June ROAD BOOK 2017 Ouistreham ngers PARIS 320 km 7 days { { 6 stages 6 nights CAEN-THURY_Voie_verte_VF. © T.HOUYEL Calvados Tourisme. Graphic Design: Forsane.com Calvados Tourisme. © T.HOUYEL CAEN-THURY_Voie_verte_VF. 1 1 ® Mon ciel bleu, mon horizon, ma grande route et ma rivière, la Vélo Francette ma prairie et ma maison… FROM OUISTREHAM TO LA ROCHELLE Douce France, cher SUCH A FRENCHY BIKE RIDE pays de mon enfance… La Vélo Francette®, a new signposted 630 km cycling trail that sounds like a Charles Trenet song… the every essence of Douce France! Plages du débarquement This itinerary has been devised to tour the country in slow tourism mode, from Ouistreham-Riva-Bella to La Rochelle, the ® 16stage 1 route interconnects with the La Véloscénie , Caen La Loire à Vélo® and La Vélodyssée® cycling 53 stage 2 trails. Pont d'Ouilly FL ERS stage 3 Starting out from the beaches of Normandy, riding through the Norman countryside, Domfront down through the Mayenne valley touching stage 4 on the Val de Loire then crossing the Marais 1 Road Book Poitevin to reach the Atlantic coast... Mayenne 320 La Vélo Francette® is a genuine road-movie in an authentic French setting. LAVA L 70stage 5 Château - Gontier This very pleasant trail never strays far from a river : the Orne, Mayenne, Loire, Thouet 61 stage 6 and the Sèvre near Niort peppered with Guinguettes, bike bars and highly original accommodation options : hippie trailers, 63stage 7 lodges on stilts on the river bank, a fishhook Saumur workshop transformed into a hotel, an ancient stable, fifties style villas, water stage 8 47 mills, lock-keeper houses... Thouars 2 Road Book stage 9 330 L Parthenay stage 10 Damvix lavelofrancette.com 40 stage 11 Niort stage 12 a Rochelle 025 50 km The Vélo Francette® itinerary. The Vélo Francette® itinerary / green ways. Cycle itineraries accessible from the Vélo Francette®. Towns served by the TGV train. Towns served by Corail and TER local trains. Want to branch off or only go along a section of the Vélo Francette® ? Numerous TGV and TER stations along the itinerary let you easily join the Vélo Francette®. You also have the possibility of joining another cycle itinerary. 2Family biking in the Marais Poitevin. © Darri Plages du débarquement Ouistreham Caen Pont d'Ouilly FL ERS Domfront Mayenne LAVA L Château - Gontier ngers Saumur Thouars Parthenay Niort a Rochelle © 8716 The Accueil Vélo label JDA 49 ep d 43 © V y Accueil Vélo is a national label that guarantees a a ll e B l warm welcome and top quality services to cycling i u e r tourists along the cycling trails. The label concerns t n o 5 types of services : Accommodation, Bike rental, M Bike repairs, Places to visit or Leisure activities, Tourist information centres. An Accueil Vélo© establishment is a guarantee for cycling tourists that : · They are less than 5km from a cycling trail · The right equipment needed is available : Secure bicycle shelter, repair kit La Rochelle V43. © Vélo Francette - J. Damase La Rochelle V43. © Vélo · They are given a warm, attentive welcome : useful information and tips (circuits, weather, ...) · Services are available for cyclists : luggage transfer, clothes washing and drying, rental of bicycles and accessories, washing of bicycles,... Foreword To the extent possible, the service providers indicated in this document have been chosen because they belong to the Accueil Vélo© network. The logo will help you identify them. Present at every stage on the route, the different providers suggested in this docu- ment have been selected for the quality of Bike rental the services offered to cyclists. The owners of the accommodation in this document Providers offering bike rentals To help you agreed to be contacted by Tour Operators and an adapted service in order to define the conditions of their prepare your trip partnership with them. This document is . BAYEUX not intended to be exhaustive. It seeks to LOC VÉLO meet the needs of a customer target that Llocvelo.fr - ).+ 33 (0)6 46 34 37 21 Topoguides has been defined with European operators . CHÂTEAU-GONTIER and surrounding area and whose characteristics are as follows : – Château-Gontier · Clientele of individuals or groups, CANOTIKA Lpagayons.fr/canotika - ).+ 33 (0)2 53 68 50 11 · One week stay, + 33 (0)6 15 49 28 73 · Main expectations focused on heritage, history and nature, . ANGERS and surrounding area · Accommodation mainly in 2* and 3* ANJOU SPORT NATURE – La Jaille Yvon hotels, guest houses, Lanjousportnature.com - ).+ 33 (0)2 41 95 14 32 · Kilometric distance travelled between VERT EVENT – Angers 35 to 55km/day, Lvert-event-angers.fr - ).+ 33 (0)2 72 72 54 44 · Level of difficulty : easy to moderate. DÉTOURS DE LOIRE – Angers Llocationdevelos.com - ).+ 33 (0)2 41 87 13 09 ESPACE 2 ROUES – Angers Lespace-2-roues.fr - ).+ 33 (0)2 41 87 69 46 Guide La Vélo Francette Practical advice published by . SAUMUR and surrounding area Ouest-France DÉTOURS DE LOIRE – Saumur · The "Ouistreham-Angers" segment is Llocationdevelos.com - ).+ 33 (0)2 41 53 01 01 a trail that can be easily performed by VÉLO SPOT – Saumur most people. With daily rides of between Lvelospot.fr - ).+ 33 (0)2 41 38 94 06 15 and 65km per day, the trail is generally CYCLE OBSESSION – Gennes Val de Loire quite flat with a few exceptions. The diffi- Lcycle-obsession.com - ).+ 33 (0)2 41 40 74 41 cult sections of the trail are shown on . NIORT and surrounding area the elevation profiles available for each LA BICYCLETTE VERTE – Arcais stage. Lbicyclette-verte.com - ).+ 33 (0)5 49 35 42 56 · All terrain bikes are best suited for this trail with a variety of cycling routes : . LA ROCHELLE and surrounding area cycling lanes, green paths (especially CYCLABLE – La Rochelle developed cycling paths totally separate Lla-rochelle.cyclable.com ).+ 33 (0)9 83 08 17 25 from car traffic) and low traffic shared roads. FRANCE VÉLO – La Rochelle Lfrancevelo.bike - ).+ 33 (0)7 68 73 98 31 Levels of difficulty : VÉLOVOLT – La Rochelle · Easy The course is mainly flatand without Lvelovolt.fr - ).+ 33 (0)5 49 35 42 56 any dangerous repetitive crossings. ECOVÉLO – La Rochelle · Intermediary Course with relief difficulties Lecovelo17.com - ).+ 33 (0)5 46 56 13 78 or dangerous repetitive crossings. CYCLOMANIA – La Rochelle · Expert Course with major difficulties in Lcyclomania17.blogspot.fr terms of relief or very dangerous repetitive ).+ 33 (0)5 46 37 53 42 crossings. Elevation Profile : The elevation profile has been drawn for you to give you such information as the type of roads, the positive and negative cumulative elevation, the altitude, the main stopovers. More complete information can be found on the site Llavelofrancette.com 2 3 Francette - J. Damase velorail V43 dep53. © Vélo les Vallees Ambrieres Getting to/from the access towns . Getting from/to OUISTREHAM . Transport from/to ANGERS Brittany Ferries - Crossing Portsmouth- Paris/Angers - 295km - 3h10 via A11 Ouistreham 3 times per day Paris/Angers - TGV - 1h40 Lbrittany-ferries.fr Angers-Marcé Airport, London, Nice, . Transport from/to OUISTREHAM Toulouse - Langersloireaeroport.fr Paris/Caen - 230km - 2h45 Nantes Atlantique Airport Lnantes.aeroport.fr - accessible by train - Intercités - 2h00 Paris/Caen or car 100km 1h via A11 Caen-Carpiquet airport . Transport from/to NIORT Lcaen.aeroport.fr 3 flights/day from Paris Roissy-Charles Paris/Niort - 410km - 4h via A10 TO TRAV EL de Gaulle (AirFrance) Paris/Niort - TGV - 2h00 3 flights/day from London Southend (FlyBe) La Rochelle Airport - Ile de Re : . Transport from/to FLERS Llarochelle.aeroport.fr less than 1 hour away Paris / Flers - 240km - 3h40 The Nantes Atlantique and Bordeaux airports are less than 2 hours away. Paris Montparnasse / Flers - 2h30 - Intercités Lter.sncf.com/normandie . Transport from/to La ROCHELLE . Transport from/to LAVAL Paris / La Rochelle - 480km - 5h00 Paris/Laval - 280km - 3h00 via A81 and A11 Paris / La Rochelle - TGV - 3h00 Paris/Laval - TGV - 1h30 La Rochelle Airport Llarochelle.aeroport.fr Nantes, Bordeaux or Paris airports accessible by train DEPARTMENTS TO BE DISCOVERED How to travel with your bike By train Other means of transport In the TER trains (Regional Express Train), There are other alternatives when travelling bicycles travel for free, hung up or placed with a bike. Service providers can transport in a space provided for this purpose. your bike to the trail's arrival and departure NATURAL REGIONAL However, since the number of bicycle points. Some rental companies let you bor- PARKS TO BE CROSSED spaces is limited, you are advised not row a bicycle to go from point A to point B to travel with a bike during peak hours. where you can drop it off. It is mandatory to book a space for your LOC VÉLO – Caen bicycle when travelling with a bike on Main Llocvelo.fr line and Intercité train services. ).+33 (0)6 46 34 37 21 It is also possible to travel on any train if you dismount your bike without paying a VERT EVENT – Angers Lvert-event-angers.fr ion V43 dep1 supplement and without having to book in stat 7 JD ain A8 ).+33(0)2 72 72 54 44 tr 90 lle 9 advance within the limit of seats available. e . © ch o La – Angers R DÉTOURS DE LOIRE a V For this, it must be transported in a carrying L é lo Llocationdevelos.com F case (Dimensions 120x90 cm) and is then r a n ) c .+33(0)2 41 87 13 09 e considered as a piece of hand luggage. t t e - – Saumur In any case, take special care as regards DÉTOURS DE LOIRE J . D Llocationdevelos.com a any restrictions related to peak traffic.