France Discovery motorcycle tour

Arrival in Tours. Hotel check-in and group briefing.
welcome dinner in old town Tours.

We will make our way from Tours to Normandy and make a stop at the mythic 24 hours of Le Mans circuit where we will ride an actual portion of the racetrack. We will cross some typical villages of Normandy, well known for their half-timbered houses, and stop at the Basilica of Lisieux, home of St Teresa. We will arrive for the evening in the 18th century harbor town of Honfleur.

This will be D-Day revival day. We will stop at many major sites where this historical event took place, from the English beach of Juno and its famous Pegasus Bridge, to the breathtaking beach of Omaha and its heart-rending cemetery. Utah Beach and the Village of Ste Mere Eglise will be our final stop of the day. This was the first village liberated by the 101st Airborne Division.

We head through the countryside of Normandy towards the famous Unesco site of Mont St Michel. We will tour and have lunch at this famous monastery and then make our way to the seaside city of St Malo, a fortified town of seamen and corsairs where the discoverer of Canada, Jacques Cartier, was born. We are now in the region of Brittany, a celtic region of tradition and independence.

After a stop in the medieval city of Dinan, we will head south on the edge of Brittany until we reach the Unesco Loire Valley. The Loire is the ultimate wild river of France. Castles will begin to pop up everywhere as we reach our final destination of the day, Chinon.

Chinon will be a good opportunity for those who would like to get off the bike and discover the area. There is much to see and do nearby, including the Chateau of Langeais, Saumur, Ussé, and the Abbey of Fontevraud. The area is also food for wine tasting as it is in the heart of the Loire Valley wine region. The town center of Chinon offer plenty of attractions and small pedestrians streets where getting lost is a pleasure.

We will leave the Loire Valley and start heading to the Limousin region following the river Gartempe. The landscape become more hilly, castles will still be part of the journey. We will stop at Oradour sur Glane a martyr town completely destroyed by the Germans during WWII. Today it’s a testimony of war brutality.

On this day we will travel in the region with the highest number of villages with Heritage Landmarks, including Collonges la Rouge, and Turenne. We will spend the night in Sarlat, the capital of the Perigord region, and enjoy the rest of afternoon in the old town where gastronomy is raised to a sort of art.

Today is a free day dedicated to Sarlat and its beautiful surroundings, including the medieval villages of Domme, la Roche Gageac, and Beynac, and also the sumptuous garden of Marqueyssac and the prehistoric valley of the Vézère River. One month would not be enough to enjoy all of the sights that abounds. Be prepared for making choices of what to see and do.

We are now deep in the heart of France. The villages are settled in peaceful valleys where time seems to have stopped. This is the French wild frontier! Rocamadour and the cave of Padirac will be our stop of the day before we reach the Village of Figeac in the heart of the Quercy Region.

We are likely to meet many hikers on this days as the road follows the Unesco Trail of Compostela, part of the Way of St James pilgrimage route. We will visit one of its major stopovers, the medieval village of Conques. For those who like knives, we will be in the region of the real Laguiole knives. We will spend this night in Millau.

The Millau Viaduct, highest road bridge in the world, will be our starting point as we are enter the National park of Cevennes, one of the most deserted parts of France. We will pass the gorgeous Tarn’s Gorges and its medieval villages. The twisty and curvy roads (Corniche des Cevennes) will lead us to the ancient Roman city of Nimes, the entry portal of Provence. This will be the most interesting and challenging riding day of the trip as the roads into and out the gorges are narrow and steep with many switchbacks.

From Nimes to Avignon … not a great distance, but a magical ride filled  with the smells of Provence and a stop at the medieval village of Baux de Provence, the Roman three-level  bridge Pont du Gard, and so on. We complete this tour with two nights in the Unesco city of Avignon.

Today you might decide to wander the Unesco streets of Avignon and visit its former pope Palace. For those who still want to ride we will take you to the nearby Mount Ventoux and Lubéron plateau.
A farewell dinner will close our tour.