touring france

les woodland

Hi

I'ver never ridden a tandem so I have no first-hand knowledge. You could, however, contact a friend who is a leading light in the Tandem Club of France. Write to me personally at vinsot@tiscali.fr and I'll give you his address.

It may be possible to take a tandem on a conventional train - one that's neither a TGV nor one of the small, often single-carriage local trains. But the small trains, I know, usually have hooks on which to hang bikes vertically and they, of course, won't be high enough to take a tandem.

You'd have to check with any airline, too, whether tandems are acceptable. But again, what you need is specialist advice from tandem people. Drop me a line.

happy days

les

pantouflard

Hi Mark, Ive toured (and camped) twice. Both times I started in the Vercours down to the Luberon; then once I went via Arles & the Camargue to Cannes then back up to Gorges de Verdon. I liked the Luberon. I did the villages on the Southern slopes of the Western bits (Menerbes, Lacoste, Bonnieux) to Apt then back along the top - Superb paved (ish) track closed to motor vehicles. Great views both S&N.

Try and include the Gorges de Verdon too.

onewordanswer

hanks for the info guys. im planning my first tour this summer from calais to argeles-sur-mer. gonna try and camp some of it. The route does miss out the hilliest parts but they just dont agree with me. if it all goes ok im planning to extend it to travel to alicante in spain. if the first 800k dont kill me that is.

Adam

jabantik00

didn't want to start a new thread. going to tour europe this spring/summer, starting and mainly riding in france. will be mostly camping and pulling a bob trailer.

is there a certain stove i should/should not use? i am currently leaning towards the trangia 28. mostly it will be used to make coffee. will i have any problems finding denatured alcohol?

like to drink cytomax when i tour. is cytomax sold in france? will i be able to find it in bike shops?

should i get a camping carnet?

any advice? any places people would/would not recommend? i plan on spending a lot of time in the french/swiss/italian alps, the pyrenees, and corsica. i want to watch as many stages of the tour as possible in the alps and pyrenees, and want to ride the famous cols of the tour like alpe d'huez.

i hear that there are a lot of internet cafes and there is some sort of internet available at libraries or post offices. internet addict that i am, i'd like to plug in every week or so and touch base with peoples and check mail and whatnot. bringing a laptop with wireless card.. should i bring a patch cable or anything?

i plan on getting a sim for my cell phone. are there any cellular services that also offer some sort of internet connection? i have a data cable for my cell phone, and used to have a (crappy) mobile internet service through t-mobile in the states.

more questions to come when i think of them. thanks!