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The Joys of Cycling in France

By Noel Henderson

It's more years than I care to recall since I first enjoyed a cycling holiday in France, but many of the pleasures which I then experienced remain valid and fresh.

The sensation of being on relatively quiet roads, even forty-five years ago, was something relatively new to somebody who lived in industrial South Yorkshire; those same French roads are still comparatively quiet while the paralysing level of motor traffic in Britain is now threatening to spread even into rural areas. I enjoyed, too, the different and immensely varied landscapes and the sense of vastness of which all first-time British cyclists in France must be aware. That I enjoyed the food and wine probably goes without saying but it wasn't only that. There was also the obvious pride in service which one regularly encountered in French restaurants and hotels – and still does.

Most of all, however, it was the ease of cycling which came as an eye-opener to me. Born in Eskdale, North Yorkshire, where the gradients often reach 1-in-3, I found the superbly engineered roads, even in mountain regions, a delight. With a friend, I travelled by train to Dijon and then we cycled through Burgundy and the Jura, before turning south to brave the Alpine foothills and a few minor passes on our way to summer employment near Valence. It was difficult to comprehend that the gradients never exceeded 1-in-10 and rarely reached even that modest level.

We thought of our touring holidays in Cornwall, in the Lake District, in my native Yorkshire and revelled in the novel pleasure of being able to cycle uphill for as long as ten miles without having to dismount. I was hooked and, when I subsequently lived in France for eighteen months, I had my bike with me and explored widely, particularly in the Alps and the Massif Central, but without neglecting the ostensibly easier areas such the Loire Valley and the Gorges du Tarn.

When I retired from a full-time teaching post and took up part-time employment with Inntravel, it was with understandable enthusiasm that I found myself being asked to look after the company's French cycling routes, routes to which I have been thrilled to return by bike. People sometimes phone to ask which is my favourite route, but it is almost impossible to answer because the attractions of the different routes are so varied. The Tarn Valley cycle, for example, offers so much riverside riding. The Dordogne Valley route, on the other hand, takes cyclists further away from the river, but includes one of the finest caves in the whole of France, not to mention those fabulous honey-coloured villages. To be cited one of 'les plus beaux villages de France' may not always be the accolade which it should be but, as one rides through Autoire, Loubressac and, later on, Carennac, one can be in no doubt of the beauty of villages such as these.

And what of the Loire region with its magnificent châteaux, lazily flowing rivers and superb wines? Our route in the region is as gentle as they come, and there are so many places of interest to visit en route that a week there is always rich in discoveries.

So there is no favourite because they are all my favourites and there remain other regions where the lure of the road is still strong. I would like to cycle in the Charente departments, in the Basque Pyrenees, in the northern Auvergne. If I succeeded in this ambition, I would doubtless find other areas of France to appeal – for all the reasons given above, for the generally pleasant weather (no guarantees here, however), and simply for being on two wheels in a country where cyclists are not simply tolerated, but expected and welcomed.

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