Accommodation
I don’t usually make hotel reservations in advance because when cycling I can never be quite sure where I will be spending the night. An exception would be when leaving Paris by train for somewhere in the far south or east of France, for example, Briancon or Nice - and then only if travelling in the month of August. At that time of year hotels in France, particularly in the south and on the coast are invariably very busy, which is why I now make a point of taking my vacation in July rather than August. (Over a ten year period, my wife and I got caught out twice, one time in La Rochelle where we had to spend an uncomfortable night in the Hotel de Police, and once in the wilds of Cantal where we were re-directed as a last resort to the monastery of Les Pauvres Clarisses - which in contrast to the Hotel de Police turned out to be a fun experience that we would be quite willing to repeat.) Most problems finding an hotel can be avoided if you finish your cycling day between 4 - 5 pm. After 5 - 6 pm you will be competing with people travelling by automobile, and leaving it too late may leave you with a choice of either a no-star (nevertheless clean) or a 3,4,5-star hotel, and probably the worst room in the hotel. However, in the long run this tends to even out your costs and provides you with some interesting stories to tell!