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French drinking water: in my experience, the water has been
excellent (and safe) - not hard to find. I don't know about
your isotonic drinks. You should definitely experiment *before*
you leave for holiday.
The railways: you can check your bike at the station, and they
will put it on your train. (It's not like England, where you put
it on yourself.) It costs some; not exorbitant. Make sure the
train has a baggage car (you can tell from the schedule).
The route: could you use the Race to the Sun route for the last
part? (This is Paris-Nice.) That might be challenging.
-john
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| Ah, A note after my own heart.
First I'll counter your questions with some more questions
- How will you me spending nights (camping, YH, Hotel, following caravan
(!))...
- What sort of cycling do you want to do ? (Hills, noHills, Mountains)
- Is sightseeing (ie stopping and visiting points of local interest)
important ?
- Are you the sort of people who are happy to take things as they turn
up or do you want things to be strictly organised ?
You needn't answer these questions here but you need at least to ask
them of yourselves. I'll try to explain (giving examples from my own
experiences):
1) How to spend nights. Tents == extra weight (the weight being
proportional to the comfort desired) YH's mean less weight but they are
not always where you want them to be. Hotels are lighter and best of
all is to persuade someone to follow you in a car. These days,
sybarite that I am I camp for 2-3 days and take one night in a cheap
hotel. I have a light tents (~2kg) and equally light sleeping bag.
2) What sort of route to take ? If you hate hills you want to avoid
them as much as possible if they are the only thing which makes life
worthwhile you want to Maximise them.
3) Sighgtseeing; if you want to do rather more than cycle you want a
shorter route. Perhaps you have an interest in something which requires
a foray off your route - you could imagine skipping a couple of days
cycling and taking the train for a few hundred km.
4) Go as you please or a strict route. I like to plan my route, and to
know what options (routewise) are available to me - it's part of the
enjoyment. But I am never bound to a strict schedule - you never know
what may happen.
ROUTE:
Michelin has the distance as 969 km (about 600mi); this will almost
certainly be via motorway and Paris (both to be avoided)
If I were doing this I would probably go through the Ardennes, the Vosges,
the Jura and then the Alps.
A friend did it (in about 14 days) from Dieppe by going south until he
hit the Loire, following the Loire South until he could cut across to
the Rhone and then followed that down; Given a Mistral on the Rhone
valley this is probably the `easiest route'. As a development of this
you might want to think about are the Central Massive and the Ardeche
Gorge (follow the Loire to its source and your in the Ardeche...).
More radical would be to go down to Bordeaux, follow ther Landes to
(say) Dax and then curt across towards Montpelier. Or Bordeaux, the
Gironde Valley and Montpelier.
WATER:
When I started touring I always bought bottle water. These days I fill
up at local fountains in regions where they are available or get cafe
owners to fill me up. Two or three bottle carriers are a great
advantage. I have never bothered with Isontonic drinks so I cannot
comment. My rule of thumb is not to drink out of streams until I'm
over 2,500m (and I rarely do anyway).
Railways:
As John I think it was points out what you do with bikes in France is
check tham as passenger luggage in advance - this costs not very much
(under 100FF). 5 days delivery is guaranteed but if you chose a route
which is served by a direct it will be quicker. I would avoid any
route which included shipment across paris. Your best bet may well be
Nice(or Anywhere along ther coast) to Calais which is served by daily,
direct trains.
Hints:
If you can afford them (price + weight) I would recommend the IGN maps.
Start of gently - do 60 or 70 (flat) miles only in the first few days and
build up gently.
Eat intelligently - you find that you eat a great deal more than usual.
I used to get very badly upset stomachs about 2 days into the tour when
my body couldn't cope with the extra demand for food. So although it
sounds obvious, don't cycle immediately after breakfast or sleep
immediately after supper.
Start early. If you can be on the road by 7 and finished by 15/16. It
will make hunting for accomodoation easier and less hectic (remember
that `just 15km up the road' can take on herculean proportions after a
day in the saddle.
When you've got luggage its harder to get out of the saddle so you will
need what may seem to be ridiculously low gears.
Plan rest days and/or easy days.
Dont forget that France (particularily rural France) shuts between 12:00
and 14:00
Above all, have fun.
Let me know if you need any help with route planning &c
rod.
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