This page was last updated Wed 24 February 2010.
Contents: Tours (311) Trails (10) Sites (11) Cycling info pages (16) Organizations and clubs (5)
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This page lists all reports that for France including those that involve other countries too.
Click here for a list of reports that involve only France.
All descriptions are in English, unless otherwise noted.
| Britain and Brittany by Bike
tour started 1997 A family cycle tour in north-western part of France in 1997. We started the tour at Gatwick airport, and southern areas of England are included in our description. |
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| Europe Tour
tour started 1997 Europe Tour 1997 started in Nyköping (100 km south of Stockholm) and continued to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, the Normandy coast, Jersey and London, before returning to Sweden via Denmark totalling just over 4000 kilometres. |
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| Geneva - Barcelona
tour started 1997 language: en, de
Nice layout, good pictures, altitude diagrams, maps, useful information - well, the works. The route follows the rim of the Alps, crosses the Rhone valley close to Montelimar and enters the Massif Central to follow the gorges of the Tarn river. With an excursion to the Lacaune Mountains and Pic Noire we cross the Garonne valley and head the Pyrenees to climb the Mountains to Puerta Envalira and Andorra. After this excursion to big tourism we enjoy the quietness of the Sierra Cadi from where we visit the Monastry of Montserrat and finally ride down to Barcelona. |
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| French Alps and Jura
tour started 1997 Europe: France
An excellent report, with nice pictures, useful information, and a good story. |
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| French and Swiss Alps
tour started 1997 Europe: France, Switzerland
Complete with beatiful pictures: thumbnails on-line, with links to bigger off-line. This year, my wife Thea and I had planned a summer Alpine cycle tour, two weeks riding in the Northern French and Western Swiss Alps. Our proposed distances were less ambitious than some of the other tours described on this web site, with an average of around 80km per day, with no more than 2000 metres of climbing. We were planning to travel with one pannier each, and ended up with about 4.5 kilos of luggage per person. |
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| French and Swiss Alps
tour started 1997 Europe: France, Switzerland
This year, my wife Thea and I had planned a summer Alpine cycle tour, two weeks riding in the Northern French and Western Swiss Alps. [...] Our proposed distances were less ambitious than some of the other tours described on this web site, with an average of around 80km per day, with no more than 2000 metres of climbing. We were planning to travel with one pannier each, and [...] ended up with about 4.5 kilos of luggage per person [...] |
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| Back to the Loire
tour started 1997 Europe: France
These pages are a recollection of our 1997 summer holidays where we crossed France from East (our home) to West (the family holiday house), following the Loire valley for most of the trip. Actually, this was the second time we took this route. First time was in 92 on our tandem with Nicolas in his seat on the rear rack. This year, the company is the same, but Nicolas rode his bike for the 1000 km of the trip; not too bad for a nine year old:-) [...] Once the choice of going along the Loire had been made, choosing the route was quite easy. The only question was ``Where to reach it?'' Langres, Alésia, Vézelay were places we wanted to discover, or rediscover for some, and that settled it. I have reproduced our route sheets for each day. They were established every evening, while waiting for our dinner. Reading those ``feuilles de route'' with a map at hand may help readers to understand how to plan reasonable routes for traveling in this country. |
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| A Cycle Tour of South Central France - Rhône Valley, Burgundy, Berry and Limousin
tour started 1997 Europe: France
This is a log of a month long cycle tour in France that I took with my wife Carol and (for the first ten days) two friends in the summer of 1997. [...] This was my 11th cycling tour in France (9th for Carol) and my 13th in Europe. We are what many cycle tourists disparagingly refer to as credit card tourists. We headed north over the rolling hills of the Beaujolais, vineyards everywhere, stopping at Salles-Arbuissonas-en-Beaujolais. [...] We passed Côte de Brouilly and Brouilly vineyards - we had planned to pass through all ten Beaujolais cru's on that day. (Quick trivia question for you oenophiles out there: Can you name the ten? Bonus question: Which one is the most recently included? Answers at the bottom of this trip log.) |
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| The Vercors Region
tour started July 1996 Europe: France
Most years, Reading Cycling Club organises a week-long trip to see the Tour de France. We hire a minibus, drive down to an approriate part of France, where we camp for a week, go cycling, and see the Tour when it comes past. [...] The Vercors is a great area to cycle in. The terrain is varied, and the scenery is lovely. The climbs are not as steep or as difficult as those in the high Alps, but provide enough of a challenge. I'd definitely recommend it as a place for a holiday. |
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| Tour du Mont-Blanc
tour started July 1996 Europe: France
The Tour du Mont-Blanc is a circuit of 322km based in the northern French Alps, but visiting Italy and Switzerland as well. Run as a permanent route by the Cycle Touring Club of Chambery, it carries a maximum time limit of 4 days, as it crosses five fairly high passes. Sheila and I considered our options carefully. We decided to join the circuit at Beaufort, at the foot of the Cormet de Roselend, deposit some of our touring luggage at a hotel and ride round in two days. |
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| Raid Pyreneen
tour started June 1996 Europe: France
The aim of the raid is to cover the 710 kms (440) miles from Hendaye on the Atlantic coast of France to Cerbere on the Mediterranean coast within one hundred hours. Eighteen cols are classified on the route issued by the organising club, the Cyclo Club Bearnais of Pau, and include some of the most famous cols tackled by the Tour de France each year such as the Tourmalet, the Aspin and the Aubisque. |
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| Tour of the Alps 1996
tour started 1996 This is the great report of a tour in the Alps that Jobst Brandt did in the summer of '96. |
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| Susa-Susa Tour
tour started August 1995 Europe: France
Susa - Montgeneve - Briancon - Col du Lautaret - Col du Galibier - Col du Telegraph - St Michel de Maurienne - Lanslebourg - Mont Cenis - Susa. Km 205. |
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| A Long Weekend in Normandy
tour started May 1995 Europe: France
The part of this region known as the ``Suisse Normande'' is particularly suited to cycle touring (at least by us) - the area is picturesque, (the river, the forests for example), has a number of interesting villages and towns, is quiet at this time of year, has enough ups and downs to be interesting and still easily managable. The food is pretty good, and affordable. |
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| Tour of the Alps 1995
tour started 1995 This is the great report of a tour in the Alps that Jobst Brandt did in the summer of '95. |
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| London to Rome
tour started 1995 Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way. |
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| Raid Alpine: Thonon-Trieste
tour started 1995 From Arrivèe On-Line, Audax UK's quarterly magazine. A certain Frenchman, Georges Rossini of Thonon on Lake Geneva, has set up four testing Alpine routes, or 'Raids':
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| London to Rome
tour started 1995 Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way. |
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| French Alps
tour started 1995 Europe: France
In the summer of 1995, my girlfriend Thea and I spent a fortnight on a motoring, camping and cycling holiday in France. Our longest stay was a week camping in Bourg d'Oisans, with the joint aims of seeing the Tour go up Alpe d'Huez, and also cycling up a few mountains ourselves. I was also considering attempting the Marmotte randonee, which coincided with the weekend of our stay. |
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| Eastern Brittany/Western Normandy
tour started 1995 Europe: France
This was our 10th cycling trip to France but our first north of the Loire river. We were very apprehensive about the weather but our worries were unfounded as Normandy had a sunny and dry summer that year. We travelled with another couple who have joined us for four European trips (and a fifth this year - 1997). We are all middle-aged (actually getting to be late middle-aged). We travel unsupported but we stay in hotels or chambres d'hote (B&B's). We average about 60km per day. We dine well. It's an elegant life we lead!! |
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| Riding Paris-Brest-Paris 1995 -- A personal memoir
tour started 1995 Europe: France
Paris-Brest-Paris is the oldest traditional cycling event, started in 1891 by a Frenchman named Giffard who thought it would be a great way to promote cycling, as a test ``not primarily of speed but brains, skill and endurance.'' It was held thereafter every ten years, and since the middle of the century, every four years. Attracting more than 4,000 or so riders from a number of countries, it is a ride of over 1,200 kilometers (about 750 miles) that must be completed within 90 hours. |
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| French Alps
tour started 1995 Europe: France
In the summer of 1995, my girlfriend Thea and I spent a fortnight on a motoring, camping and cycling holiday in France. Our longest stay was a week camping in Bourg d'Oisans, with the joint aims of seeing the Tour go up Alpe d'Huez, and also cycling up a few mountains ourselves. I was also considering attempting the Marmotte randonee, which coincided with the weekend of our stay. We'd managed just one ride before getting to Bourg d'Oisans. This, around Annecy, included the Col de la Forclaz, claimed by a local friend to feature ``the best view in the Alps'' from the top. We were sadly unable to confirm this, as it was pouring with rain and visibility was down to 20 yards when we got there. A bunch of people in the cafe seemed very amused by us taking photographs of each other in front of a fog bank. |
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| Touring France
tour started 1995 Europe: France
Although there are many areas that I have not toured yet, trips to Lorraine, Alsace, Vosges, Doubs, Alps, Pyrenees, and Provence have all been great. |
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| Touring France
tour started 1995 Europe: France
Very brief: Auvergne, Dordogne, upper Loire region, Languedoc-Roussilion, Ballon d'Alsace. |
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| Mont Blanc Tour
tour started August 1994 Europe: France
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| 1000 km ``Bonne Route'' Frankreich
tour started April 1994 Europe: France
language: de
A very detailed tour description in three chapters: Paris - Rambouillet - Tournoisis - Onzain - Chinon - Ingrandes - La Roche - La Rochelle - Saintes - Morcenx - Biarritz - Cambo - Oloron St. Marie - Lannemezan - St. Girons - Limoux -Carcassonne - St. Pons - St. Rome - Pont de Montvert - Vallon Pont d'Arc - Avignon. |
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| Tour of the Alps 1994
tour started 1994 This is the great report of a tour in the Alps that Jobst Brandt did in the summer of '94. |
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| The French Alps
tour started 1994 Europe: France
This tour's destination is Briançon in the heart of the French Alps. In the mountains around the village are several ancient forts, and a network of old military roads makes it very suitable for mountain biking. We camp in le Rosier a little outside Briançon. The road from Genève and back again is very hard mountain climbing across some of the highest and most beautiful passes in the Alps. We are two persons carrying our own pack but sharing one tent. |
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| A Cycle Tour of the Atlantic Coast, the Charente-Maritime and the Dordogne
tour started 1994 Europe: France
This is a log of a trip I took with my wife Carol and two other couples (Brooke & Rosie Keneford and Jim & Mary Holmes) in July of 1994. In one sense it was a miracle trip because Carol had fallen on the ice in early February and had broken her hip. However, despite her appearance and her ladylike demeanor, she is very determined and as tough as nails. So, barely five months after breaking her femur into two pieces and with a stainless steel plate and a bunch of long screws still in her leg, she was on her bike for a 1100 km cycle trip in France. |
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| July Century, Clermont-Ferrand to St. Etienne, France
tour started 1994 Europe: France
The riding along the coast there was great. It was quite hilly; generally, it would be leave a little town, climb up 150m or so to leave the valley, then contour a bit, and soon drop down (sometimes quite quickly- 40+ mph which is a lot since I'm a wimp about going fast) into the next valley with another little town on the sea. There were some impressive ruins and towers on the higher hills further inland, including the Tour Madeloc, which is quite prominent. |
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| August Century, Colliore, France to St. Feliue de Guixoils, Spain
tour started 1994 I rode from Montpellier, France to Barcelona, Spain at the end of July and beginning of August. This description is of the day I crossed from France into Spain along the Mediterranean. |
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| A tour from England to France and Spain
tour started September 1993 See also the Biking Gallery of photographs. |
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| Radweg 1 Holland - Höxter
tour started May 1993 language: de
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| Tour of the Alps 1993
tour started 1993 [...] I rode past the emerald Lago di Carezza in whose glassy surface the myriad spires of the Latemar (2846m) were mirrored. Then after passing the huge magnificent hotels with massive 1920's architecture near the summit of the Costalunga (1753m), I descended to Pozza di Fassa (1220m) and on to Canazei and turned up the Pso Sella (2257m), the Gardena (2121m), and the Campolongo (1875m) and onward to the Giau (2236m). The view from the Giau was magnificent with the great Dolomites, the majestic Le Tofane, Monte Cristallo, Monte Cadini and the Marmorola above Cortina, clear and bright in the afternoon sun while to the southwest, the glacier glistened on the Marmolada. |
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| A Cycle Tour of South-West France -- The Massif Central, the Lot and Dordogne rivers, Gascony and the Pyrenees
tour started 1993 Europe: France
This is a log of a month-long cycle tour in south-west France with my wife in the summer of 1993. I've tried to keep it simple, but the rush of great memories made that difficult. With nice pictures. |
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| La Marmotte
tour started 1993 Europe: France
La Marmotte is one of the toughest and most spectacular one-day events in Europe, only 175km but with well over 5000m of climbing, finishing on that most famous of Tour de France battling grounds, the Alpe d'Huez. |
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| Paris - Loire - Bretagne
tour started 1993 Europe: France
Paris can very quickly lose its charm when you leave the center and enter the ``Banlieue'', the suburbs, but eventually we left Paris at the Porte d'Orl´ans, and rode south towards Orl´ans. After the difficulties crossing Paris we didn't quite make it all the way to Orl´ans, and stayed in a hotel. This turned out to be a very memorable decision. I am not talking about a motel. This was the house of a family operating some fruit orchards, very old and unremarkable from the outside. We were welcomed by an old lady who led us to a simple but comfortable room upstairs. They had three of these, but we were the only guests. Dinner was served in their large poorly-lit living room. The old lady asked what we would like to eat, and then proceeded to her kitchen to prepare the food. It was delicious. I wish I had written down the name of the village. |
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| Tour of the Alps 1992
tour started 1992 The adventure of riding over Frut to Tannalp and Engsteln from Sarnen was out of the question because the snow level was about 1500 meters and I am not so hot on trails on cliffs in the snow. We rode over the Brunig (1008 m) and down to Meiringen, where we wolfed down some good bratwurst with potato(e) salad, hot soup, and good fresh whole-wheat bread. The rain lifted in the morning as we rode up the Grosse Scheidegg (1961m), directly beneath the face of the Wetterhorn that was making artillery like sounds as enormous icefalls crashed down its walls before we broke out of the clouds. By the time we could see the mountain, the show was over. About 15 cm of new snow made a beautiful spring scene as we reached the summit where Eiger, Moench, and Jungfrau with their glacial appendages made a striking appearance in spite of grey skies. The climb [up the Izoard] crosses a false summit from which the rest of the road is visible on the opposite side of the canyon. After stopping at the Coppi memorial for a picture I found mysterious power for the last two kilometers and rode like 30 years ago feeling no limits but the size of the carburetor bore as I breathed at max volume. Marc asked, ``what happened back there?'' when he arrived at the top. It was great! |
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| Durch die französischen Alpen II - Bergwandern am Pré de Madame Carle Rad, fahren zwischen Briançon und Cuneo
tour started 1992 Europe: France
language: de
Fünf Jahre nach der ersten Reise, im Herbst 1992: Rad fahren und Bergwandern auf einer Tour? Nun, vom Pré de Madame Carle lassen sich zwei sehr schöne Hütten im Gebiet der Barre des Écrins erreichen. Und so machen wir uns mit Fahrradtaschen und in Turnschuhen auf den Weg über den Gletscher. Wenn wir nicht Bergsteigen, dann quälen wir uns über Schotterstraßen hinauf zum Col du Grand Parpaillon... |
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| A Cycle Tour of Southern France - Provence, Languedoc and the Gorges du Tarn
tour started 1992 Europe: France
This is a log of a cycle tour in France that I took with my wife Carol and two friends in the summer of 1992. Although we landed in and departed from Lyon, the entire trip took place in the south, east of Toulouse. As with all our tours, although we carry everything with us on our bikes, we don't camp. (Been there! Done that!) Instead we stay in hotels (or the occasional B&B) and we usually eatin restaurants. |
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