NOTES ON OUR 2001 "TOUR DE FRANCE"
* We found the eastern outskirts of Paris to be uninspiring and the almost continuous drone of overhead aircraft did not help.
* Fontainbleu Park area was nice, the walking was ordinary.
*While the Loire are is interesting, some nice forests and towns with a delightful selection of chateaus, it is not particularily great cycling area. It is flat. Orleans is attractive. Chambord forest and Chateau are recommended.
*Heading south of the Loire, the countryside continuously improves. Rolling hills and beautiful rides abound south of the Cher River.
* On the Atlantic coast, La Rochelle was awesome and the Il de Re also highly recommended.
* South of La Rochelle, the cycling is inland to avoid busier roads. Once across the Gironde (ferry) there are plenty of quiet roads and bicycle paths all through the coasta are of the Gironde and Lande departments, west of Bordeaux. the paths were generally good and the ocean beaches and dunes were world class. Little beachside development. There are plenty fo wild beaches and entertaining public access beaches.
* In the Pyrenees, we found the foothills to be excelelnt cycling (tough at times). We skipped th big passes on bikes because the weather was foul for weeks on end. They would be tough work on a fully loaded bike!
* The area around Toulouse (north and south) was not particularily interesting.
* The Aveyron River (gorge) NE of toulouse was very nice. Najac is something to see.
* The department of the Lot has a lot to see and ride. The Lot and Cele rivers are fine, easy riding.
* The Dordogne River, in particular Sarlat, is very nice but best visited outside of July and August (too many of we tourists, increasing traffic on the quiet roads) but it was fun floating down the river on hot afternoons.
* Lascaux II caves were worth a visit.
* The Limoges region was excellent riding, though Limoges itself is not worth a detour.
* Yonne department (NW Borgogne) was good riding. Auxerre is nice. Chablis was pleasant. Further north, Troyes is worth a visit.
* Champagne region was big sky country with light traffic. It would be nicer in early summer as rode through dirt (already harvested) fields in August.
* The French-Belgium border area (Ardennes) provided fine riding. Chiers River was nice riding.
LUXEMBOURG
* South Western Luxembourg is heavily populated and industrialized. Best avoided.
* Everything at or above the latitude of Luxembourg City is FANTASTIC riding except for a couple of major highways. The border with Germany is beautiful. There are many deep wooded valleys throughout the country.
* The 40km cycle path aroundLuxembourg City is especially useful on the east side. Beggen to Hasperange includes a lift (elevator) upto the city and nice green valley cycling.