Stick to the motorway, it will disturb the wildlife less.
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Hi Ben, and welcome from me too! In answer to your point about French drivers. All you need to know is there is a pathological aversion to seeing a car in front of them, which becomes intensified when it is lunchtime and heading home time. Apart from that they are simply lunatics - as my French wife assures me!!
Today a big estate car (English) and a truck (french) were backing out on to a main road!! The estate just kept on coming as if entitled 
I had my stubborn hat on 
Hi Ben 
I’m not cycling until I get my carte vitale. I may have private insurance but I’m not pushing my luck by doing anything slightly risky.
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Very wise… 
…Falling-off is NOT allowed. 
I’ve been investigating the electric bikes that our neighbours have recently bought… If I can find one with stabilizers… I might save up my pennies…
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The owner of the chateau I worked at until last year, had an electric bike as a gift from his wife…6500 whole new euros !
Better start saving Stella !
Great scott !! forget that idea then… (mind you, I can’t think where the neighbours would have found such sums).
Ah well… relief all round then… the village would have been on Red Alert to see Stella on a bike… 
Must be a Rolls Royce velo then ! There are a lot cheaper around than that !
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I should add that he’s not at all unhappy financially…& a few quid spent on a bike that will doubtless be in pieces in a matter of months, is of little concern to him I’m sure.
The builder that put a new roof on the chateau, is also a very keen cyclist; & told us that 6.5 k for a bike is very reasonable…
Anne, I’m sorry! I didn’t think anyone would think seriouly about biking everywhere…of course its much easier for me because I just happened to find myself close to the network. For anyone house hunting, I’d recommend, if they like green trails …for hiking, horses, biking…to find a property in easy reach of the network. Its big now… slower…it would take me half a day to get to the capital from here, but for those not obliged to be timekeepers, what could be nicer?
Stella and Theresa!!! Falling off!!! I have already found myself obliged to think the whole self destruct thing, through, very carefully! It needs COURAGE…but do this, ladies…First…get over the embarrassment… If you suffer from it, and many don’t! …of looking weird! Next, go through all the ads you can find, I’ve just been researching Aliexpress and Wish…
…and take your pick from the glorious selection of motorbike… body armour! I’m getting the padded pants, about 12 Euros…because I found that my most painful damage… was a thigh injury, when my bike (which was the absolute WORST first choice for any OAP, BUT which I love .now, with a passion…tips over, taking me with its vast weight. I fell on the bumpy metal bits …that’s twice now. AND…one of those lightweight but stiffly protected joints/spine/ moto- jackets…they are …not… to be “warm” and the stiff bits are fixed onto breathable lycra net, stuff…so you can wear them under pretty girly things, if you need to!
If I had been wearing any kind of body padding, I would have been undamaged…but you must know you’re own strengths and weaknesses. I can’t describe myself as any kind of delicate flower…
How good this kind of kit would be…if worn for its original purpose… To protect trail motorbike riders, I can’t imagine, but it looks tough enough to me…
Jacket …a selection…all with joint and spine protection…around 32 Euros…cheaper if you are tiny…
I find French drivers very accommodating to cyclists - though I do try and keep to the backroads and cycle paths. That’s in the SW mainly so it could be different in the big cities, but not around here…
And 30km on an e-bike should be a stroll!
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Dumb that is…when someone claims top prices like that…are reasonable my guess is that’s a kind of simpletons way of covertly declaring themselves to be top dogs in the race to be Stuff Champions.
Boring!!! How ludicrous can anyone get. I bought mine from Norautos maybe 4 years ago, 340 Euros approx…bottom of the range…I indulged in TWO beastly lead batteries for it…and only (now) consider trading it for another, less murderous bike…because the gravelly steep track…up ONE direction to the road…takes me three trips…bike without battery…battery one…battery two…then if its for some serious shopping in town…trip four with dog trailer.that carries battery two plus at least 15-20 KGS of food etc… The whole thing being a glorious treat for me, so peaceful…once under way. Never forget the hum of that bike as the motor cuts in on the first slope that was undoable for me…sans motor…
I like motorbikes, its a bit not fair…that cars and bikes have purpose built roads…but motorbikes don’t…too dangerous…
Motorbike trails would be good…but nothing that makes a terrific noise, smell, pollution…
I didn’t think I would ever get back on my bike, Veronique…I used to adore doing the Kings Road, with my son…there was always thick traffic, but it could rarely go fast enough to be a prob…That’s ummmm…65? yrs ago.
We are both still biking…he got back into it when he first visited me in France, bikers are treated with respect here, mostly… Now hes in Japan, and bikes everywhere, on those bikes that weigh nothing at all. Praps its genetic! My Brit g’pa built Claude Butler racing bikes, and he could make a whole bike out of bits…My dream, now, is to build an ebike with rain cover and motor big enough to take steeper hills, plus shopping carrier…I know lots exist…but only for peeps with heaps of dosh.
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Mmm… I have been known to go on a bike at the seaside… friends have bikes of all sizes and I go riding along their cycle paths which are barricaded away from any traffic… so very safe … and slow is OK…
but I must be able to put my feet flat on the ground, while sitting in the saddle… then I know that I can balance myself/stop myself if necessary.
This comes from an avid biker… the hills of Devon held no qualms for me and my racer… 
but that was a very long, long time ago…
Will no longer risk my bones… had enough broken since we came to France…although the medical service has been tops with many lovely doctors and surgeons… (be still my beating heart…
) even those guys are not worth the pain/misery…
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There was a smart looking yellow La Poste bicycle for sale at Brantome vide on Sunday. I was a little bit tempted.
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Are Poste bikes, ebikes? There are more ebikes on offer sec. hand now…leboncoin, etc… I’m looking for a very light one…my Norautos bike weighs as much as horse. Perfect on old train line trails, a killer for roads and big…hills.
That’s true! 30kms on an ebike…eezy peezy. But make sure you get one that can do around 40 without needing to be plugged in. To town and back, for me, is 30+,…My e would not get there on its motor assist, alone. A lot of pedaling, though not of the French sporty bike kind… is necessary.
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