Southern France

[Asphalt Outlaw Hero]

Wife and I are going to Southern France. Picking up a GS in Monoco and tooling around for 10 days. We've done Italy by "free styling" and got some good tips from this forum.
Any "dos" (dont's). I tend to shy away from large metropoliton areas.

All ears.

[aposaric]

What do you mean by freestyling? Do you plan to camp? I spent few summers touring the south of France and Spain in the peak season, and every year we had a blast, but I had a huge problem with finding the place to stay on the coastline, even in little shitty camps, it is overcrowded so few years ago we stopped to search for the camping spots and started to sleep on the beaches, and it is really cool, you get the premium spot by the sea, and it is totaly free. Even the cops don't mind, because they know that there is no other place to stay. I reall
So, either reserve the place in advance, or sleep on the beaches, i prefer the second :-)

I really enjoy the roads on the coastline, especially near Toulon, amazingly grippy asphalt, and nice configuration of the roads. If you are going to go to the Atlantic part also, Biarritz is a nice place, but is overcrowded, and deffinitely go and take a ride on the Pirranese mountains, bunch of fantastic roads, and you can pop to Andora for some cheap photo or biking equipement, really low tax and funny prices :-)

In the inside, I really liked the Arles, it has a cool vibe. And if you are a riding junkie, you could pop to the Val thorens, or Les2Alpes for some summer skiing. It definitely takes more than 10 days to see it all. I spent over 10 weeks on south of france, and still didn't see even half of the cool sites ;-)









Have a nice hollidays

[RTLover]

Originally Posted by Asphalt Outlaw Hero

Wife and I are going to Southern France. Picking up a GS in Monoco and tooling around for 10 days. We've done Italy by "free styling" and got some good tips from this forum.
Any "dos" (dont's). I tend to shy away from large metropoliton areas.

All ears.

What's your time frame? Summer in the South is not the best of conditions unless you like being a sardine.

[gravelchewer]

Yeah have to agree .... Summer in the south is busy ...but saying that friggin awesome forget the crowds and have fun your on a bike. If I was you I would head inland a bit midi is fantastic that time of year ...Albi is my fav city in the south...nice little back roads around parisot too. Anyway have a ball, iam looking forward hearing more.

[Asphalt Outlaw Hero]

We are going over middle of May. By freestyle I mean just study a map and head towards a place that looks interesting or roads that look interesting. My camping is "credit card camping". We enjoy a good bed at the end of the day. We are in our sixties so the allure of a sleeping bag on the ground isn't like it was 40 years ago.

[DragonNester]

I spent a month riding the South of France 6 years ago and my favorite village was Moustiers Sainte Marie and the roads of the Gorges Du Verdon. There's a loop road right outside of town that's really twisty with gorgeous views. The village has great restaurants and is tucked into the side of the area mountains. Honestly, you can't go wrong anywhere in South France. Have fun and try not to get run over by those French riders....they're quick.

[aposaric]

Originally Posted by Asphalt Outlaw Hero

We are going over middle of May. By freestyle I mean just study a map and head towards a place that looks interesting or roads that look interesting. My camping is "credit card camping". We enjoy a good bed at the end of the day. We are in our sixties so the allure of a sleeping bag on the ground isn't like it was 40 years ago.

Ha ha ha, that is what I presumed, well, I am sure that you will have no problem with finding a place to stay in May. You will definitely have a blast, but I would advise you to stay out of the Alps because it can still be very cold in May, and there can be lot of snow in places higher than 1500 meters ;-)

P.S. Don't leave all of your money in Monaco, I had a few Very interesting nights there :-)

[Asphalt Outlaw Hero]

I know about the ALPS! 8 degrees
Celsius at the local bike "hang out" in the Italian ALPS. I was the only one there!

[Asphalt Outlaw Hero]

BTW Anyone got a recomendation for cheap cell phones? I like one for emergencies, reservations etc. ?

[RTLover]

Originally Posted by Asphalt Outlaw Hero

We are going over middle of May. By freestyle I mean just study a map and head towards a place that looks interesting or roads that look interesting. My camping is "credit card camping". We enjoy a good bed at the end of the day. We are in our sixties so the allure of a sleeping bag on the ground isn't like it was 40 years ago.

Now here's a guy I can communicate with. Except for boot camp, I haven't camped since I was a teenager.

Check out the Route de Napoleon that runs from Grasse up to Grenoble. On the way, a slight detour to the Canyon de Verdon and Moustiers as were mentioned. Since you're a Stelvio survivor, take a look at this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_des_Grandes_Alpes

It's a lot of work in places but the scenery at altitude is fantastic. You could combine parts of each since they aren't too far from each other, at least on the southern end, a bit trickier further north.

Get yourself some Michelin maps of the area and head for the roads highlighted in green. There are a gazillion of them just north of Monaco.

Enjoy the ride!

[aposaric]

I allways take one extra unlocked cellphone with me, and I buy prepaid simcard from "Orange telecom" for couple of euros for local calls and internet surfing

[RTLover]

Originally Posted by Asphalt Outlaw Hero

BTW Anyone got a recomendation for cheap cell phones? I like one for emergencies, reservations etc. ?

Lemmie look into it. I see them all over but since I don't need one I don't remember just where. D'oh.

[WIBO]

Turn up at any e.g..SFR phone shop (you'll need a passport for ID)I'd buy a basic phone for about €50....then a €25 credit will last for about a month....(€75)

What you can find though with this system or carrier, is that when you leave e.g. France it will not be usable... Of course this can be confirmed at the time of purchase...just be aware to ask about it...

My wife is in the Caribbean at present and I can't call her on her pay-as-you go phone...

When you look at that why not just,if you have to make that emergency call,just use your existing phone...you have to talk a long while to use up €75?

[aposaric]

Originally Posted by WIBO

Turn up at any e.g..SFR phone shop (you'll need a passport for ID)I'd buy a basic phone for about €50....then a €25 credit will last for about a month....(€75)

What you can find though with this system or carrier, is that when you leave e.g. France it will not be usable... Of course this can be confirmed at the time of purchase...just be aware to ask about it...

My wife is in the Caribbean at present and I can't call her on her pay-as-you go phone...

When you look at that why not just,if you have to make that emergency call,just use your existing phone...you have to talk a long while to use up €75?

I think that is too expensive, why spend 50 euros on a telephone when you can take your own unlocked phone from home? I normally buy 10 Euros worth of credit which is enough for a week of calls with local girls :-) If I use roaming on my existing telephone, in France it cost me around 2.5 Euros per minute, it is abnormaly expensive, so I allways buy prepaid SIM cards

[WIBO]

Agreed....

:)