Cycling Cycling and waterway cruises

Bicycles : the best mode of transport to complement a… waterway cruise !

It was prob­a­bly the tran­quil set­ting and sooth­ing rhythm of a water­way cruise that attract­ed you to rent­ing a licence-free boat. These hol­i­days are nev­er­the­less made even more enchant­i­ng if you remem­ber to bring… your bikes. The tow­paths and banks of French canals make cycling an inte­gral part of water­way tourism.

Cycling : another way to approach waterway tourism

Opt­ing for a water­way cruise means adopt­ing a slow, sooth­ing rhythm. Your houseboat’s aver­age speed on the water­ways and canals of France and else­where will be between 6 and 8 km per hour. This is a time for dis­cov­ery, and since water­way tourism is an ide­al hol­i­day idea for the whole fam­i­ly, it’s a great idea to arrange bicy­cles to sat­is­fy every­one’s desires. When you stop off some­where, or pass through a lock, one (or more) of your crew may well opt for a bike to con­tin­ue the adven­ture, espe­cial­ly by tak­ing to the towpaths.

Towpaths by bike – a fun opportunity to explore the terroirs of every region you travel through

An ATB bike guar­an­tees you the pos­si­bil­i­ty of ring­ing the changes as you alter­nate between relax­ing moments spent on the deck of your licence-free rental boat and more intense moments as you cycle behind it with­out, nev­er­the­less, being forced to go too hard. Embrace the promise of unfor­get­table get­aways, with unique oppor­tu­ni­ties to fur­ther explore the ter­roirs you trav­el through. While your rental boat goes through the manoeu­vres to nav­i­gate a lock, you can leave the tow­paths to head towards neigh­bour­ing vil­lages or ham­lets. This is anoth­er way of meet­ing oth­er peo­ple and immers­ing your­self in all the regions’ attrac­tions, so don’t for­get to bring your bikes aboard your next water­way cruise.

From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and the Garonne to the Loire : put together an itinerary in line with your desires

You’ll gain anoth­er per­spec­tive of a region­al water­way net­work from the tow­paths and banks of French canals. Set off on the banks of the Canal du Midi on your ATB bike for an eas­i­er way to under­stand why this canal, built in the sev­en­teenth cen­tu­ry, is a UNESCO World Her­itage site. Nav­i­gate the waters of the Mayenne dur­ing your cruise and you’ll be able to enjoy launch­ing your bike on this path once reserved for barge­men. A hun­dred kilo­me­tres of cycle lanes await you between Le Lion d’Angers and Mayenne. Nav­i­gat­ing the locks will take on anoth­er dimen­sion as you cycle along these tow­paths and embrace a whole new way of travelling !