Touring - Cycling from the UK to Italy - Ideas please!

Hi everyone,

I've posted this on another forum but so far i've not had any responses so hopefully i'll have more luck here.

I'm hoping to get away at the end of the summer for a few weeks and what better way to do it than cycling across a part of Europe?!

My plan is to cycle from the UK to Italy, mainly to get to cross the Alps. I want to go from Dieppe through the NE of France, through Switzerland and then finish off in Italy.

I'd like to organise my route so that I pass through as many interesting/beautiful/good food producing areas as possible! If any of you have any tips regarding this I'd really appreciate it. Also, where to end up in Italy as I'm going to be lazy and fly back, so i'll need to book this in advance.


Thanks in advance,

Duncan

The only part of France I was unimpressed with from a cycling standpoint is the area between Paris & the Belgian border. Years ago, I biked from Luxembourg to Dieppe, but I went a bit south of Paris. It turned out to be a nice route. You could bike from Dieppe SE to Rouen (Normandy is nice for cycling), then up the Seine valley. Monet's gardens & house at Giverny (near Vernon) are worth a visit. Then SE toward Chartres, east toward Fontainebleau and Troyes. From there you could cross Burgundy to the Jura & the Swiss border. Or, from Chartres you could go a bit further south to the Loire Valley, then east up the valley. You could either head, again, thru Burgundy, or you could follow the Loire to the lovely gorge area of the Loire way down a day's ride west of Lyon. Then east to Switzerland.

You're in luck! France itself is actually certified as a "good food producing area".