Place to stay in france with the bike..

Not sure if this is the right place for this post but basically i am embarking on a short bike tour around france in august and although most of the trips between places are relatively short hops, the initial journey down to our first stop (argeles-sur-mer near perpignan) is going to be quite a trek and we'd like to break it up with a night stay somewhere. we will be setting off from east london fairly early on the first day so i anticipate we would cover enough mileage to get down to say clermont-ferrand sort of area and was wandering if anyone on here knows of any bike friendly (ie somewhere secure to stick/lock it) places to stay in roughly that area or anywhere on the way down to the viaduc du milau, your reccomendations would be greatly appreciated.

infact, whilst im asking, were also looking to stop off in nice, milan and lake-annecy so if anyone knows of any good places in any of those areas that would be great too!

Cheers
Mike

We stayed in a Best Western hotel in Claremont Ferrand at Easter, it had a secure car park. We had double ensuite for about 74 euros, lovely for drying out wet gear. Formula 1 hotels should be cheaper and I think there's one in Claremont Ferrand, but whether is has secure parking. We camped mainly on our trip and never really had any issues with security. We just chained the bikes together overnight and kept most of our stuff in the tent at night.

+1 on Formula 1 hotels. They're cheap and cheerful, and usually very well positioned to motorways. We had four bikes on our recent tour and we just locked the wheels together in the evening. I shared the same concern as you about leaving the bike in unsafe areas but there were plenty of bikes at the hotel so people didn't even pay any attention.

How about this place. About an hour from Clermont Ferrand.

http://ridersrest.eu/booking.aspx

In Formula1 you share a bathroom, sometimes with the entire floor.

If you prefer a private bathroom (think veruca and folk who pee in the shower and it's not hard!) an ETAP hotel is exactly the same but has an ensuite and breakfast and costs literally a few pounds more.

We stayed at this one and it was worth the money you pay

http://www.etaphotel.com/gb/hotel-50...re/index.shtml

The Millau bridge corsses the river Tarn. If you are going there don't miss a ride round the Gorges du Tarn then follow the river down to Millau.

Leave the A75 at junction 39 and follow the N88, then N106 to Ispagnac, then follow the river Tarn all the way to Millau. The road through the gorges is spectacular, but it's also worth a ride up the gorge wall to the view point. Look at this map http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichel...0&empriseH=450
then zoom out by clicking on the minus sign once, and you'll see it marked as "point sublime" on the map. It's accessed and signposted from the road the runs through St-Georges-De-Levejac.

Once you get to Millau, keep going next to the river, under the bridge and have a walk round the village of Peyre. It's built into the rock face and the car park at the church is one of the best places to view the bridge.

Have fun!

hey thanks for the suggestion,
have stayed in F1's before when driving and your right they do the job and are cheap as chips - i was just concerned security wise like you say. unfortuneatly we will only be on one bike so wont be able to lock a couple together which seems like a good solution but i suppose so long as there is something to bolt to it should be fine too? its my first trip on the bike you see so im abit new to it all.

the best western at clermont can currently be had for £40 for the date im after in august off expedia.co.uk which seems pretty fair to me! is the car park there underground or gated or something?

cheers again for your help
mike

BTW there are orgers who own a B&B in Perpignan.

Originally Posted by mikethebike

the best western at clermont can currently be had for £40 for the date im after in august off expedia.co.uk which seems pretty fair to me! is the car park there underground or gated or something?

The carpark is behind the hotel out of sight and is secured by a big roller shutter door between the hotel and the building next door. It was open during the day when we arrived, and presumably closed sometime in the evening.

wow, in the space of time it took me to press post reply, make a cuppa faff about and then actually write a reply there are two more.
cheers for your ideas guys, the biker place at treignac looks great, is it somewhere you've stayed yourself?

ralph, thanks for the indepth reply, iv crossed/admired the viaduc du milau numerous times on four wheels but have never actually ventured beneath it. i definately fancy having a blast around down there on the bike, iv always intended to but my parents place is only about another 2 hours from there and by that point on four wheels were usually just in the mindset that we jst want to get there and stick the kettle on, so never have done before!

what started as "spend an hour or so sorting the plans for the trip" has ended up being, spend all evening looking into every detail lol im excited now!

Mike

Went to france a while ago, stayed in all manner of B&B style jobbies.

Best western was the best. Kinda pricey though... then some random ones and then a Formula1 one... best way I can explain it, you know those permanent caravans you get at Hayling Island, it's like sleeping in one of those. 'cept the bedroom is the whole thing.

But yeah cheap n cheerful, one we stayed at had secure parking and although my memory was saying to my dad "don't plug in any electrics they'll catch fire", it was somewhere to sleep and had we have been on the bikes in the rain, dry our kit.