Author Topic: Riding in France  (Read 9609 times)

mmmmartin

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Re: Riding in France
« Reply #50 on: 30 December, 2020, 11:17:35 pm »
Once did a tour down the Loire: Eurostar out on the Friday to Orleans, bought food and cooked it, camped. Started on the Saturday which was a Bank Holiday so all restaurants closed and supermarkets shut at midday. Ate sandwiches left over from the train journey on Friday. Sunday, everything shut. Monday was Feast of the Ascension, everything shut, and Wednesday was Victory in Europe Day.

Nearly starved to death. And it was the coldest May for 20 years.

Great cycling thobut. But best to carry spare food. At. All. Times.
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.

Re: Riding in France
« Reply #51 on: 31 December, 2020, 08:23:55 am »


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Nearly starved to death. And it was the coldest May for 20 years.

Great cycling thobut. But best to carry spare food. At. All. Times.
Reminds me of my 1972 hostelling tour round Brittany and up through Normandy - I hadn't reckoned on French weekends plus bank Holidays. This being pre atm and pre Bank card days I'd run out of both food and cash by the time I'd got to Cherbourg hostel. I was saved by a group of Irish lads on their first night away from home. They were cooking a huge vat of instant mash and pasta - apparently they didn't know how to cook, or in what quantities. I was grateful, but still wonder if they survived their holiday!
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Re: Riding in France
« Reply #52 on: 31 December, 2020, 12:14:14 pm »
Mind you, if its market day in a small hamlet that you have routed through at 6 a.m. The surrounding streets will be gridlocked for 70 acres with carts, pedestrians, vans, crepe stands, dog walkers, shopping trolleys and boxes of turnips. You will be able to get a great breakfast though.
often lost.

T42

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Re: Riding in France
« Reply #53 on: 31 December, 2020, 04:09:59 pm »
One of the less charming features of market days and fleamarkets is that there will often be a Déviation sign pointing down a side road and no further signs after that.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Riding in France
« Reply #54 on: 31 December, 2020, 04:37:29 pm »
In France even the most minor roads seem to have the road number on the signs.  So navigation can be quite easy on the ground.

Indeed - France is probably the best sign-posted country I've ever been to, having travelled all over Europe - that's both in road-number terms and signs to hamlets/villages/towns/cities

And it is impossible to remain lost so long as you are prepared to ride far enough.
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Pingu

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Re: Riding in France
« Reply #55 on: 02 January, 2021, 11:43:22 am »
Riding in France is going to be more difficult for us with the demise of the Hull-Zeebrugge ferry  :(

https://www.tijd.be/dossier/europareeks/de-laatste-ferry-tussen-zeebrugge-en-hull-engeland-is-weer-wat-verder-weg/10274611

Re: Riding in France
« Reply #56 on: 02 January, 2021, 01:09:36 pm »
Mind you, if its market day in a small hamlet that you have routed through at 6 a.m. The surrounding streets will be gridlocked for 70 acres with carts, pedestrians, vans, crepe stands, dog walkers, shopping trolleys and boxes of turnips. You will be able to get a great breakfast though.

If it's a "vide grenier" the sides of the roads (not to say the entire road!) will already be jammed solid long before you get anywhere a deviation sign (by which time it will be too late to turn around anything bigger than a bicycle - without trailer). People walking in the middle of the road carrying bizarre collections of worthless junk and "useful things" is a sure sign of trouble.

One of the better things about modern France - and which offsets the loss of the bar-tabac in many places - is the sunday morning opening of supermarkets which is more and more common, at least in the centre. In Limoges nearly all the "grandes surfaces" now open on a sunday morning, which certainly wasn't the case a few years ago. It is a trend that seems to have started in the small towns IMO.

T42

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Re: Riding in France
« Reply #57 on: 02 January, 2021, 02:07:00 pm »
One of the better things about modern France - and which offsets the loss of the bar-tabac in many places - is the sunday morning opening of supermarkets which is more and more common, at least in the centre. In Limoges nearly all the "grandes surfaces" now open on a sunday morning, which certainly wasn't the case a few years ago. It is a trend that seems to have started in the small towns IMO.

When we first came to France everything was open on a Sunday morning.  We got quite a shock when we came on holiday to Alsace in 1985 and tried to buy food on a Sunday, only to find everything shut except the restaurants & bakeries. Alsace has its own rules, generally more conservative than the rest of France. It's still the case, 35 years later.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Riding in France
« Reply #58 on: 02 January, 2021, 02:38:31 pm »
We were in Aigurande about 5 years ago - a small town in Indre (which incidentally according to Wikipedia has seen a population decline from 2500 to 1500 since 1970, no wonder there were so many house sales aimed at the Brits) - and I was surprised to see that the (relatively recent by appearances) small supermarket was open Sunday morning.
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