France touring tips & highlights

[mangocrazy]

Never done that route personally, but I've been through the Southwest corner of France adjacent to Bilbao some years age. I think it was the area known as Les Landes and it was pretty flat and feaureless as I recall. If you're entering France from NW Spain I'd say your main options would be either to head up through the Bordeaux/ La Rochelle regions, following the coast line, or head west into the Dordogne/Cahors region or further west to either the Massif Central (amazing roads) or even the Rhone Valley and then head north.

The coastal route would be the least mileage, the Rhone valley the most. Personally I'd take either the Dordogne then north route or the Massif Central then north route. I guess it all depends on which bits of France you've already visited and whether you want something new or to revisit old faves...

[Braiderrr]

Really useful overview. I’ve been debating a similar Bilbao-to-Calais route and was unsure about Les Landes, so good to know it’s a bit flat.

Leaning towards heading inland via the Dordogne or Massif Central for better riding. Quick question, how busy did you find the coastal roads in summer, or do they ease off past the main resort areas?

[mangocrazy]

Coastal roads in summer will always be fairly busy, especially when it's school holiday time (same as UK, really). But get off the beaten track and you should find very light traffic. France is 3 or 4 times larger than the UK, with a significantly smaller population and most of that population is in the major cities and the coastal strip. Head inland, even if only by a few kms, and French roads are relatively sparsely populated.