St Pancras to Avigion or Nimes

I want to See stage 20 Up Mont ventoux on the Tour De France

But the train looks stupidly expensive for around that time in July
£220+ return

Anyone know of a cheap way of getting to the south of france by rail?

You could ride some of the journey...
Get the ferry etc.

Would make it an awesome trip.

Not a train but

http://www.bike-express.co.uk/med_main.html

get a eurostar to paris at stupid-O-clock for cheap then book french train tickets on www.bahn.de

Which website are you using to get a quote from? Avoid www.raileurope.co.uk and use either www.bahn.de as yebo suggests or www.tgv-europe.com as they tend to be significantly cheaper.

seat61.com

bahn.de website says you can't book tickets for inside from france on their site online, and doesnt give me the price - what am I doing wrong?

Fares not available ** Tariff abroad **

For connections outside of Germany, a special ticket is required. These offers are not bookable via the internet.

Tickets may be purchased in any DB ReiseZentrum, authorised travel agencies or over the telephone using DB ReiseService by dialing 11861 (toll call).

Tommy,

rail it is soo expensive, I am hoping to drive down with van / friends to Carpentras (via A7), then ride up Mount Ventoux and then on to Gorge du Verdon for the annual pilgrimmage to Cannes, this is however weeks before the tour arrives.. but I love that fact that i see it all again through the live coverage on Eurosport, we also relive those shared painful / wonderous moments..

can't tell you of a cheap way to get there, but can say whatever you pay it will be so worth out. missed out on the Gorge du Verdon after we climbed Ventoux as realised it was kinda out of the way (though a friend lives there and would put us up) and we had to go and watch one of the shortest but most brilliant footballers in the world win the champions league.

travelling by rail in france is very hassle free though. beware if you go TGV to make sure they will carry your bike, if you are thinking of going sans bike bag (as we were)

I bought my tickets for the week before about a month ago and they were £110 return. I think it's a combination of the Tour and the fact that it's only about 6 weeks away that put the price up. I'd vote for a large car with some bikes on the back. 4 people. done. Just drive it into the sea.

I'm trying to use this tgv-europe site to book tickets and it lets me choose what I want and pay and then it fails with some fucking technical error. Bunch of slags.

So, looks like the only way to get to Toulouse is pay top dorra using the Eurostar site.