SEVEN DAY CYCLIST
CYCLING, BUT NOT USUALLY RACING

Each route is divided into day rides, although advice is given on how to break the rides down into shorter sections if so desired. There is the usual summary information for each route and suggestions of what is not to be missed. The ride notes seem clear and the relief diagrams are clear, showing height, route surface and distance. In conjunction with the maps this should be more than enough to plan and navigate.The second half of the book covers signed routes, including Voies Vertes and on-road routes by Department, starting with Brittany and finishing with Alsace. There are indexing maps and more detailed maps of the main routes. Other are dealt with in text only. It should be noted that some of these routes are still under development and infrastructure might not be up to the expected standard throughout the route at present.Several of the routes run through major urban centres. An awareness of such routes is very helpful. I was embarrassed, as someone who considers themselves well-informed on cycle routes, to find that there were so many traffic free routes I knew nothing of. Some giving access into challenging countryside, such as the Ardennes and the Vosges, the whole forms an impressive and growing network.Yet France is such a vast country with so many miles of empty roads that it is easy to use alternative routes or to link the recommended routes to the Voies Vertes and the on road Veloroutes. It has always been a pleasure to cycle in France. This guide adds a thorough and up to date coverage of routes on and off road. It will be of use to any cyclist planning a tour, whether deciding to follow one of the recommendations or to find good ideas to travel on an independent itinerary.It is not a light-weight book, but the leisure cyclist will happily carry it in a pannier. The map is very useful, too, easily folding with care. I’d still be inclined to carry the Michelin or IGN maps, as the detail and breadth of those in the guide is limited. However, it should be possible to find one’s way along one of the routes with the guidebook and companion map alone.Even if you never get to go, you’ll have a good few hours of pleasure using this book to see what you are missing. Of course, coverage of such a huge area is likely to have limited depth of background history, geography, art and culture. They all get an appropriate mention and tourist information details are given. The cyclist who wants to be immersed in culture will want more, the leisure cyclist though, may be happy to roll along the routes in these pages and soak up local culture and cuisine in the cafes and markets along the way.There is a useful French-English bicycle glossary.One might use the Avenue Verte guide from Sustrans in conjunction with the routes from Dieppe in this book.www.excellentbooks.co.uk'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.