I saw this on the CTC CycleClips magazine and it took my fancy. I bought it on impulse, despite having no plans to cycle in France again any time soon. However, that is up for grabs as I have really taken to this guide to the St. Malo-Nice route by John Walsh and Hannah Reynolds. The French Tourist Board ought to be employing these two: perhaps they are!
I found so much to like:
- The size of the book is about the most you would want for touring and it comes with a nice, practical cover flap to keep your place.
- The format and style look like an attractive magazine, with masses of illustrations, colours and maps.
- The maps are specially drawn and very stylised to provide not only the simplicity to make them easy to follow, but also the detail you need to keep on track.
- The text is lively and makes for an enjoyable read.
- Inserts of cultural and historical interest are colour coded, meaning you can read or ignore them as you choose.
- All the practical stuff about eating places, hotels etc. is nicely covered and an attempt is made to cater for all budgets.
- The text is pretty convincing and clearly written by cyclists, for cyclists.
- Best of all is the overview of the guides set out to support six different approaches/timescales to the journey. This is a brilliant idea that introduces lots of flexibility and will make sure the book satisfies all sorts of cyclists.
I could really fancy trying this out for a month!
I bought my copy via the CTC on the Publisher’s Website and snagged a 20% discount, but it is also available through this page on Amazon.
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