Reflections on Cycling Through France

I spent two weeks cycling through France and a couple of things have struck me from the point of view of the cyclist. First is the high quality of the cycle paths here: mostly they are smooth and well maintained, far better than a lot of the rough and poorly serviced British ones. One morning I even had to pull aside for a mini sweeper that was working its way along the cycle path cleaning up. The other thing that is noticeable is the respect shown by the majority of car users here. If standing to cross the road, even when not at a pedestrian crossing, drivers would often stop and wave you across. Cars do not seem to be as prevalent in towns here either: the snarled roads of British towns stand in contrast to those here where far fewer cars seem to be on the streets. Whether there are more pedestrianised areas, whether they better manage the flow, or if there is simply less reliance on cars here I do not know, but certainly France does not seem to be so car dominated as back home.

The route signage too has generally been good through France, although there have been a good many times when I have needed the EV6 navigation app on my phone: junctions without signs, signs in out of the way locations and signs that are open to interpretation have all contributed to the problems, especially in the larger towns and cities, and have slowed me down considerably. And surprisingly I have noticed a significant change for the worse in the quality of signage here in Basel; so much for Swiss precision. It will be interesting to see how things are as I move on to Germany and Austria.