French Cycling Holiday on a Tight Budget
Don’t think you can afford another holiday this year? Well, get your act together soon (before winter…and El Nino…really sets in!), follow these frugal travel tips and you might be able to squeeze in just one more – a low budget cycle tour of France.
Travel
Your first and completely unavoidable expenditure will be getting you and your bike over that pesky stretch of water we call the Channel.
Short of stowing away on a fishing boat, or creating some sort of buoyancy device for your bike and cycling across, the cheapest deal I can currently find is just over £30, bike included, with Brittany Ferries to a number of different ports, each well suited to a variety of excellent touring routes.
This is incredible value considering it costs £30 just to reserve a space for your bike on Eurostar and that is before you have even bought a ticket.
Accommodation
Having made your way over the Channel (and at this point I am assuming you already have a bike and necessary equipment for long distance cycling – if not, this might be worth looking into before you leave) your next consideration is where to lay your weary bones after a hard day’s bicycle exploration.
On a budget the obvious choice for free accommodation is camping – specifically wild camping, where you do not need to pay campsite fees. Now whilst this may sound like a good idea, the romance of pitching up in random fields will quickly be lost as fatigue and bad weather kick in.
For a slightly more luxurious but no more expensive option, check out www.warmshowers.org – a website that describes itself as “free worldwide hospitality exchange for touring cyclists”. Essentially this is couch surfing for cyclist and with a bit (ok – a lot) of careful preparation you could in theory cover all of your accommodation needs for free, whilst meeting a whole load of new and interesting people in the process.
If this does interest you, be sure to read the Warm Showers rules, explore the forums and also check out this great guide to proper guest etiquette.
Sustenance
So with shelter (and travel) covered, we finish on the remaining basic human requirement – food and water. Unless you are a particularly accomplished hunter gatherer, there is pretty much no way that sustenance can be acquired on a daily basis without spending at least some money – but you can get pretty close.
When it comes to hydration you’re well catered for across most of France, even in big cities. If you are from the UK then filling your water bottle from public fountains (not drinking fountains, actual fountains) may seem a little odd, but the general rule of thumb is that unless you see an “eau no potable” sign then you are good to go – fill your water bottles, but do avoid putting your mouth to them!
For food your best option is the humble picnic. Visit a French supermarche and you can pick up all the essentials for a spot of al-fresco dining at affordable prices. Not a huge amount of advice to give out on this subject. It’s a picnic, you can manage that.
Photo c/o discoverfrance.com
Very good blog article.Really thank you! Much obliged.
You can do cycling trips very cheap, I cycled from Dieppe to Paris and back this summer and used a campsite a couple of times and the other times wild camped, it’s not a problem if you are comfortable with doing it. Food is cheap, just go to a supermarket and you can pick up lovely food at a good price.
I also have done a month cycling across Europe only using a campsite 5 times, the rest spent wildcamping and just asking people if we could stay in their garden, I had not heard of warmshowers before the trip, just had the naivety of youth, it worked! stayed with some great people.