• France is a great country to cycle, at least in my experience - my experiences when I've been to NL are that it can be both incredibly windy (due to being so flat) and also quite wet! Ok, well, it rains in France too but generally the wind is not so much of an issue...

    A really good thing to look for in France is the 'voies vertes' ("green ways") which are generally old converted railway lines, sometimes running alongside canals, etc. There's a good map here which I think has them all at http://www.voiesvertes.com - clicking on an individual voie verte will give you more detail. There's also more info at https://www.francevelotourisme.com/conseils/preparer-voyage-velo/voie-verte

    Having said that, the small roads in France are generally pretty good for cyclists: people are very friendly and drivers give you a wide berth etc. If you ever have problems, never hesitate to ask for help either! Knock on someone's door or just ask as you're passing in the street: I've had loads of great conversations with people, got water, tools, even champagne and a place to stay when stopping to ask for help!

    There are also lots of other great routes (not voies vertes) that run alongside rivers / canals etc. For example, I road the Saone and Rhone one year from Chalon all the way to Avignon (and then on towards Montpelier, Sete etc). The bit from (about 40km after) Lyon to Avignon was incredible - one day I did 200+km with a fully loaded bike simply because the paths (and occasional bit on roads) were so good: tarmac, well sign-posted, gradually going down (I think the descent was something like 0.5-1 metre per km for 100+ km) and I happened to have the wind behind me that day.

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