# Cycling on French D-roads



## Dec66 (15 Jan 2017)

I'm planning a little trip later in the year which involves cycling from Dunkerque to Bethune. The most direct route appears to be D916 then D937.

From what I see, they appear to be single carriageway, similar to the rural A-roads here.

Am I asking for trouble cycling along them, in terms of other road traffic?


----------



## Shut Up Legs (15 Jan 2017)

I rode on various D roads during my September Alps and Pyrenees cycling tour, and had no problems with the motor traffic.

Regards,

--- Victor.


----------



## Alex H (15 Jan 2017)

On some D roads round here, I'm lucky to find any other traffic


----------



## Globalti (15 Jan 2017)

I've never cycled in France but from reports I've read you are likely to be treated with the utmost courtesy, even admiration.


----------



## ianrauk (15 Jan 2017)

Cycled all the way from Geneva to Calais on D roads. Some resemble the humble quiet country lane whilst others resemble a single lane busy fast A road.


----------



## ianrauk (15 Jan 2017)

Globalti said:


> I've never cycled in France but from reports I've read you are likely to be treated with the utmost courtesy, even admiration.


Not entirely true. Whilst French drivers on the whole are very good and in the main you are treated with respect.. In large towns and cities you do get some of the same problems as here. Not a patch on Spanish drivers though. No one beats the Spanish for respect of cyclists.


----------



## ianrauk (15 Jan 2017)

@mmmmartin probraby knows that road


----------



## twentysix by twentyfive (15 Jan 2017)

Street view is a useful tool for checking traffic levels. 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/B...f13e81646da0!2m2!1d2.3767763!2d51.0343684!3e1


----------



## srw (15 Jan 2017)

_In general_, the higher the number in France the busier the road, which would instantly make me wary of your suggested route. There are two online mapping services which will be useful, because they indicate the size of roads well. The IGN national mapping online (https://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/carte) seems to be based on the 1:100k paper maps, which are the best, bar none, for bike touring in France - they are clean, easy to read, light, and have contour lines. And viamichelin (https://www.viamichelin.co.uk/web/R...BPT0=&index=0&vehicle=3&distance=km&corridor=) has a routing option specifically for bikes.

Looking at those, I'd want a route based on the D52 and the D238. I'd also pop over to Stanfords (http://www.stanfords.co.uk/ or in Covent Garden) to buy a paper copy of the 1:100k IGN map.


----------



## jay clock (15 Jan 2017)

I have toured all over France and agree it is a great place. But beware the D road. The comment above is true, in that a D2 will likely be smaller than a D916. Some like Bayonne D260 are dual carriageways with cycling banned.

My look at Streetview suggested those roads are fairly busy.

A quick look at RWGPS suggests the route you mentioned more or less, but i plotted it out using the main roads 66km and back another way using much smaller roads. I have not put tons of effort into double checking with Streetview but it is a tiny bit longer and much quieter

see here https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18520028

Caveat that as I now use garmin for navigation I am very happy with quite fiddly little back routes, and if in a hurry with just basic maps I would happily give the main roads a bash as nothing wastes more time than navigation. 

Final point is that for huge cities I will skirt round on country lanes but most towns ignore the by passes and simply head straight through the centre


----------



## 1000kChallenge (15 Jan 2017)

I'm organising a tour this year from the English Channel to the Med, all on quiet D-roads.

I've cycled this route the last 2 years, and it's fantastic. The d-roads we use are all ultra-quiet, like UK country lanes but they go cross-country like UK A-roads!


----------



## mmmmartin (15 Jan 2017)

SRW and jayclock have it covered. D roads can be horrid, or lovely. Avoid the trap of thinking the system is like our A, B road system, it isn't. A D road is classified thus because it is maintained by the *D*epartement while N roads are maintained by the *N*ational government. These classifications do not signify traffic levels. So a D road can be a fast busy road with an Armco barrier each side, meaning a fragile cyclist has nowhere to go when a 22 tonne lorry approaches in its rear-view mirror. And an N road can be an excellent piece of perfect, empty tarmac because all the traffic is on the nearby autoroute. Streetview can show you traffic levels, albeit not always accurately. Avoid straight roads, they tend to have fast traffic.


----------



## Dec66 (16 Jan 2017)

Thanks all, plenty of food for thought. I think the upshot is... Buy a Garmin.

I checked bits of the route on Streetview and they reminded me of riding on the road from Pagham to Selsey, which I didn't enjoy one bit, even at 7am. That's what prompted the initial question, really.

Now to work out the best route from West Wickham to Dover...


----------



## Dogtrousers (16 Jan 2017)

mmmmartin said:


> Streetview can show you traffic levels, albeit not always accurately. Avoid straight roads, they tend to have fast traffic.


I sometimes wonder about the history of the French road network. Some of the larger single carriageway D roads are very straight and seem to have been slapped onto the landscape by a central planner, while the smaller wiggly roads around them form the same sort of emergent network our own country lanes. The ones I'm thinking of are definitely pre-war and I wonder if they date back to Napoleonic times? (Just a guess. My French history is rubbish)

A result of this is that not only do the straighter roads have faster traffic, as @mmmartin says, but they tend not to be in sympathy with the landscape, so you get some real roller-coasters.


----------



## ianrauk (16 Jan 2017)

Dec66 said:


> Now to work out the best route from West Wickham to Dover.



Did Dover to Orpington last year.
Be warned, it's a hilly ride whichever way you go. 

Here you go. *RIDEWITHGPS LINK*


----------



## snorri (16 Jan 2017)

Globalti said:


> I've never cycled in France but from reports I've read you are likely to be treated with the utmost courtesy, even admiration.


Be wary of "reports", many have been compiled by people whose cycling experiences are limited to France and the UK. Conditions for cyclists in France may be better than the UK, but fall well below those enjoyed by cyclists in many parts of Europe.


----------



## Dave Davenport (16 Jan 2017)

This D road (think it's the 139) is part of the Le Mans motor racing circuit.


----------



## Dave Davenport (16 Jan 2017)

snorri said:


> Be wary of "reports", many have been compiled by people whose cycling experiences are limited to France and the UK. Conditions for cyclists in France may be better than the UK, but fall well below those enjoyed by cyclists in many parts of Europe.


Yep, whilst on the whole French drivers are much better than the majority of UK ones you do still get the odd bit of grief for not being on a cycle lane or riding two abreast, plus drink driving is still common, especially in rural areas.


----------



## Dec66 (16 Jan 2017)

Dave Davenport said:


> This D road (think it's the 139) is part of the Le Mans motor racing circuit.
> View attachment 333565


Be interesting to take a night ride along there in mid-June I imagine?


----------



## jay clock (16 Jan 2017)

snorri said:


> Be wary of "reports", many have been compiled by people whose cycling experiences are limited to France and the UK. Conditions for cyclists in France may be better than the UK, but fall well below those enjoyed by cyclists in many parts of Europe.


I have cycled Nice to Perpignan, UK to Spain via west coast and Montpellier to ST Malo. And a lap of Corsica. And New Zealand. Plus half a dozen tours in Spain. I am not interested in cycle paths like Germany and NL offer, and France is a sublime place to ride (with sensible planning). Plus superb camping and eating facilities


----------



## byegad (17 Jan 2017)

Yes, Some D routes are the equivalent of our fastest A roads, and some are dual carriageway too! Most aren't and here Google with Street view is your friend. I 'drove' a route I was wanting to use around Picardie five or six times on Street view and it gave me an awareness of the road conditions and instigated one change of the planned route to avoid a nasty looking stretch of 10 miles which looked heavily used by HGVs going to/from the channel ports.

My experience of cycling in France is that drivers are very much more considerate than in the UK, but the above comments about drink driving is probably true. In North East France they don't seem to go for the 2-3hr lunch breaks where everyone piles into a Cafe, Bistro or Bar for the duration to emerge on the roads driving like idiots. My limited experience of riding further South, Limoges, Bordeaux area suggests it's best to take a break Mid-afternoon from riding while the rush back to work is running.


----------



## fixedfixer (17 Jan 2017)

ianrauk said:


> Not entirely true. Whilst French drivers on the whole are very good and in the main you are treated with respect.. In large towns and cities you do get some of the same problems as here. Not a patch on Spanish drivers though. No one beats the Spanish for respect of cyclists.



I would wholeheartedly concur with the fact the Spanish have utmost respect for cyclist. Unfortunately the only close passes I had seemed to be from expats with UK reg vehicles. Hey ho.


----------



## ianrauk (17 Jan 2017)

fixedfixer said:


> I would wholeheartedly concur with the fact the Spanish have utmost respect for cyclist. Unfortunately the only close passes I had seemed to be from expats with UK reg vehicles. Hey ho.




The worst pass we had through the whole of a week in France was a car heading for Calais. With Brit number plates.


----------



## fixedfixer (17 Jan 2017)

I suspect driving on the same side (if you get my meaning) as the cyclist being passed the driver can get a 'better' read closer aim at the pannier bags


----------



## jay clock (17 Jan 2017)

Agreed Spain generally good but they do a few specialities

1 Convert old road into a motorway and leave no other option except a huge detour. A couple of times I have done a mile or two on the hard shoulder to avoid that e.g. entering Sevilla from the east
2 Build a new toll motorway which is unused by lorries who stick to the old N road (no shoulder) and no alternative for bikes e.g. my day here https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1M2&page_id=303797&v=8P
3 Conversely the exact opposite - build a brand new free motorway next to an old N road for 500km allowing days of navigation-free cycling like this https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1M2&page_id=304248&v=7O


----------



## mjr (17 Jan 2017)

Some French cycle tracks are D roads too. The direction signs on this one are topped by a similar little yellow D number plate as the roads it has a junction with: http://www.instantstreetview.com/@44.739508,-0.171646,147.9h,-12.36p,2z

You just can't tell. I think route planners like http://cycle.travel/map/ have traffic data loaded in for France as they often pick a particular one of two roads that look similar on street view even when it looks longer/steeper.


----------



## jay clock (17 Jan 2017)

mjr said:


> Some French cycle tracks are D roads too. The direction signs on this one are topped by a similar little yellow D number plate as the roads it has a junction with: http://www.instantstreetview.com/@44.739508,-0.171646,147.9h,-12.36p,2z
> 
> You just can't tell. I think route planners like http://cycle.travel/map/ have traffic data loaded in for France as they often pick a particular one of two roads that look similar on street view even when it looks longer/steeper.


I like that planning site.....


----------

