Route 1 at Moulins, conducts one to the heart of Auvergne and the
volcanic country. Continuing from Clermont-Ferrand to Issoire, and
thence to Brioude, one may turn to the left for St. Flour, and thence to
Rodez and Albi, or to the right for La Chaise-Dieu and Le Puy,
proceeding from this place either down the Loire and again to Moulins,
or crossing over to Lyons.
Poitiers is connected by main road with Limoges, and from that town St.
Flour may be reached. Following on, by Mende and Florac, one will come
to Allier, and next Nîmes, for Arles.
Nearly all these roads, however, are over high mountain passes, and
though the scenery is well worth seeing, and though the enormous coasts,
sometimes 10 miles long, make up for the enormous hills that have to be
walked, one must expect very strong winds and bad weather, even in the
middle of summer.
To the north and east of Paris some good riding is to be had, and the
scenery is almost always delightful, but there is a vast amount of
_pavé_. This may be usually avoided by taking to the byroads,
information about which, now that cycling has become so popular, can
often be had from cycle agents, or efficient repairers, who are to be
found in every town.
A most interesting tour would be Amiens, Laon, Soissons, Rheims and the
champagne country, Troyes, whence return could be made to Paris, or the
journey continued by way of Châlons-sur-Marne, Dijon to Geneva.
The Vosges district, too, is worth visiting, and endless tours may be
made from Nancy as a centre. Provence also, the Riviera, and the Cornice
Road, afford some of the most delightful wheeling to be had in the
country. But tourists, with time enough to make these long excursions,
will prefer doubtless to map their routes out for themselves by the aid
of the C.T.C. _Road Books_ and Baroncelli’s _Guides_.
There is only one portion of the country which every one who cares for
the pleasures of cycling should be advised to avoid, and that is the
vast and dreary plain stretching from Paris to Le Mans, and from Rouen
to Orléans. In planning a tour through France by routes other than those
here given or suggested, Baedeker’s or Murray’s guide-books should be
used for general information, supplemented, for road information, by the
_Géographie Joanne_ for each department through which one is passing.
They can be purchased for 50 centimes, or 1 franc 25 centimes, in every
bookshop in France. They are quite reliable enough, and much more
convenient to carry than any other maps published in the country.
The Cyclists’ Touring Club is at present engaged in bringing out a
revised edition of its French _Road Book_. So far, however, Baroncelli’s
_Guides_ are the best cycle routes published. His address is 18 Rue
Roquepine, Paris. The _Sketch Routes_, published by the _Véloce Sport_
(English address, Paul Hardy, 27 Alfred Place, Russell Square), are very
useful if they happen to take you in the direction you wish to go. The
Cyclists’ Touring Club _Road Books_, only sold to members, contain a
vast amount of useful information unfortunately not well arranged.
Membership in this club, which only costs half-a-crown a year, is
desirable for tourists on the Continent.
The Customs regulations in France are not at all stringent, and tourists
are now almost invariably allowed free entry with their machines at the
chief ports, provided they can prove themselves to be tourists, and
possess a sufficient knowledge of the French language to explain the
fact intelligibly. Otherwise, a deposit of fifty or more francs is
demanded; but if a receipt be obtained, the amount, with a very trifling
deduction, will be returned if the tourist leaves the country within six
months. If one, however, proposes to go for a few days into Germany,
Belgium, or Spain, it is well to obtain a _Passavant Descriptif_, a
description of the machine, which costs a penny, and will permit the
bearer to return without any other formalities than showing this
document on again passing the Customs officers. It can be obtained at
the frontier stations by which one leaves the country, and is good at
any other point of entry. A passport is of very little use, but some
papers of identification, if possible French, may be indispensable for
any one who sketches or photographs. Sketching and photographing are
prohibited within a circle of 10 kilometres of any fortifications.
French hotels are usually reasonable and excellent. When they are
extortionate, they are nearly always bad.
Parcels Post is about as unreliable as in any other part of the world.
Clothes forwarded in this way are subject to the same uncertainty of
delivery, as regards time, as in England.
Suggestions as to distances to be ridden, clothes to be worn, and so on,
are quite unnecessary, since any one who has toured at all is usually a
law unto himself in these matters, and will accept no advice.
But as the roads are the best in the world, the people the most polite,
unless a head wind catches him, the tourist should have a delightful
time if he keeps to the right of the road, and provides himself with a
lamp and a bell.
Ballantyne Press
_Printed by_ BALLANTYNE HANSON & CO.
_Edinburgh and London_
FOOTNOTES:
[A] For the cycler it suffices to say that it was an overgrown “Bayliss
& Thomas.”
[B] We have never ceased regretting that we did not go to see
_Crasmagne en Amérique_.