I'm trying to organise a summer tour of France, we have a week (Monday to Saturday) Would like to travel from Calais, ride the east side of France. Maybe visiting Belgium/Germany/Switzerland. Really want to avoid motorways, and stick to nice roads. Would prefer to cover less distance, than spend all day on the motorway. So I'm looking for your advice, places to visit, roads to ride/routes etc
I remember going from Calais to a gite somewhere between Besancon and Pontarlier in (I believe) the Jura region near the Swiss border. Took around seven hours with not too many autoroutes if memory serves. 'Tis a great country for motorcycling - or was - but remember it is a big bugger. Distances may be greater than you might expect! And I know this how, exactly?
I seem to remember that it looked a nice place to visit. Sadly we never got the chance. Had a good day trip to Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen and Wengen (train to Wengen - no road access) in that Switzerland though.
Besancon is very nice , from there loosely or tightly follow the river . Lovely villages town all the way to Mulhouse ( good car museum there ) Basel is only about 20miles away follow the Rhine all good Laufenbourg very pretty (Germany ) tbh you cant go too far wrong , go as far as time allows , Sursee then Lucerne maybe depends on time . I riden this by push bike and its great , I usually go over the Alps into Andermatt (Oberalp pass ,lots of Motobikes ) then either Rhone valley Geneva or Italian lakes . Have fun
https://www.ride.co.uk/routes-content/alsace-lorraine-amp-france-comte A nice taster before you hit the really lumpy stuff. Although saying that, you probably won't have time to reach the Alps and back in your schedule. There's always another time though.
Ride Magazine routes and Best biking roads are a good source of interesting routes. https://www.ride.co.uk/routes https://www.bestbikingroads.com/ The Vosges mountains (Ride routes) and Col du Bussang Hotel are worth the visit. https://www.coldebussang.com/ If you're in Belgium/Ardennes then the Auberge au Bon Vivant is a nice play to stay. https://aubergeaubonvivant.be/
Don't forget you're international driving licences if Brexit goes though. Can get these for each county from the post office. About a fiver each. I have about 6 for non EU counties at the moment.
