Description
Ride the Vélo Francette, without the guesswork
The Vélo Francette is one of the best long rides in France: 630km coast to coast, from Ouistreham on the Normandy Channel to La Rochelle on the Atlantic. It is also sold as a flat, gentle river route, and a good part of that picture is wrong. This guide is the honest version, written by someone who rode the whole thing end to end, loaded, camping every night, and filmed every day of it.
It is built to get you across France smoothly, with every overnight planned and every GPX file ready to load.
What you get
- The full illustrated guide (PDF). Eight chapters covering what the route actually is, when to go, which direction to ride, getting there and getting home, the bike and kit, signage and resupply, camping, and the finish at La Rochelle.
- 6 GPX files, campsite to campsite. One file per day, each running from one night’s campsite to the next, so you always know exactly where the day ends. Load them straight into your Garmin, iGPSport or phone.
- A day-by-day breakdown of all six stages, each with distance, climbing (in metres and as a fraction of an Alpe d’Huez ascent), terrain, highlights, where to resupply, the campsite with its booking link, and a tip from the road.
- A route map and elevation profile for every stage.
- Every campsite chosen and named, so your overnights are sorted before you set off.
Why this guide
I have lived and worked on the roads of France since 2008 and supported well over a thousand riders across the country. The Vélo Francette is on my doorstep. This is not a tourist-board write-up or a two-day sampler. It is what I wish I had known before I started: where it bites, where the shops are shut, where the signage lets you down, and where the trip actually lives.
Ride it either way.
The guide runs north to south, Ouistreham to La Rochelle, but the Vélo Francette rides just as well in reverse, and every GPX file can be flipped to ride south to north.
Who it’s for
Anyone planning to ride the Vélo Francette self-supported, on a touring or gravel bike, camping along the way, whether it’s your first long tour or your tenth.
Instant download
Delivered as a PDF guide plus six GPX files, available to download the moment you buy. Yours to keep, on all your devices.
Want a hand beyond the guide? I also offer one-to-one planning calls and fully supported trips: van transfers to the start or from the finish, luggage moved between campsites, or a fully supported crossing. Details at morethan21bends.com.
The most detailed video guide of La Velo Francette on You Tube
VLOG and thoughts from each day plus some overall analysis of the route.
08/10/2026 Version 1.02 Released
