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A DIY guide to cyclecamping in France

CYCLECAMPING IN FRANCE

I suppose it's time I came clean, I'm a cycletouring softie. Not for me
nights camped in the desert,or trying to sleep in some South American
cow shed. No I need to know I'm going to get a good meal and a
shower at the end of the day. Now if you're going to combine this with
lightweight camping there is only one place I can think of to go, and
that's France. What follows is a guide that hopefully will help you
survive a holiday and leave you hungry for more.

Everyone knows that France is the Mecca for cyclists, the home of 
The Tour, but it also has the finest range of cheap campsites in the
World. At Breton Bikes I'm always getting E-mails from people
wanting advice on how to cyclecamp in France, and my reply is
usually to buy a campsite guide and set off, but for a bit more detail
read on. 

The French have long had a love affair with camping, the result is that
most larger villages have a campsite that offers hot showers and a
patch of grass to camp on. There are many larger sites, and swarms of
them around tourist traps, but it is these "municipal" sites that allow a
cyclist to cross any part of France and be sure of a campsite at the end
of the day. As a rough guide you should find a site every 20 kms or
less. They all have good basic facilities and are generally better for
cyclists than the disco ridden four star establishments you get near the
bigger tourist attractions. The other wonderful thing about these sites is
that they are dirt cheap. A typical nights camping will cost between £1
and £2.50, the different prices having little to do with the standard of
the site, being a reflection of the amount of subsidy the site gets from
the local area. You see the French have the philosophy that the
campsite may well lose money, but will bring people into the area to
eat in restaurants and spend money in shops - oh! for such an
enlightened policy elsewhere... There are two ways of finding these
sites. On the Michelin 1:200000 scale maps, Michelin approved sites
are marked with a white triangle in a black circle. These represent only
about 20% of the sites, and the others are likely to be just as good. My
personal advice would be to buy one of these maps in your home
country so that you know a couple of sites to start your tour, and then
go to a papershop (Maison de Presse) and buy a copy of the "Guide
Official 97 Camping Caravaning". This lists all the official sites in
France, over 11000! Armed with this you can explore anywhere in
France. There is however one fly in the ointment, many of these sites
are open only in the French holiday season which is ridiculously short.
You can generally reckon any site will be open between the beginning
of July to the end of August, most are open between the 15th of June to
15th September, but outside these times it is essential to ring each site
ahead to check if it is open. There is nothing worse than arriving at a
campsite at the end of a hard day, only to find it closed and the nearest
open one another 40 kms away - you have been warned...

There is a campsite guide on-line here…

THE FRENCH

The French have a totally undeserved reputation for being rude and
obstructive to tourists. This probably derives from the antics of waiters
in some of the more touristy parts of  Paris. As a cyclist you have a
head start anyway, although the French think you are slightly mad to be
carrying all your gear on your bike, they still respect you as fellow
cyclists and treat you accordingly. It's odd that in a country where the
national sport makes cyclists cover 200+ kms a day for weeks on end,
they still consider cycling 40 kms with a loaded touring bike a great
feat of endurance. To gain instant approbation from the crowd just ask
one of them to pick up your bike... In many thousands of miles of
touring in France, I've never had a bad moment with any French
person, on the contrary they fall over themselves to help in any way
they can,their most annoying habit being trying to give you directions
even when they haven't a clue themselves.

CYCLING IN FRANCE
In France you drive and cycle on the right hand side! In fact, this is
something you will get used to very quickly, the danger times being
first thing in the morning, or any other time when you set off after a
rest.
The next thing you will probably notice is that the minor roads are very
quiet, and what little traffic there is treats you with great respect. Often
a car will sound a toot on its horn to warn you that it is approaching,
this is a courtesy not a "get out of the way!" Road surfaces are
generally good, but watch out for pot holes as they can cause punctures
or worse.


MONEY
The currency in France is the franc, ten francs being worth about
£1.00. The franc is divided into 100 centimes, the smallest coin being 5
centimes, roughly equivalent to our old 1/2 p. Banks are to be found in
all small towns where you can cash Eurocheques or travellers cheques
they are widely accepted though some banks are a little reluctant due to
a high rate of forgery. If you have a Visa/Mastercard or similar it is
possible to use that, even to withdraw money from a cash dispenser
using your pin number. This is the cheapest way to withdraw small
sums. Such a card can also be used in most restaurants and
supermarkets as a cashcard, drawing money directly from your  bank
account. Some post offices will also cash Eurocheques. NOTE banks
and post offices operate during normal shopping hours i.e. open
9.00am - 12.00 then 2.00 - 5.30 weekdays and Saturday, but not
always on Monday. Many shops and supermarkets will stay open till
later and some on Sunday mornings. In the South of France shops may
stay closed till as late as 4.00pm, don't get caught out!

SHOPPING
For shop hours see above.
One of the pleasures of France is  shopping for  food. Bread, cakes,
seafood and cold meats are all specialities and can be found in any
small town. Supermarkets are fairly common and stock everything you
might need, they are also a similar price to Britain. Small shops are
generally more expensive but well stocked. Most campsites have a
place to buy food and bread nearby. 

EATING OUT
Once in France the range and cheapness of restaurants will soon
become apparent. Restaurants roughly divide into two types. The first
and best value are the daytime restaurants found in most large villages
which open between 12.00 and 2.00pm and which offer a fixed menu
of 4 or 5 courses for 45 to 60F including wine and service! These will
fill you to the brim and are highly recommended. Don’t expect haut-
cuisine, just a lot of well prepared calories - easily enough to last all
day! The evening restaurants are a little more expensive, but most offer
a three course meal for around 70F + wine. Children are very welcome
in all restaurants and many have a children’s menu.

DRINKING
It has been said that France has more bars than people, and although
this is a slight exaggeration it is hard to find even the tiniest village
without one. These make wonderful watering holes for thirsty cyclists,
and nobody minds how sweaty you are and children are very welcome.
Beware the cost of soft drinks which are more expensive than beer.
Most supermarkets and general stores sell wine, and it should be
possible to get a perfectly drinkable red wine for about 7F (70p!) a
bottle, they are also much better places to buy soft drinks. 
Don’t believe the stories about French tap water, it is all drinkable
unless otherwise marked.

TOURING AREAS
France has just about every possible type of terrain, with the exception
of deserts. Classic touring areas like the Loire and Dordogne are justly
popular, but provided you avoid the larger cities all of France is ideal
for a tour. If it's your first time then the ease of access to Normandy
makes it ideal for an initial taste of what France has to offer. It has
wonderful beaches, is steeped in history and inland it's countryside is as
quiet and undisturbed as you could wish for. The important thing is to
pack your phrase book and credit card and take the plunge...