Loire valley cycling maps
 

Does anyone have any recommendations for fairly detailed cyclist friendly
maps in France? I'm going to be staying a couple of weeks near Tours in the
Loire Valley and want to be able to plan fairly quiet routes to various
chateaux and vineyards.

Cheers
Colin

Loire valley cycling maps
 

"Colin Reed" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any recommendations for fairly detailed cyclist friendly
maps in France? I'm going to be staying a couple of weeks near Tours in
the Loire Valley and want to be able to plan fairly quiet routes to
various chateaux and vineyards.

I like the IGN 1:100,000 ones - Top100 or whatever they're called these
days. I've typically found the local ones for sale in the supermarkets.

There's also 1:25,000 ones, but as here that's a more walker than
cyclist-friendly scale.

Others like the Michelin ones - better spot heights, steepness chevrons, but
no contours.

Loire valley cycling maps
 

Clive George wrote:
"Colin Reed" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any recommendations for fairly detailed cyclist
friendly maps in France? I'm going to be staying a couple of weeks
near Tours in the Loire Valley and want to be able to plan fairly
quiet routes to various chateaux and vineyards.

I like the IGN 1:100,000 ones - Top100 or whatever they're called
these days. I've typically found the local ones for sale in the
supermarkets.

I agree with the recommendation. Also, if there is time, email the local
tourist board offices and ask if they have any cycle route leaflets. With
the combination of leaflet and map its usually possible to stitch together
interesting rides. (No compulsion to follow leaflet to letter, just give
clues as to what they suggest as quiet routes).


- Nigel


--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

Loire valley cycling maps
 

On Fri, Jul 03 2009, Colin Reed wrote:

Does anyone have any recommendations for fairly detailed cyclist
friendly maps in France? I'm going to be staying a couple of weeks
near Tours in the Loire Valley and want to be able to plan fairly
quiet routes to various chateaux and vineyards.

I find the ordinary 1:100,000 IGN regional maps not bad -- they're
detailed and accurate enough but a bit too small scale. I'd prefer 1:50k
but they don't seem to do them. The 1:25k maps are correspondingly more
detailed but cover quite small areas.

As a rule of thumb, the smaller yellow roads (smaller departmentals) and
white roads make fine cycling.

Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html

Loire valley cycling maps
 

On Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:37:19 +0100, Brendan Halpin
wrote:

On Fri, Jul 03 2009, Colin Reed wrote:

Does anyone have any recommendations for fairly detailed cyclist
friendly maps in France? I'm going to be staying a couple of weeks
near Tours in the Loire Valley and want to be able to plan fairly
quiet routes to various chateaux and vineyards.

I find the ordinary 1:100,000 IGN regional maps not bad -- they're
detailed and accurate enough but a bit too small scale. I'd prefer 1:50k
but they don't seem to do them. The 1:25k maps are correspondingly more
detailed but cover quite small areas.

As a rule of thumb, the smaller yellow roads (smaller departmentals) and
white roads make fine cycling.

Cycling across the Pyrenees a few years ago I bought the 2 Michelin
1:200,000 maps covering the French side of the mountains and the 11
1:50,000 maps. I found the 1:200,000 far more useful - but I was on
road about 99.9% of the time, not cycle tracks.

1:50,000 maps are a rarity in France; the Pyrenees series is an
exception.

Loire valley cycling maps
 

On Fri, Jul 03 2009, Tom Crispin wrote:

Cycling across the Pyrenees a few years ago I bought the 2 Michelin
1:200,000 maps covering the French side of the mountains and the 11
1:50,000 maps. I found the 1:200,000 far more useful - but I was on
road about 99.9% of the time, not cycle tracks.

If you're going anywhere (e.g. a road trip) the 1:100k or even 1:200k is
more convenient and easier for planning a route. My experience with
Landranger 1:50k in the UK and their equivalent in Ireland is that it's
a perfect scale for finding interesting routes within a locality --
great if you want to explore an area, but not if you're passing through.
1:25k tends towards too much information and too little ground.

But to get back to the OP: you really have to check out
http://www.loire-a-velo.fr/ -- a continuous cycle route from St Nazaire
to Sancerre.

Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html