Beach Holiday Deals, News & Ideas » Tour de France http://www.beachholidayguide.co.uk/blog Ideas for Winter Sun & Beach Holidays Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:13:13 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 la Tour de France http://www.beachholidayguide.co.uk/blog/2009/04/la-tour-de-france/ http://www.beachholidayguide.co.uk/blog/2009/04/la-tour-de-france/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:12:47 +0000 Beach Holiday Guide http://www.beachholidayguide.co.uk/blog/?p=236 Tour de France Didi Devil

On our to do list during the planned road trip in the South of France is to try and watch a mountain stage of this years Tour de France.

Tour de France Route
We had hoped to travel at the end of July, but because the tour starts in Monaco this year and follows an anti-clockwise route around France, it means that the mountain stages in the Pyrenees occur fairly early on, with the big mountain stages on the 7th, 8th and 9th of July. Another option the penultimate stage on the 25th of July which finishes on the famous Mont Ventoux summit, in the Provence region of southern France. Nicknamed the “Giant of Provence” because it is the largest region or “The Bald Mountain” because top of the mountain is bare limestone without vegetation or trees.

Didi, the Tour de France Devil
Dieter “Didi” Senft (born 1952 in Reichenwalde, Germany) is known as the Tour de France devil or El Diablo and since 1993, he has been seen in the Tour’s many stages wearing his red devil costume.

Tour de France Dates 2009

Stage Type Date Start and Finish Distance
1 Individual time-trial Saturday 4 July Monaco > Monaco 15 km
2 Plain Sunday 5 July Monaco > Brignoles 182 km
3 Plain Monday 6 July Marseille > La Grande-Motte 196 km
4 Team TT Tuesday 7 July Montpellier > Montpellier 38 km
5 Plain Wednesday 8 July Le Cap d’Agde > Perpignan 197 km
6 Plain Thursday 9 July Gérone > Barcelone 175 km
7 High Mountains Friday 10 July Barcelone > Andorre Arcalis 224 km
8 High Mountains Saturday 11 July Andorre-la-Vieille > Saint-Girons 176 km
9 High Mountains Sunday 12 July Saint-Gaudens > Tarbes 160 km
R Rest Day Monday 13 July Limoges
10 Plain Tuesday 14 July Limoges > Issoudun 193 km
11 Plain Wednesday 15 July Vatan > Saint-Fargeau 192 km
12 Plain Thursday 16 July Tonnerre > Vittel 200 km
13 Medium mountains Friday 17 July Vittel > Colmar 200 km
14 Plain Saturday 18 July Colmar > Besançon 199 km
15 High Mountains Sunday 19 July Pontarlier > Verbier 207 km
R Rest Day Monday 20 July Verbier
16 High Mountains Tuesday 21 July Martigny > Bourg-Saint-Maurice 160 km
17 High Mountains Wednesday 22 July Bourg-Saint-Maurice > Le Grand-Bornand 169 km
18 Individual time-trial Thursday 23 July Annecy > Annecy 40 km
19 Plain Friday 24 July Bourgoin-Jallieu > Aubenas 195 km
20 High Mountains Saturday 25 July Montélimar > Mont Ventoux 167 km

 

…go to the main Self Drive Holiday in France page.

Picture: REUTERS

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South of France Holiday – Beaches, Bicycles & Canoes

For something a little different to our traditional summer holiday (relaxing on one of the beaches in Europe) a group of us thought it might be fun to explore the south of France by driving there from the UK using a ferry crossing to get to mainland Europe.

The aim is to not only to enjoy some of the best beaches on the French Riviera, but also to time it so that we can take in a mountain stage of the world’s most famous bicycle race, the Tour de France and perhaps do a little canoeing and camping in the Ardeche region of France.

As there will be 6 of us travelling together, I thought that I would write about the planning of the trip as well as a report after we get back in the hope that some of the information may be of use to others as I feel this could also make for a fantastic family holiday in France.

So the basic plan is (click on the links for more details):

Our accommodation in France will consist of:

  • Camping
  • Bed & Breakfasts
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