Hello all.

I'm about to go biking down to Spain via the French Riviera. I was just going to go (tomorrow - unemployed again) without an awful lot of planning and wing it - I've done a few hitch-hiking, train-bunking trips in my youth this way and had fun doing it. But now I'm starting to enjoy the planning of it all so I'm putting it off till Tuesday with a more measured approach.

So, what I'm thinking is:

1) To go down the eastern side of France from Calais, passing east of Paris taking motorways at least as far as Troyes to get the northern part out of the way quickish.

2) From there I'm a bit vague as to what is good roads for this time of year etc., but am looking to take it slower from there and head towards the Nice, St Tropez area.

3) Then head west along the Med coast towards Spain and Barcelona and the Costa del Sol, maybe picking up a bit of early seasonal work and lingering for a bit.

4) When I leave there head back thru central Spain towards the western Pyrenees and heading back north thru Aquitaine/Bordeaux regions.

All this is gonna be done solo on a CB500 with screen and hard panniers.

So any advice on any aspect of a trip like this? Any websites with good routes? I really need some suggestions on the eastern France leg, what roads, what good things to stop and see etc. I want to do it all on the cheap and make my cash last as long as possible, though there's no real time limit on the trip.

Any replies greatly appreciated.

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