Our hotel season runs from the 22nd May to the 12th September. Between these dates all hotel tours are available. However with hotel tours this choice may narrow as tours sometimes fill and hotel rooms become unavailable pre season. In this case you need to give us preferred dates and route choices and we'll let you know what is available. Outside these dates our Gite-based fixed-centre holidays run at a greatly reduced cost.
With these
tours you carry your own luggage - which takes no extra effort! see FAQ. It’s worth noting that the campers following the
corresponding route can always dip into the hotels in extremis...
Please note that routes may vary slightly from described due
to things like availability of hotels rooms, road closures etc. However
the alternatives will be just as good...
All hotel customers will have a short ride that Saturday afternoon/evening,
so arriving too late to do this will need special arrangements.
Depending on room availability it is possible that your hotel
may be a 10 minute minibus ride away - if so we arrange and pay
for this and you leave your bikes with us (but take your panniers)
and then we pick you up again in the morning to set you off.
The price includes your accommodation with en-suite facilities and continental breakfast. We don't include evening meals because if we did it would lose you the flexibility of eating where and when you wanted, but all hotels will provide an evening meal (or there's a nearby restaurant) for around e15-20 if you do wish to eat in. This is important when comparing our prices with other cycletour companies. If you add about £150/200 euro to our prices you will have a reasonable basis for comparison with companies offering evening meals - this allowing for a 30 euro meal a night i.e. far from the lowest price on a menu... For a quick price guide go here
Please remember that fortnight long tours can be made by adding together two one-week tours, and doing this gives you an extra spare day in the middle of the fortnight.
Lastly - the 'difficulty' rating has to be rediculously vague for obvious reasons. As a guide my 11-year-old son (not a regular cyclist) can handle any of the routes up to 25 miles with ease, so 'moderate difficulty' might seem laughably easy for some people, tough for others. Though some of the rides are not flat, even on the hillier routes the hills are well graded, few will be steeper than 1 in 10. As ever it's up to you, and please do some practice first:-)
If you want to see how a route is organised have a look at the 'Heart of Brittany' an old route posted here
FIXED CENTRE TOUR
Over the years we've always offered a 'fixed-centre' hotel tour, as the local area is so good for cycling, but to be honest with the advent of our Gite based tours they have been supplanted as the Gite offers much more space, is more central in the village and works out cheaper for anyone except people on their own. The range of day rides from the gite are huge and it's much better for families than a hotel room. As the gite can sleep up to 8 people it also works out to a very cheap holiday. That said, if you wish we can still offer the fixed hotel option based at Bon Repos - see their website here.
TWO CENTRE TOUR(various day rides, and with a ride between hotels of about 18 miles along the towpath)
Gouarec and Bon Repos are beautiful and have everything a cyclist could wish for - The superb hotel Jardins de L'Abbaye (where I go for birthday meals etc)- see their website here, the canal with its towpath, an old rail-track now converted for cyclists and the usual quiet friendly countryside. You get to ride to ruined abbeys, market towns, stunning creperies and beautiful lakes and if you really fancy a day sitting outside a bar and watching the world go by then no-one will know.
You also get to ride to another hotel set by the canal - A building hidden in a stunning setting allowing you to explore the canal towpath further with a ride even as far as the bigger town of Carhaix? Their website is at http://canalchouette.free.fr/ Again this is just perfect for first timers or those with kid. For an unbiased account have a look at Robert and Libby Adamson's report.
LAKES AND FORESTS (Average 13 miles, longest day 20 miles. Easy terrain, lots on cyclepaths and very quiet lanes with short distances) - for more details go here
Our easiest moving-on tour. You'll find that you are riding on canal tow-path or cyclepath (the old 'Petit Train' route) for much of the time, and the rest is on very quiet roads. That makes it especially suitable for families or those seeking very gentle wobble. You get two nights in Pontivy, to visit the castle, the shops in the centre or to explore the canal south. Add more quiet meanderings through the countryside and two nights in a hotel set by the ruined Abbey at Bon Repos... A perfect introduction to the wonder that is central Brittany.
BINIC AND BACK (Average 16 miles, longest day 32 miles - but on this longest day the last 10 are flat and downhill. Short distances with some hilly bits), for map and brief description see here
Probably the easiest way to get to the coast with enough hills to help you burn off at least some calories (you won’t lose weight...). This is a lovely ride through quiet unspoilt countryside including a stay in the fortified town of Quintin, and on to the little fishing village/seaside resort of Binic. We love this place with its bars along the harbour, each with tables outside where you can spend a lazy day watching the world go by whilst eating ‘moule frites’. Wonderful lunchtime restaurants will tempt you as you cycle by and on the coast rockpools and beaches will keep you well occupied.
The hotel at Binic (the harbour wall is 10 metres behind me...)
CARNAC OR BUST (Rewritten for 2004) (Average 23 miles, longest day 32 miles. Easy paced and varied) - see description here
Carnac is probably one of the most famous monuments in France but the whole area is littered with Megalithic monuments, many of which you can walk round. For a great website about Megalithic monuments go here…Add to that some of the most stunning beaches you'll ever see, beautiful quiet countryside and it's easy to see why this is our most popular route. It's also a good way to learn cycletouring as it begins gently and gets a little harder as the week progresses, though even it's hardest day is the sort of thing that anyone who considers themselves even moderately fit will manage (or my 9-year-old). The hotels are the usual mix of family run establishments which over the last five years we have learnt to trust with our cyclists. As with any coastal route this may become busy during the last week of July/first fortnight of August, but it's not too manic and the inland parts will be quiet as ever. In fact the ride back from the coast has to be one of my favourites of all time with its deserted country lanes...
The north is less developed than the south and the coastline sports cliffs and bays the south lacks. The hotels are ones we've used for years and will give you a warm welcome. On the return you stay at the Belle Isle en Terre "Relais de L'Argoat". This little hotel has given us some of the best food we've ever eaten - the chef is a genius...
TWO CHATEAUX AND THE BLAVET (Average 17, longest 28 miles - very easy to begin with and pretty easy thereafter) - for more details go here
This route uses lovely Chambres D'Hotes and hotels and gives you the chance to spend the whole day in Josselin. Much of the ride is on cycle-path and tow-path, the rest on quiet lanes. Then a stay at Pontivy, situated right next to the canal tow-path - wonderful… For an 'unbiased' account read what the Carter Family got up to...
A TASTE OF BRITTANY (average 22 miles, longest 27 miles. Shortish, easily paced days with some hilly riding but nothing arduous or that would worry anyone who cycles occasionally). For details go here.
Why 'taste'? - well I guess it refers to two things... No other route will give you such a taste of the real, unspoilt jewel that is central Brittany. It'll be no more busy in August than in June, you'll pass through countryside unchanged for hundreds of years and feel you have 'touched' a very distinct part of France. You'll go to the market at Heolgoat, explore the Parc National du Armorique, nibble the gorgeous 'amuse bouche' at the hotel at Belle-isle-en-Terre, cycle a day on the Nantes-Brest canal and just get lost in tiny country lanes. The other reason? The hotels on this route give one of the most varied and interesting set of restaurants we offer. The fact that one of them is run by a Basque couple who offer Basque cuisine to our cyclists does mean you have one evening 'out of area' but it's no hardship! Yes there are a few hills, but to be honest you'll put on 2 stone without them, and my 11 year-old managed them easily. I love this route.
TO THE BAY OF MORLAIX (Average 23, longest 27. A few hilly bits, but nothing difficult) for details see here
This route takes you up to the North coast just beyone Morlaix and to a two night stay at a tiny hotel overlooking the bay. 200m from the beach and very peaceful even in August this is a lovely place to get away from it all and yet be at the coast. The ride there and back is through some lovely countryside and shares some of the 'foodie' aspects of the previous route:-) The day at the coast mean you can ride the few kms into the town of Morlaix with its sea lock full of expensive boats and bars lining the port, then explore East along some of the prettiest coastline of France. Or you can just laze on the beach...
ON THE BEACH (average 25, longest 27. A few hilly bits but nothing difficult and very much worth the effort) For details go here.
Odd name for a route until you see the beach at Le POULDU - Le Panoramique at Le Pouldu has a website - a beautiful spot that reminds me of the cornish beaches of my childhood. The route manages to combine this with some quiet deserted roads, the usual sleepy inland countryside and some excellent hotels - the one on the coast being 100m from the beach. For anyone not frightened of a few hills this is gorgeous.
WAY OUT WEST (Average 23, longest 27. Some quite hilly days but nothing too long) see description here
See here for a copy of an old route as a guide to how routes work Totally rewritten for 2010 this is a great way to explore this untouristy area. You'll go through tiny villages,You also have a chance to go to Quimper and then just through the most unspoilt countryside in Europe. Two nights at Chateaulin give you a day off where you can explore the Finistere coast and you stay at the hotel where all the cycling greats have stayed for the last 30 years (Armstrong included). Here tourists are rare, the people warm and friendly and the roads practically deserted - beautiful. Last night is spent at the wonderful "Canal Chouette" (owl), a tiny 3 room hotel set right on the canal towpath where the owner cooks you dinner in the communal dining room.
CARNAC AND JOSSELIN (Average 33 miles, max 42 miles).
This is an extended 'Carnac or Bust' route which takes you further East after Carnac to take in the Chateaux at Josselin. The distances are longer but the terrain far from arduous - a really good choice for those trying to see as much as possible in the week. It still retains the two nights at Carnac so you get a day on the beach:-)
TWO WEEK HOTEL TOURS
TWO CHATEAUX AND CARNAC (Average 20 miles, longest 28 miles, generally easy)
Combining the best of the 'Two Chateaux routes' and the 'Carnac or Bust' route this gives you plenty of time on the coast and the advantage of a great deal of the distance being on the canal towpath.
As mentioned above other tours can be conbined to give two week tours.
DISCLAIMER!
Only you can judge how fit you are. Please don’t assume a level of fitness when you haven’t taken any exercise for years - try a few rides before you come. As an example, in 1999 we had a few young, fit-looking people who found the route they had chosen much too hard. The following week a 4’-4", 8 year-old girl cycled the same route on a loaded kids bike weighing more than our adult bikes - without difficulty... Remember that if in doubt practice first to see what you are comfortable with. If you are camping you can always go further if you find it too easy but hotels are more fixed. For some relevent advice written in 1887 go here!
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