More than 200 of the world’s most highly tuned athletes will climb aboard their bikes later for a 20-day, 2172-mile jaunt across France. We say jaunt … the Tour de France has got to be right up there with the most gruelling and punishing tests of physical and mental endurance on the planet.
In some ways we wish we were going along for the ride. In “some ways” we said!
Obviously we could live without the tear-inducing saddle sore, the demand to pee in a cup every night to prove our sportsmanship and having to consume 9,000 calories a day every day for three weeks (though we could probably manage the latter if we were allowed to run wild in one the country’s finer patisseries!)
Rather, we wish we could visit many of the incredible countryside spots and villages that the riders will pass on their way.
In fact, the arrival of the world’s greatest bike race has got us thinking about a tour of France of our very own. One where the mode of transport doesn’t require anymore input than the purchase of a ticket. And one that involves something else that France’s famous for.
We’re talking a tour of France’s famed wine regions by train. Thanks to the excellent TGV rail system it’s possible to string a tour together with relatively short times between each destination. We’d love to travel across France in scorching summer and sample some of its great wines along the way. See our sample itinerary below.
Champagne
Paris – Reims (45 mins)
Alsace
Reims – Strasbourg (2h10)
Burgundy
Strasbourg – Dijon – Beaune – Lyon (2h25)
Rhone Valley
Lyon – Valence – Montpellier (1h)
Languedoc
Montpellier – Carcassonne (1h)
Bordeaux
Carcassonne – Bordeaux (3h)
Loir Valley
Bordeaux – Tours (2h40)
Return to Paris
Tours – Paris (1h15)
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Image: MorBCN)
