Since leaving the Loire I have encountered bike routes, basically bike promenades in nearly every place i visit. It is amazing how popular the vélo is around here. For long distance cycling though I keep off these "toodle along and smell the roses" routes as they aren't direct enough. I stick to the smaller D roads, which are usually but not always marked in white on the Michelin road maps. I am using maps with a 1cm to 1,5km correspondence and it is possible to get around quite safely. Of course it is a pain to have to remove my sunglasses then put on my reading glasses and vice versa, and you still get lost a lot but I am still being treated like a moving vehicle with the same rights on the road as anyone else. Even when someone honks the horn at me it's in the "bonne courage!" mode not the "get the hell outta the way" mode.
I visit the tourist info centers in each town i go to, unless it is lunch noon to 2PM and mostly they are very helpful and go out of their way to be of assistance. I have had many cmpliments about my "excellent command of the language" which just goes to show how few Americans do anything like what I am doing. Bonne route!
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