Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

if your going through on the ferry from Dover, Limoges is in the next region on from where we went last year. you can get through AVOIDING paris altogether. Get out on the A16 for starters, something like A28 then A10. Its hard to describe the route on line in detail. If a Dizzyblonde can get all the way to St. Jean d'Angelay without getting lost with two blokes following I'm sure you can. We did it in a day. BUT it was tiring and very long way. If you need to book a biker friendly B+B half way down check out this link
http://www.bike-stay.net/france/index.html
we used one from here in Peuplingue( as from Halifax we weren't going nowhere without a kip)
you will probably be aiming on a mitchelin map, calais, abbeville, Rouen, le mans, Tours, Poitier and for you the end will be different. We followed this route on the Peages, first time trip would have been difficult on B roads- I'd have got lost. If you play around with the michelin route planner you'll get the general idea

Hope this helps in some way
p.s we did around 1600 mile round trip.....easy if it didn't rain for 500 of it on the way home!