Northern France (or germany)

[ocatoro]

well, as I said in another thread, getting married in Italy, so this summers tour to Germany is getting a hiding as have to do another recce trip this summer for wedding stuff.

but I still have a 6 day stint of boredom in June.

what's in northern France. I've only ever sort of rushed through it before.

I've done the ardennes and champagne areas albeit in the car.

what's over the western side that's good for bikes? sort of le mans/nantes/brest sort of corner..

any other suggestions western/northern france that'll be easy and cheap but fun...

camping or formule1?? is it worth taking a tent over there when you can hole up somewhere clean for 13 euro and have an ensuite bathroom?


** looking at distances, northern germany dusseldorf etc looks closer/similar. all advice welcomed for good food and good riding.
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Current - None but shed project H100 (first bike )
Past - ER5, '93 ZZR600, '92 CB400 SF, ZZR600 (again), yellow Monster 620, Blackbird - black Monster 620ie - '96 ZZR600

[c_dug]

On my Eurotrip a year or two back we stopped at esch-sur-sur in Luxembourg on our first night, the area was lovely, I'd happily spend a week there. Click for a couple of pictures and my review.
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[MacZurbi]

Maybe, the region of the Vosges will be interesting for you - nice roads to drive and an beautiful landscapes (not only the route of cretes - a panoramic road) and little villages with a lot of history - if you are interested in that

Greetings from Switzerland,
Fredy
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Greetings from Zurich/Switzerland
Enjoy your life - it is always to short
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[John933]

It's all to do with what you are looking for. Northern France along the coast road's is not too bad. "D" day landing site's. Then as you say Le Mans if you are in to that kind of thing. Make your way down to Bordeaux, Crossing over to the south coast. To make your way back to Italy. As where to stay. In France you are going to be hard pressed to get better value for money than F1. I use them all the time. Plus the added advantage of not carrying a tent and all the bit's and bob that go's with a tent. More room on the bike. Play around with Google map's. half the pleasure is in planning the your way round.
John933
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My trip

[MacZurbi]

[gorillaonabik...]

Formule 1 vs camping. I go for Formule 1. Hot shower, clean, coffee in the morning for 11 quid. The downside of the Formule 1s or their equivalents is they are out of town. To go drinking, you need some way to get into town whereas on a campsite, buy your own and get boozing. This is where the additional cost is - not the site itself. In addition, they are so far out of town, you will need to find a way to get in / out if you want to go boozing.

'Municipal' campsites in France:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/familyholidays/8480383/France-Holiday-highs-in-low-cost-municipal-campsites.html

The other option is 'stay where you drop' and last time I went touring with three friends, we ended up in little villages which were extraordinarily bike friendly. One village had a little hotel where they put our bikes in their garage while they took their car out and parked it on the road and in addition charged us a tenner a head to stay in their suite.

We were mega-happy, in the centre of the village, drunk as lords, ate well and paid next-to-nothing. However, three of us speak fluent French and know how France works so we are often able to get good stuff.

Also, I personally don't bother with Northern France. France only gets interesting when you ditch the Northern bit and I pass through it to get to more interesting bits of France. Vosges is a good call and something I hadn't even thought about.
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[doggone]

The Municipals can be very noisy until late with teenagers playing football etc.
It might not matter most times, but if you really wanted/needed an early night it can be annoying.

NE France towards Luxembourg is 'classic French countryside a bit like Yorkshire Wolds. The roads often very straight and tree lined, then you will suddenly come to a national park area densely wooded and typically quite hilly - lots of lovely back roads to explore and almost get lost.. Luxembourg is much more than cheap petrol - worth a day or two and again surprising large forest areas.

[-Matt-]

The F1's are brilliant value as long as you can cope with walking a few metres for the showers and toilets

Might not be much use if you're not too interested in historic stuff but we did a really good trip last summer around Normandy and some other northern areas over a few days to see lots of the old world war 2 stuff.

Cherbourg: Maritime museum was pretty good; didn't have time for the titanic exhibition but theres a submarine exhibition, aquarium bit and also a decomissioned nuclear submarine you can go inside and have an audio-tour around which was really good.

Went to Sainte-Mère-Église to see the town and goto the airborne museum.

Also went to Utah, Omaha, Pointe du hoc, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches (Utah and Omaha have some museums; not sure about the others).

Arromanches has the mulberry harbour museum and another one I think? Can see some of the pieces of the old harbour on the beach and walk around them too.

Also the Longues-sur-Mer battery gun battery and Pegasus bridge not too far away.

This place was really good too; although its a fair bit east of all the other spots - old V-rocket site https://www.leblockhaus.com/en/

This is a trip report I did of it with various pictures and info if any use
https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=294748

[rawdred]

...brussels has no toll and the fuel is cheaper.
try going through germany and the black forest.
very very enjoyable roads, better than france IMO

[yodagoat]

Nice campsite in Vianden. Great place too.
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[TCFA]

came across some lovely roads in the forests just south east of Paris around Fontainebleu, nice area to explore and only a few hrs from calais. Keep going west and you're in Orleans then in the Loire valley.
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