots to see and a good surface, we did about 50 miles with no punctures


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## TheFellTerrier (May 19, 2008)

L'ile de Re is just made for cycling with dedicated cycle routes all over the island.


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## 2years2go (Mar 20, 2011)

Hi 

We recently cycled from Dieppe to Biarritz using voie verte and eurovelo routes. Used our ipad (the cellular version - which acts just like a GPS without needing a SIM) and downloaded an app called iphigenie. If you pay a yearly subscription (which wasn't expensive) you can cache maps down to 1:6250. It's a really versatile app. It has a number of different layers and one is open street map which shows all the long-distance cycle routes and voie verte. We didn't have a vehicle but did meet quite a few people who used their caravan/MH as a base and did day trips along these routes. The eurovelo and voie verte often include canals ie nantes-brest canal and also disused railway lines that have been converted. 

Lisa


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