Best roads south from Cherbourg?

[MG]

Hey guys,

hoping to do a trip down to La Rochelle in July, and I haven't been able to find any decent roads online from Cherbourg down to La Rochelle, so do any of you have any experience of decent roads down there?

preferably D roads as we won't be going on motorways or the main routes really.

thanks
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'03 Honda Cityfly 125 > '02 Honda CB500S > '98 Honda CBR600F

[mentalboy]

What exactly do you mean by decent roads? Dual carriageways, twisty lanes, long open roads? Just grab a map and plot between towns, just watch out for road signs on the turnings you want giving no previous indication that you need to turn!!
French roads are nothing like these in Britain. They tend to be well maintained and very quiet (Paris excepted), if you are after twisties you generally have to find the mountains or tiddly little back roads.
Take note of speed camera signs on the dual carriageways because you will almost certainly find one 500m down the road.

Generally even the back roads are fairly straight and go on for miles. One thing to watch for is lack of fuel stations outside the towns so make sure you don't get caught short.
Beautiful place, hope you have a great ride
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Make mine a Corona.

[MG]

Twisty stuff basically.

Cheers for the advice, I'll get on google maps and just pick something that looks good. I was just hoping for someone with first hand experience of that area that's all.
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'03 Honda Cityfly 125 > '02 Honda CB500S > '98 Honda CBR600F

[mentalboy]

Sorry wasn't more specific. Stayed in the Fontenay la Comte area just west of La Rochelle and it's good forest roads are quite fun, but there's still a lot of straight line stuff.
Generally because it's so far between French towns they had the common sense to build straight roads, bends happen in the valley regions and hills and that's about it!
Take in the Loire valley en route to break up the straight line monotony!
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Make mine a Corona.

[mistergixer]

Get a Michelin map - they have the 'scenic' (i.e. fun) routes highlighted in green.

I have a little pocket-sized, spiral-bound Michelin map that was a great resource for route planning.



How long are you planning to take for the journey? Are you planning to stop over anywhere on the way down? There's some lovely towns en route if you are planning a stop. Keep in mind that you're looking at about 300 miles for a direct route, more if you take a scenic route - the more scenic the lower the average speed, the longer the journey time. To put it into perspective, it's roughly the same distance as London - Newcastle.

Personally, I reckon on around 150 miles to be a comfortable figure for a days riding 'off the beaten track', so I'd be looking for an overnight, a cheap hotel, a good meal and a few beers.
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[MG]

Is this the map you have?

We are hoping to leave the UK on a 7am ferry from Portsmouth, and spend the day riding and get to Rennes by the evening. Then the next day ride from Rennes to La Rochelle and then return on the same or a similar route on the 3rd and 4th days with the return ferry at about 7pm.

I think distance wise it will work, it's merely a matter of finding the right roads to go on. If that map will be helpful for planning the route as well as sticking to it, then that'd be perfect. Let me know if there's a better map for motorbike touring out there.
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'03 Honda Cityfly 125 > '02 Honda CB500S > '98 Honda CBR600F

[chris-red]

I spent last week in this region (didn't go further south that Orleans or Le Mans mind), the roads aren't great, typical northern France. Very long, very straight and very dull roads. The best bit is when you get a few round abouts together. I did about 1000 miles, didn't touch a A road or a Péage. Still was very few 'fun' roads.
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[mentalboy]

Try this link
https://www.bestbikingroads.com/

I've done the stretch south from Malestroit in a cage, may be worth the detour to try and get rid of the flat spot developing in your tyres, but it is only 20 odd miles. Quite pretty up there if you're into that sort of thing
____________________
Make mine a Corona.

[mistergixer]

[MG]

Cheers for the advice guys, not sure if we're going to La Rochelle or down to Land's End now but mistergixer I'd appreciate that
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'03 Honda Cityfly 125 > '02 Honda CB500S > '98 Honda CBR600F

[mentalboy]