Bicycling in France and Provence
Bicycling is extremely popular in the Provence region. The French are avid cyclers anyway, from weekend family outings and hundreds, or maybe thousands, of cycling clubs, to the world-famous Tour de France race. Possibly because of the weather and the natural beauty, the Provence region is one of the most popular places in France for cycling. You need lungs, though, and a good set of legs, because there is no such thing as flat ground or a level road. Everything here goes up or goes down, and very rarely is there a flat stretch between two inclines.
Road cycling has been popular here for as long as bicycles have existed.
As a cyclist you know it's inherently dangerous The one big advantage of France in general, and especially this part of France, is that cycling is so popular the drivers expect to find cyclists around ever corner, and are less apt to be surprised when they do. Local cyclists usually wear very bright colored clothing, even when very brief during the summer season. There's probably some safety in numbers, as a small group is more noticeable than a single biker struggling up an incline in the shade of the road-side trees. If you're on your own, you could probably join other cyclists now and again along the way.
The main route nationales are probably the worst, because of the noise, pollution and the speed of the traffic. The smaller twisty roads are narrow, but the other cyclists will be using them as well.
Most towns and large villages have bicycle shops where you can rent cycles (location velo). We've listed the Bicycle Rental (Cycling-Vélo) Shops by department: 04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, 05 Haute-Alpes, 06 Alpes-Maritimes, 13 Bouches-du-Rhone, 83 Var, 84 Vaucluse.
Many, but not all, of the shops handle bicycle repair as well. Even if parts are not carried for your brand, the repair shops are often creative, and solutions can be found to get you on the road again. Tires and innertubes will be French metric sizes.
Information about taking bikes on the train are included on the Travel-Rail page.
Cycling anywhere in the northeastern part of Beyond (Alpes-Maritimes, eastern Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, eastern Hautes-Alpes) [map] means vertical cycling; there's no flat ground. It's not that difficult, however; a large segment of French cyclists is elderly, proving that it's not just a young-person's sport to cycle through hills and mountains. If you're in reasonable health and not out to break speed records, this is one of the most beautiful places in the world to be cycling.
Much of the Vaucluse, the Bouches-du-Rhône and the western part of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence [map] is relatively flat, suitable for cycling by those of you not ready to take on the Alps. Some of this region has cycling trails (see following), and the flat areas around the Camargue are popular.
Some cycling trails are listed on the Village pages in Beyond (for example, Forcalquier and Clans. Many of the towns and villages with hiking trails have the cycling trails clearly marked, and some have guides or brochures about local cycling: contact the Mairie or Office de Tourisme (listed on the Village pages in Beyond).
The Luberon en Vélo cycling path runs 100 km between Cavaillon, Apt and Forcalquier, crossing through numerous small villages along the way.
If you come to Beyond by automobile for a cycling holiday, you'll need to leave your car somewhere sure while off on your bike. You can find a solution by contacting the Office de Tourisme in a town near your starting point. We contacted two, and got the following two solutions (other offices will no doubt have the same, similar, or alternate solutions):
In a small village, you can try solutions like asking the proprietor of the local café or food shop, for example, to look after your car for a couple of weeks, perhaps settling on an agreed fee. (If a hotel charges about 400 F for two weeks in a box, a suggested village fee might be 200-300 F.) You would want them to keep the dust off and the windows clean so the car doesn't look abandoned.
Two "green" Michelin maps cover most of the Beyond region, with a scale of 1/100 000 (1 cm = 1 km). Map #114 French Riviera (Côte d'Azur), Var, Verdon Gorges covers Provence, from Apt and Marseilles to Grasse. Map #115 French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) covers the Côte d'Azur, from Fréjust and Fayence to Italy, and north to Saint Etienne-de-Tinée.
All roads are shown, including forestry roads, the tiniest villages, lakes, rivers, some points of interest, the main GR trails and so on. Smaller hiking and cycling trails are not shown.
These maps show mountainous areas and hills with 3D-style shading. They also mark steep roads with > and >> symbols, but those are intended as information for car-trailers and trucks. Those long bit-more-than-gradual uphills so hard on cyclists aren't indicated.
Beyond's Michelin Maps pages has the Michelin "green" maps available via Amazon.com
There are many VTT-Cycling guidebooks available in France. The best source for mailorder guidebooks we know of is from the Vieux Campeur in Paris. Their catalog "Instruments, Libraire, Cartotheque, Videotheque" list a number of guidebooks.
Below is a list of some of the guidebooks available for cycling in Provence and the Cote d'Azur.
Cycling the Canal du Midi (via Amazon.com)
A new book (March 2009) from the great Ciceron Press collection. We've just ordered it ourselves.
Thanks to the cycling enthusiastism of the president of the Cadenet Office de Tourisme, there are printed cycling tours available for free at the village tourist office. Six tours, varying from 46 to 83 km in length, with a vertical change from 229 m to 647 m. Each circuit is a loop, starting and ending at Cadenet, at the southern edge of the Luberon. Each small guide is clearly and colorfully presented, with the routes and distances, altitude profile, color map and a brief description (French) of the villages the circuit passes through. Stop by the Office de Tourisme for a friendly welcome and good cycling information. We have presented part of Cadenet Circuit-1 here, without permission, and hope to present the other 5 soon.
The best information we can give you about boxing your bicycles for transporation comes from reader's experience. In October 2005 we posted an email on our blog, requesting information about boxing bikes for a group of ten. The very useful response could benefit everybody.
Hi Betsy,
Getting boxes normally wouldn't be a problem, but with that many people you should arrange in advance. My husband and I needed two boxes for the flight back (September 2005), and got them at a bike store in Paris for 10 euro each. They asked if we needed them packed, but we did it ourselves, which I would reccommend, it's not that difficult,and will save you some money. From our experience, most so-called bike stores in Provence are mostly motorbike stores, so I would try to find some on the internet and figure things out before you go. Renting vans both ways may be your only option. The planes servicing Marseille would be smaller than transatlantic ones, so that much luggage would be a problem. Also, from Marseille you would most likely fly to Orly airport, and then would need to get yourself to Charles de Gaulle. Nightmare with two bikes, not to mention 10. Good luck, or "courage" as many puzzled French told us as we were trying to cram our bikes onto TGV... Klaudia
Courtesy of Provence Beyond
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