So I’m off to Aquitaine west of Bordeaux for a couple of weeks -any trails tecommended?
Which bike do I take MTB or road?
Ta

utawagavtt.com and have a look, all a bit flat I recall

Very flat. Nice place but it’s sandy pine forests and big roads ime. Surf instead would be my advice…..

or this type of thing ….slurp 😀

Go to Boredeax,
go here..

Cheese and wine restaurant

do the “Tour de France” expressed in cheese and wine.

yeah that sounds like what I had read tbh-
re big roads – do you mean busy or just bland featureless boring shizzle as opposed to little country affairs?
I had read something about a trail that runds the length of the west coast and wondered if it was doable on a road bike as I’m apparently 80 mils north of Biarritz- a trek on mtb but doable on a roadie…
cheers for your help all.

Just passed through Aquitaine last week. Used the bikes once and that was to ride into/around Bordeaux.

Yes, it’s flat. Especially along the coast. Lots of sandy pine forests. Reckon off road you’d be pushing much of the way due to the sand.

Road bike would be my choice assuming you’re not heading further south to the Pyrenees. (which is pretty good for biking, at least so far….)

Camped in the pine forests a lot and a lot is pretty hard packed. I’d have thought there’d be a fair bit of fun to be had in an xc singletrack kind of way. No idea of routes though.

Stunning place and area, my favourite of the French regions.
Road:
Ridden loads, but it’s flat’ish. Head up to St Emilion and east towards Mouliets et Vilemartin for the bumps, then head back south Targon and Pondensac, then West to Sauternes. Mixed road, lanes and vineyard small single lanes. Sauternes area my fave, sort of rolling soft landscape with epic views all around.
MTB:
Little in the way of bumps, few gravel tracks open to public (vineyard owned, gated) but some open if you head over West towards the forest/brushlands south west of Bordeaux heading towards Arcachon.
You don’t say where abouts in Aquitaine you will be, but North of the Garonne in Cognac it’s more hilly, and road riding is just as lovely.

I cycled down through France about 20 years ago. There were hard (concrete then if I remember) purpose built cycle paths/ network down through Aquitaine, all off road, through the forests. From about half way down France I used them until Biaritz. Its flat but good beaches. They are still there by the look of it. Apparently its upto 2000km. Any bike would do, but its sandy ground, so you’d be best with a small knobly. Loads of camp sites.

As above, nice forest rides between surfing beaches. I got stared out by a boar in those forests. If you enjoy wine then this place is an absolute must (no pun intended):

Chateau Poujeaux in Moulis Medoc

I originally got taken there by a local oenologist who reckoned it was the best quality for money in the Bordeaux area. You can try their different vintages and I always kick myself when I get back for not having bought more.

We’re in Bordeaux a lot, I’d avoid road riding on the long, straight roads east/south of Arcachon as, although the traffic is light, a lot of folk hammer along there and there’s no shoulder. Haven’t done any MTB around there.

T’other side of Bordeaux is the Roger Lapébie bike path. I tried it one freezing morning at New Year, lovely part of the world but had to bail at 20km as I’d forgotten gloves and my Garmin was saying -8c (my fingers had stopped feeling anything).

Miles of forest roads including many tarmaced ones though some are a bit broken up. There are actually some hills a little way inland but nothing particularly big.

I had my cx bike a little further north at lacanau and that was perfect

I’ve done a bit of the path Bob is talking about. Goes through some lovely villages.

spent the 1st week of a tour in June, riding from Biaritz to Verdun.
pretty much all the way is offroad on cycle tracks, mostly through flat or low rolling pine forest.
fantastic for car free touring. fantastic little places by the sea, ace surfing, very quiet.
some nice little loops for the mtb.

lots of this type stuff.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/WpLw13]2017-07-23_09-47-49[/url] by 20ston, on Flickr