Franche-Comte Vines and Villages

If you have 10 days to spare, then this new cycling holiday explores the 'golden triangle' of Franche-Comte and offers a real in-depth voyage of discovery for connoisseurs of hidden France. This is France profonde, unchanged over the years, with charming village squares decked with pavement cafes, geranium-filled balconies and traffic-free country lanes.Your trip starts and ends in the historic old town of Besancon - one of France's most picturesque yet least touristy towns - built in a loop around the River Doubs, and surrounded by Jurassic-folded limestone hills, with their characteristic cirques and reculees. From here, you explore pretty stretches of the Loue and Doubs rivers, and the farming hamlets of the plateau, with their neat wood piles and onion-domed churches. As you pedal, you'll traverse high meadows, verdant woodland and open plateaux. There's a good chance of spotting wild deer in the forests as well as kestrels and eagles circling overhead.