Bikepacking (credit card touring)

TGD

saccades wrote: »

Overnight in Rosslare/Wexford isn't exactly a pain though is it. Fishguard is a bit grim mind.

The grim or grungy places are often more interesting to some kind of travelers than the ‘trendy’ tourist spots. But yes, Rosslare port itself is just that - a port. But it still beats an airport any day.

crosstownk

TGD wrote: »

But yes, Rosslare port itself is just that - a port.

I played in a classic rock band for quite a few years (early noughties) and some of our best gigs were in the Hotel Rosslare in Rosslare Harbour. The place would be jammed with locals and tourists. We got well looked after, free food, free accommodation. There'd be no cycling the following day!!

Seaswimmer

KevRossi wrote: »

Can't agree with this, cycled Laval to Arcachon last October and it was fine, all restaurants/bars were open. I mean, where do the locals eat? Plenty of hotels available, be it Gites, B&B's, local hotels or F1, Ibis etc.

I take your point but unfortunately we were much further East. Your route was through Brittany, Vendee ect where they are well setup for visitors.
Certainly if I was cycling in France again I would be staying towards the West coast.

What was the weather like in October

jrar

TGD wrote: »

I have a vague plan to get a ferry to Hollyhead and ride down through Wales to Swansea, and get the ferry home.

There is the option of going through the Snowdonia and Breacon Beacons national parks. I'd also like to stay on one or two old mining villages. I'd also like to visit Abergavenny - I'm not sure why, but I guess it just sounds nice.

If anybody has done something and did the donkey-work in making out a route I'd appreciate it.

Not sure if you listen to it, but The Bike Show podcast which appears in my in-box periodically is produced and presented by Jack Thurston who lives in Abergavenny. He's also the author of a series of books called Lost Lanes and I THINK he's done one on that area because he always waxes lyrical about it.

Nice podcast often looking at very different aspects of cycling - in the recent past he did a very good one on bikepacking/audax, and he also had a great interview with Mike Hall of the Trans-European who of course was sadly killed a couple of years ago whilst doing the Indian-Pacific Wheelrace in Oz.

jrar

JMcL wrote: »

That's pretty much the par for the course in France I find. I've cycled in a fair few different regions and it's pretty much all the same - no margin to the road and usually a deep drainage ditch less than a meter off the pavement. In general I'd look at roads as follows:

• A roads - motorways, so don't go there
• N (National) roads - defacto motorways with generally 110km/h limit, while I don't think cycling on them is banned, you really don't want to find yourself on one
• D (Departmental) - frequently busy roads with a 90km/h limit. Not the most pleasant to cycle on and I try to avoid them when I can, though it's not always possible
• The rest - local small roads. These are the jewels to look for. Unlike here, the surfaces are usually first rate, there's usually very light traffic. Depending on the region, there can be an extensive network of these (I found this to be the case in Brittany, Loire, and around Bordeaux - less so in the Alps as there isn't a huge amount of space for roads in general)

Planning is key as you say. Komoot should probably be your friend here. I found an excellent French website last year with interesting routes, but can't find the URL at the moment - I'll come back with it if I do turn it up. Unless it's much improved over the past couple of years don't under any circumstances use Google's "cycling" directions - they're utter pants!



Yeah, I've never done it on bike, but coming out of Cherbourg doesn't look like a barrel of laughs

Thanks folks - yeah, I've holidayed in France many times over the last 20 years and in recent years almost always hired a bike and did some local cycling so yes,
I'm familiar with the need to stay off the A & N roads, and yes, even D roads can be a little hairy though some years I've been in quieter departments/regions where traffic volumes were lower, with much less commercial traffic

I came across this route planning site recently which allows you to plot a route between 2 points typically using only the quietest roads/lanes

https://cycle.travel/map

KevRossi

Seaswimmer wrote: »

What was the weather like in October

Hit an miss, in 2018 had 3 days of 20 C up in Normandy, then went cold, took a train to Arcachon and it was 26-28 C.

In 2019, was 15 C with some drizzle from Laval to Royan, was 28 C from Royan to Hendaye.

Both times it was the first couple of weeks in October. I rarely plan a route in France, usually book a ferry or plane across and then look at the weather forecast. I'm happy to spend a day on trains to get to the right spot. I think there are very few places in France that are not set up for tourism, the quieter spots are usually the best ones IMO.

TGD

jrar wrote: »

Not sure if you listen to it, but The Bike Show podcast which appears in my in-box periodically is produced and presented by Jack Thurston who lives in Abergavenny. He's also the author of a series of books called Lost Lanes and I THINK he's done one on that area because he always waxes lyrical about it.

Nice podcast often looking at very different aspects of cycling - in the recent past he did a very good one on bikepacking/audax, and he also had a great interview with Mike Hall of the Trans-European who of course was sadly killed a couple of years ago whilst doing the Indian-Pacific Wheelrace in Oz.

Thanks - yes, I follow that podcast. Perhaps it put Abergavenny into my head! It also has a cycing festival https://www.abergavennyfestivalofcycling.co.uk/

clod71

I was also hoping to go from Mizen to Malin this summer, following the coast with a credit card in my pocket.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it now...