This French Life

Hop on your bike for a tour of both sides of the Channel

JUMP on your bike this summer and take in both sides of the Channel with the Tour de Manche circular route.

Officially launched later this month the route offers cyclists flavours of the sea across Normandy, Brittany, Devon and Dorset.

There is currently a smaller route, but the longer 1,200km route takes in some of the most famous sights from both countries.

The longer route will be opened on June 22, 2013 and wends its way through some of the most beautiful scenery that Dorset, Devon, Normandy and Brittany have to offer.

Waymarked the length of its route, it passes through sites of exceptional natural and historic interest, including Corfe Castle, Dorset and East Devon’s Jurassic Coast, Dartmoor National Park, the Pink Granite Coast and the Bay of Mont St-Michel.

The Tour de Manche travels from Poole to Dorchester, Exeter and Okehampton, before cyclists take the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff, travelling on to St Brieuc, St Malo and Cherbourg and then back to Poole.

Although challenging in parts, with a selection of testing but rewarding climbs for keen cyclists, it also offers sections of much easier riding.

The variety of scenery on offer is unparalleled, passing through Dorset’s quiet pastoral lanes, onto Devon’s dramatic moorlands and crossing the English Channel to hug the Brittany coastline before traversing hedged fields and dunes towards Cherbourg.

The Tour de Manche can be ridden in bite-sized sections, or for the more serious cyclist, as a complete tour. Whatever your level of experience, you’ll find cycle-friendly
accommodation along the route, as well as restaurants, bike repair and hire facilities.

A woodland tale from the journée champêtre

AT the Journée Champêtre à Loubejac, Simone and I had set up the table for the snacks, or the casse-croûtes, as they are called for both the horses and their riders, writes Carol Miers.

A month earlier, the discussion around the choice of casse-croûte had taken a good twenty minutes at the commitée de fête meeting. Its English translation is explicit meaning broken crust, and not grimy crust as I had thought, as in 'crasse-croûte'.

Before long, under chestnuts beside the chevaux and pedestrian route the tables were set up and people trickled in, lashing their horses on one of two ropes hitched between trees at the back of the glade.

Discovering Celtic connections with walks around Brittany

Taking in the view from the highest point in Brittany, Roc'h Ruz, by Wendy Mewes.

THE Celtic ties run deep through Brittany, so much so that historian Wendy Mewes wonders if it was her own roots that brought her to the region.

For Wendy those ties only strengthened when she drove off the ferry at Roscoff and now after writing walking guides and teaching English-speakers about Breton history, she finds herself entwined in the rich tapestry of the area.

Prepare to be dazzled by the Normandy Impressionist Festival

BACK for a second year, the Normandy Impressionist Festival celebrates the birth of the 19th-century art movement in the region where it all started.

For 2013 the festival celebrates the theme of 'water', a favourite motif used by the painters of that time, who were inspired by the scenic coastlines and vibrant natural colours.

Tourism minister says visitors to France will be safe

THE French government has said it will ensure the security of tourists visiting the country after a number of Chinese holidaymakers were robbed just after they arrived in Paris.

Tourism minister, Sylvia Pinel, said that 'everything will be done to find the perpetrators' after 23 Chinese tourists were robbed of their cash and passports soon after they arrived at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport.

More than one million Chinese tourists visit France every year.

World Economic Forum says French tourism trade on slide

THE French tourism industry has received a shot across the bow in a report from the World Economic Forum.

The organisation's Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 assesses 140 economies worldwide as to what they are doing to promote and develop the travel and tourism sector.

And the report shows France slipping from third place in 2011 to seventh today, falling behind the US and the UK, as well as Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Spain.

While accepting France is still an attractive destination for tourists, with increased global competition within the tourism trade the Forum says the French regulatory framework and a lack of skilled workers is hurting the industry.

Family friendly ski destinations in France

FRANCE is known to have some of the best, most impressive, and affordable family ski destinations not only in the Alps, but also the world.

All of its superb family ski destinations are suitable for family get-togethers and enjoyment as they offer wonderful meals, drinks, relaxation areas and skiing slopes that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Apart from having nannies and childcare facilities, the ski destinations offer fascinating activities for the children to make sure that they are fully occupied and entertained at all times.

A pick of three family-friendly ski destinations that you can visit while in France include:

France Passion lets you discover hidden France

WITH winter just around the corner, may be you are thinking about what to do next year come spring when you have a chance to explore France.

If you are the owner of a motorhome or campervan, or are able to hire one, then the France Passion initiative enables holidaymakers to stay on farms and vineyards for free for a maximum of 24 hours.

You have to buy a guidebook in advance for €29 to track down where the more than 1,700 properties who take part in the scheme are based.

But after that you are not obliged to pay anything more, just tidy up after yourself and if you really must buy a local bottle of wine, maybe a block of cheese or fresh fruit or veg.

Because that is what lies at the heart of the initiative, the chance to discover the produce of the farms you stay at as well as more about the people who have made it.

Discover the Cordouan lighthouse online

Fil'gouv

TAKE a virtual tour around the Cordouan lighthouse, found at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, without having to cross the stormy seas.

Le phare de Cordouan website lets you scroll around the lighthouse, first lit in 1611, from both inside and out and in a click or two you can learn much about its history.

The lighthouse is still in active service and measures 68m high.

A few signs of autumn in Périgord

AUTUMN, my favourite time of the year, with chill fresh mornings, yet the warm rays of the sun create magical, swirling mists which rise from the fields.

Overnight, with a clear, full moon sky, you can take a walk by its light and as the sun rises pick out the tracks of animals in the morning dew.

It is also chestnut season as the local farmers spread their netting beneath the heavily laden trees hoping for a bountiful harvest, but until the husks are split open we won't know.

Driving around the small, tight lanes of this southern corner of Périgord the bright green, spiky chestnut dazzles high in the trees as the late afternoon sun casts shadows over the valley.

But I have an eye on next year, and as a bit of an experiment, a little square foot garden has popped up with a dozen spring cabbages in place, close enough to the house to be protected from winter frost and hopefully there will be one or two spare to pass on to friends.