Roscoff to Auvergne - or anywhere better

A bit vague, but at this stage so are my plans.

Looking to get a Ferry to Roscoff and then have 5 days in France, Auvergne / Limousin looks like a decent place to go and explore and I am happy to move to a new place each night to maximise how much "good stuff" we can take in.

My questions is are there any good back roads worth taking between Roscoff and Limoges which at a glance on a map looks to be about where the good stuff really starts, I don't mind Motorway blasting to avoid rubbish roads, but prefer to take the scenic route if it is half decent.

The Pyrenees and Millau also look reachable, but not sure this would not turn into a lot of main road blasting to fit it in.

Cheers

draw a line from Roscoff and Clermont Ferrand and you will pass through the Loire-Anjou region and Brennes NP. These are not spectacular but nice areas. The Loire around Saumur is nice. Spot the odd chateau.

As discussed in another thread, if you used La Bourboule as a base you could do some really nice circular tours from there - over Puy Mary towards Aurillac one day. Into the Limousin day 2. Then into the Livradois on a third day. You will have used up your 5 days then.

Save Millau and the Pyrenees for another trip.

Get yourself to roughly Le Mans, then pick up the D roads onwards. A Michelin map and some street view action will be your friends.

If time allows, I’d go via Angers. You can get to Angers on motorway via Rennes if you need to save time and then onto Limoges via Chauvigny on a mix of D and N roads. Quite pleasant but as you suggest, not as interesting as the roads in central France.

Bit of a different route but..

for Suisse Normande. Basically head East aiming for Domfront carry on past Alencon then head south past Orleans and through Vierzon, some great roads on the way down there. Watch the traffic lights in the centre of Limoges...DAHIK

Main question is... if you're based in Oxford (as per profile notes) why on earth would you want to take a ferry to Roskoff if you're heading to the Auvergne? Way out on the Brittany peninsula, so getting down to central France means an hour of extra motorway compared with taking the Caen ferry.

There are plenty of good N and D roads all the way down – though if your aim is to get to the more dramatic riding, it is worth getting down there quicker. That doesn't have to mean all motorway – especially through the area around the Loire and through the Brennes there are long, straight, fast roads you can use.

Are the Auvergne and Limousin worth visiting? Absolutely. Great riding in both areas – not much traffic either.

My traditional plug: go to the Guide to France page on the RiDE website. Scroll down a bit and you'll find two-day non-motorway routes to both the Auvergne and the Limousin, plus the daytrips that tie into them. There are loads of other suggestions and no doubt you can supplement and expand on what's there, but it should give you options to help get your planning started. If you want to get a copy of the RiDE Guide to France with the stories the routes tie into, that'd be nice.

ETA: Millau in five days is easily do-able, though you'll probably have a 50/50 motorway/decent road ratio on two if not three of your five days. You can do the Pyrenees in five days – I've done it on this schedule before – but you end up having a day and a half of virtually solid motorway in each direction to get two days in the mountains (afternoon, full day, morning). If it's sunny in the mountains it can feel worth it; if the weather's bad you wonder why you bothered... Personally, I'd look probably try to loop through the Limousin, the Auvergne, down into the Tarn, then back up through the Velay and the Morvan. Five busy days but potentially great. All depends on how much time you want to spend in the saddle each day and how much motorway you'll put up with (though you can do all of that with nothing but amazing roads).

Quite agree about Roscoff - bloody horrible crossing. If I lived in Oxford I’d be on the tunnel no matter what.

Off course if you’re looking for good roads and potentially better weather, go Plymouth to Santander, ride through the Picos and Pyrenees then Beziers, Millau, Rodez, Aurillac etc. then home via the tunnel.

Thanks guys,

The crossing is due to having a mate who lives in Cornwall and is scared of driving near that London Having driven his car around the Village of Roscoff he also thinks this probably represents the pinnacle of motorcycling roads, so it will be a tough enough job convincing him to head south once in France let alone brave the M25.

Thanks for the Link to the ride routes, I have noticed many of the earlier ones no longer work (download links are now dead) so I assumed they where all buggered.

Plenty to review now, I am sure I can put together something half decent - plus I will have a longer trip to the Alps with the Mrs as my "main" bike trip and hopefully a little weekend run out to Luxembourg to see if I can beat this years two speeding fines

If you've not seen it, have a look at this sticky:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/438746-Auvergne

Thanks Wapping, had already clocked that and uploaded many of the routes into my route database (Basecamp) I have most of the Ride Routes in there as well, it seems there is not really much great stuff in the Northern half of France.

I think if you were to draw a line right across the middle you could pretty much state everything above it is not all that good, and everything below is very good - Alps, Pyrenees, Vosges, Morvan, Volcans, Cevennes, Limousin etc all live in the South....

...Typical of the French, they put all the good stuff as far away from the Brits as possible.

You need to have a closer look at this year's France guide (which should all work properly as it was put up after the host broke all the links, so is unaffected by the ongoing, glacially slow repair of the links on other pages): much more in northern France. It's not on the same scale as the riding in the mountainous bits, but it's good riding - I guess the UK comparison for much of it would be "a bit like the Cotswolds". Only with less traffic, plus plenty of long mile-eating straights. It's good stuff (particularly with a pillion - it's the kind of swoopy, relaxed stuff that never upsets passengers).

You get to Caen from Portsmouth - nowhere near London. Though frankly if your mate's nervous about riding in London, any French city will be a challenge so give them all a miss: it'd be easy to end up blundering into Le Mans or Orleans, which are pretty busy (don't take him near Paris or his head will explode. Definitely don't suggest any trips to Naples in the future, either!). He'll be fine with the cross-country stuff.

it seems there is not really much great stuff in the Northern half of France.

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There we'd have to differ, I'm afraid.

Is it the Alps? No, only the Alps are THE Alps. It's just different that's all.

I have often taken several bods from this site on a two day figure of eight loop from Calais that is, at it's further point, no more than 71 miles (direct) from Calais. But, it's got the lot by way of roads that can, if riders are not a tiny bit careful, jump up and bite them. Nobody expects sudden hairpins, nobody expects very hilly dark woods that (when it's been raining or in damp autumns) can turn midday fun into some dark mysterious world with tight off-camber bends, with overbanding, gravel and leaves. Nobody expects bends that can look fast and innocent - sucking the rider in - but then tighten up dramatically (along with the rider's arse cheeks).... don't slam on the brakes or you'll run straight on...... and that ditch is deeeeeep!

Nobody expects miles of very fast cross country wide open roads through acres of all but empty farmland, which can change in the blink of an eye when Farmer Giles has dumped his wagon load of chalky fertiliser on a field exit.... it's all there and more.... I promise you.

Go find it.

Rasher said:

Thanks Wapping, had already clocked that and uploaded many of the routes into my route database (Basecamp) I have most of the Ride Routes in there as well, it seems there is not really much great stuff in the Northern half of France.

I think if you were to draw a line right across the middle you could pretty much state everything above it is not all that good, and everything below is very good - Alps, Pyrenees, Vosges, Morvan, Volcans, Cevennes, Limousin etc all live in the South....

...Typical of the French, they put all the good stuff as far away from the Brits as possible.

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Disagree. The bimble from Coquelles to St Omer via D roads is lovely. I often get a late afternoon tunnel nowadays as this little gem cheers me up after the M25/26/20 and the queuing at customs checks.

Your line would exclude the Loire, Perche, Bretagne, Champagne and most significantly, the French Ardennes national parks. This year I found another little gem, the Argonne Forest. The road from St Quentin where we had lunch to Beaulieu en Argonne was great fun. Everyone had a big grin on their face when we arrived at the excellent Hostellerie de L'Abbaye

My mates problem is not really London or Cities in general, but the 300+ miles each way along congested roads to get to Folkestone, which is fair enough. Portsmouth is far more reasonable than Folkestone for him, and a lot better than Plymouth for me and it might be we can go out from one port and back to the other as compromise.

I do get that not all roads in northern France are crap, but generally I have found the Alps, Vercors, Pyrenees, Morvan, Livradois, Cevennes regions to be significantly better than the back roads I have experienced further North.

Hoping Auvergne will be worth the effort to get down to, will probably have to mix and match some main and minor roads to get down there once off the ferry, but regardless of how "good" the roads are, I always enjoy riding in France if for no other reason than the lack of traffic and laid back pace of life (Except when everything is closed and I am hungry)

Rasher said:

My mates problem is not really London or Cities in general, but the 300+ miles each way along congested roads to get to Folkestone, which is fair enough. Portsmouth is far more reasonable than Folkestone for him, and a lot better than Plymouth for me and it might be we can go out from one port and back to the other as compromise.

I do get that not all roads in northern France are crap, but generally I have found the Alps, Vercors, Pyrenees, Morvan, Livradois, Cevennes regions to be significantly better than the back roads I have experienced further North.

Hoping Auvergne will be worth the effort to get down to, will probably have to mix and match some main and minor roads to get down there once off the ferry, but regardless of how "good" the roads are, I always enjoy riding in France if for no other reason than the lack of traffic and laid back pace of life (Except when everything is closed and I am hungry)

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I organise trips with people (up to a dozen) coming from all directions. I book the first night in France as the start of the trip and let them sort how they get there. My son lives in Portsmouth so sometimes I get the overnight boat from there. Most use the tunnel as the majority live in the SE, so easier for them.

Why not get the most convenient crossing for each of you and then meet in Blois for the first night? I did exactly this last year when we had a trip to the Auvergne. The ride from Blois down to La Bourboule by D roads was described by a mate as, "the best cross country route we have done so far as a group." Undulating madness with bugger all traffic. Gradually the group got smaller with just 3 of us at the end taking the full D road route. We were giggling like loons at the end as the roads got progressively more mental, the closer we got to the Volcanes region.

Hi Rasher, I put Roscoff to Auvergne into the free ViaMichelin app, setting the preferences to motorcycle, avoid toll roads (this can often make it avoid 'paid for' passes over bridges and the alpine 'paid for' roads, so take care), avoid motorways, all in 'discovery' mode.

It offers up three choices on my iPad from the comfort of my bed, which might be interesting.

Do though zoom in though, as the 'discovery' mode can sometimes (like the 'must do' green lined roads we often hear so much about on this site) take you off on some wild detour - great if you have the time - or through village after village after village. These are great if you want to bimble and wander about, stopping for coffee every 10 minutes but frustrating if you want to hoon from A to C via B. A good map and a decent dollop of imagination really are your two best friends, trust me. You tour enough to know what looking at a road on a decent map will probably be like when you come to riding it. If there is a village every half inch along the road on the map, you'll know it may well be slow going. If there are no signs of habitation for a foot or more, you'll know that you might not find a lunch stop exactly when your stomach starts rumbling and the fuel light starts to glow. You also know how long it will probably take you to go from A to C via B, so you'll know whether a paricular route will suit you and your westcountry chum.

Enjoy your holiday and let us know what you discover, please.

PS For anytone reading this thread who is unsure. It's the latter paragraph that highlights how good the RiDE suggested routes often are. By their nature, the magazine has to cater for a wide cross-section of readers and riders, so they strike a reasonably happy balance of daily mileages and roads taken. Take RiDE's ideas and adapt them to your own needs. Fancy going 50 miles further in the day than RiDE suggests? Easy, tap on another 50 miles. Want to take four days instead of three? Easy, cut the daily mileages down, stay in bed longer or spend an extra hour or two wandering about in that nice town you happen to come across. Fancy a Formula 1 or five star luxury over the hotels the magazine puts forward? Easy, find the hotel you like along your route; they'll be there somewhere and the internet makes it really easy to find them. Don't want to stop at the ruined castle that the magazine says has great views? Easy, don't go there. You don't like the way the magazine puts in a day of motorway blasting to get you somewhere? Easy again... get up earlier and don't take the motorway. Stuck for time, under pressure from SWMBO to get home for her mum's sister's 82nd birthday? Easy, miss out that last day of 'must do' twisties the magazine is talking about and hit the superslab. Nobody (least of all RiDE) will mind and those 'must do' twisties will still be there another day.

I have now got the rest of the new Ride Routes into Basecamp - thanks Simon,

I noticed that Ride have routes out of Caen and St Malo, but not Roscoff and I think it might be fair to say sailing there does little but add an extra 100 miles on the Journey down towards Limoges / Clermont Ferrand (roughly where I want to spend a couple of days) it also makes it very difficult to do anything other than blast along the Motorway, whereas with St Malo and Caen both look easy enough in a day to allow time for turning off the motorway after lunch.

Thanks for the different crossings idea Wessie, not sure it will work that well in this instance when we are looking at a small group (2) on a short trip and part of the plan is to catch up with a mate who has moved away, so by taking divergent routes we will sort of miss part of the point of the trip and I think having a bevvie on the Ferry out will make up for the crap run to the Port.

Will probably settle on something like setting off from Plymouth and Returning to Portsmouth and spending two days heading out (maybe taking Rides suggestion from this months magazine of Nantes as s top-off) one day heading back and then have a couple of days to loop out around the Auvergne routes I have collected, the worst part for me with in-necessary dull miles is I just see it as expense - tyres (plus squaring them off / fuel / depreciation) I do not mind actually sitting on a motorcycle cruising along, whenever I do get really bored on the Motorway in France, I remind myself I could be stuck behind a desk at work instead which outs it into perspective, especially when heading outbound towards great roads and fine hotels.

Sometimes, the autouroute can be fun - if you do get to Clermont Ferrand, the A75 to Issoire is barking as it winds through a river valley.

Overnight from Portsmouth to Ouistreham (Caen), gets you there early doors miss all the Caen centre traffic on the way south then jobs a good un, plenty of routes to choose south of Caen. We did the run last year from Derbyshire to portsmouth, then a good kip on the boat and off to Limoges via Toll and minor roads.

Rasher said:

My mates problem is not really London or Cities in general, but the 300+ miles each way along congested roads to get to Folkestone, which is fair enough. Portsmouth is far more reasonable than Folkestone for him, and a lot better than Plymouth for me and it might be we can go out from one port and back to the other as compromise.

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Maybe a bit late now, but the above makes it sound like Poole - Cherbourg might be the compromise crossing for you guys.