Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

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Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by Scott_rider »

We may have to rethink our route to Carcassonne via the Eastern side of France (as per my other post) due to the mileage, as it’s coming out close to 1300 miles and this trip we want to do less miles per day but we’ve only got 4 days riding to get through France from Calais. So, as an alternative is there a good route straight down the middle of France but avoiding the motorways which we’ve done many times before? We want to end up in the Carcassonne area before crossing the Pyrenees and then going west into Northern Spain. Carcassonne isn’t set in stone so we could end up further west if that would be better? The 4 days riding through France is set in stone. Thanks Guys 8-) .
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by Tramp »

Well calais to Rouen is always best on mway... Then south to nonancourt... From there cut across country is slow but scenic remember the french love speed limits so drive atn50mph now :lol:... Head for lemans then Angers but its all boring stuff... If your on sports bikes its very annoying...
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by daveuprite »

DAY 1

Loads of ways to do it, but I would suggest you kiss off the first bit on the Autoroutes.

So that means Calais to Abbeville on the A16.

I presume you are looking to avoid Paris? So then you could take the D901 south to Beauvais.

Then take some slightly better roads D901 / D983 across country to Mantes La Jolie, and then D928 to Dreux.

Take the ring road around Dreux and sorry but you won't make much progress south without spending some time on the horrible N154 to Chartres (watch for speed cameras).

Then more rather dull N-road south to Chateaudun (although there is a minor shadowing road, the D127, which you could take instead).

Now take D924 to Blois, which is a nice old city on the Loire.

Get on to the D956 south out of Blois, which joins into the D675. Stay on the D675 all the way to Chatillon sur Indre.

Now you need the D975 south to Le Blanc and then on to La Trimouille.

Now track across on the D727 to Montmorillon, and then ride on the D729 to Moulismes.

Turn left on to the N147 and ride south until you get to Bussiere Poitevine.

SPEND THE NIGHT AT MOTOBREAKS.COM


I'll post up DAY 2 in a few minutes....
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by Scott_rider »

Excellent suggestion. Thanks 8-) . The more I think about it, the more I think we need to head down the middle of France on a scenic route rather than down the east side. The main focus of our trip is north west Spain so it seems to make sense that we hit the Pyrenees maybe a bit further west than Carcassonne. We’ve previously ridden through France on the west side down to Bordeaux etc but didn’t like that (from a riding point of view).
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by daveuprite »

OK, DAY TWO

Let's try to get you from MOTOBREAKS in Haute Vienne down to about Pau in a day of riding without any motorways:

From Bussiere Poitevine take the D4 to Saint Barbant (pretty much past my house!) and then on to Mezieres-sur-Issoire.

Continue on D4 to Nouic and then Mortemart.

Get on the D675 and follow it to Saint Junien.

Ride through Saint Junien town and then pick up the D675 again (crossing the Vienne River). Stay on the D675 south through Rochechouart, Vayres, Saint Matthieu, Nontron and you get to Brantome (very nice place for an early lunch).

Now you want the D939 to Perigueux. Leave the town going south and pick up the N21 to Bergerac.

At Bergerac you have some choices, depending on where you want to hit the Pyrenees. You could stay on the N21 and go due south through Agen, Lectoure, and Auch - heading for Lannemezan and the crossing to Vielha in Spain.

Or you could go from Bergerac to Marmande, then Mont De Marsan and eventually Pau, where you can choose to cross into Spain, arriving at Jaca.

There are other options of course, and maybe members like WIBO who lives down there could help.

I've done this run from my house in Haute Vienne to Pau several times on sports bikes and it's quite achievable in a long day. Or you could rest up a bit earlier in Gascony (Gers) to make the day a tad more manageable.
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by Tramp »

Aint the n21 a bic route ie full of trucks lol....
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by daveuprite »

Tramp wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 7:03 am Aint the n21 a bic route ie full of trucks lol....
Well I haven't used it since 2013, so maybe it's been upgraded, but I remember it as a pretty decent road, especially through Gascony.

If Scott had more time, I'd suggest leaving Perigueux on the D710, then the D47 (which we call the 'race track road') from Les Eyzies to Sarlat le Canada, and then spending time riding through Dordogne - which is more picturesque - but it would take much longer to get to the Spanish border.

If you decided to do this, Scott, you'd might as well enjoy the Dordogne valley and spend a night at JAX SHAK, before going south again the next day. It depends how much you want your trip to be an exploration of rural France, or a way to get to Spain asap but without autoroutes.
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by chunky butt »

Come out of ferry port, compass pointing south, flat out all the way.......gillets jaune's have burnt out all the speed camera's, :D it will be like 30 years ago, happy days :D hope this helps :lol:
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by Scott_rider »

chunky butt wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:23 am Come out of ferry port, compass pointing south, flat out all the way.......gillets jaune's have burnt out all the speed camera's, :D it will be like 30 years ago, happy days :D hope this helps :lol:
:lol: we have done this many times before....not big and not clever...but fun! :oops: :shock:

Great route suggestions daveuprite, many thanks 8-) . I'm going to put it into Google maps to get an idea of mileage but I reckon it will be a few hundred miles shorter than our planned route down the east side of France 8-)
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Re: Route Advice please - Calais to Carcassonne (ish)

Post by daveuprite »

Scott_rider wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 12:36 pm
chunky butt wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:23 am Come out of ferry port, compass pointing south, flat out all the way.......gillets jaune's have burnt out all the speed camera's, :D it will be like 30 years ago, happy days :D hope this helps :lol:
:lol: we have done this many times before....not big and not clever...but fun! :oops: :shock:

Great route suggestions daveuprite, many thanks 8-) . I'm going to put it into Google maps to get an idea of mileage but I reckon it will be a few hundred miles shorter than our planned route down the east side of France 8-)
I'd quite like to see that route on google maps. I'm a bit old school, so all those routes are from a mixture of memory and reference to my good old faithful Michelin paper maps, some of them still torn and moldy from wet trips stuffed into tank bags on sports bikes.

Before I came out here to live, I blasted around France to the Bol D'or, the Massif Central, the Alps and the Pyrenees etc, always just looking for the twisties. The best way is not to plan too much, not to book accommodation beyond the first night, and follow your nose to places that look nice with good roads leading to them. That might mean that you never even cross into Spain. So what? It won't go away...
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