TET France - Trans Euro Trail - Europe's Dirt Road Adventure

France

Your Linesman

Fabien Marque

I’m 39 and have ridden road bikes for the last 20 years – travelling mainly in Europe – and Morocco as soon as I could! I discovered off-road riding on motorcycles when I was living in the Ardèche and got into riding “enduro”. In 2017 I started to help the TET by scouting tracks and drawing lines on the laptop …

I have a need to be in the countryside amongst mountains and nature, hiking or riding and just enjoying the scenery ! Just picking up my backpack, throwing my stuff on my bike and going for a ride – the good life!

I rode and scouted the French TET tracks with a 650GS Dakar, an XR400 (also rode a bit of the Italian TET and went to Zagora, Morocco with this good friend), an old 600 XLLM and now a 600 TTR.

On the professional side I was a Project Manager for 10 years, and now I’ve just qualified as a mechanical teacher.

DOWNLOAD THE GPX TRACK

TET routes are updated frequently. Always download the route just before you travel, whenever you travel and check regularly as you travel.
Your TET GPX is free but not cheap. If you have enjoyed a TET adventure please consider donating and help maintain this unique resource. Thank you!

ROUTE INFO

All year round except the sections which cross the Massif Central and the Alps. The best months for the Alps are from July to the end of october and for the Massif Central you can start at the end of April.
18 in countryside, 15 in town, 112
National and Regional Parks have their own laws with regard to wild camping, so check their rules. Otherwise ensure that you're not on private land, stay only one night with a light tent, do not bivouac on the the coast, in protected natural sites or on the perimeter of classified historic monuments, do not make a fire (in particular in the south of France) and leave your bivoauc area as you found it and you should not face problems.
Respect sign posts, red and white circle with a barrier and private property!

If trail is wide enough and drivable for a normal car and you've no sign post you can ride it.

Avoid single tracks as most of them are forbiden.

Be careful when you are in the south of France in the Departments of Aude, Pyrénées-orientales, Gard, Vaucluse and Corsica. During the summer, these departments may have restrictions due to forest fire risks. Most of the TET's tracks in Corsica are forbidden to ride from the 15th of June to 15th of September.
You can check information on these official websites:
Ardeche
Aude
Gard
Herault
Pyrenees-Orientales
Vaucluse
Corse du Sud
Haute Corse

ROUTE OVERVIEW

You will cross France from the north to the south and from the west to the east. You could cross the Méditerranée with a ferry and visit Corsica from north to south.

You may reach Italy through the Alps and Spain through the Pyrenees.

If you start in Calais you will ride through an agricultural landscape and perhaps stop at Amiens with its beautiful Gothic Cathedral. Then you will head on past Paris. If you want to have a break here you will have to be patient with the traffic jams and the Parisian attitude!

You will then cross the Seine River and ride to Chartres with its famous perfumes and stained glass.

The landscape is still agricultural but more forests will appear. After Orleans where you cross the Loire you will travel through increasing amounts of woodland and the hills will begin.

You will see the Massif Central, a 300 000 year old volcanic range, before heading to the south and its Mediterranean climate and vegetation. The fortified city of Carcassone is a highlight of this area.

Throughout my country you will find different types of trail - limestone, granite and mud, different landscapes - wide agricultural fields, forests, mountains and Mediterranean hillsides and if you get lost you will always find someone who will help you! I guarantee it!

Please note that some sections will be removed from the download over the summer months either completely or by displaying them as single straight lines. We ask you not to ride these sections during these times as there are issues with fire risk or the potential for conflict with co-users who crowd to these areas as tourists.

WHAT NOT TO MISS

There is such a variety of landscapes, food and architecture that you will always be surprised.

Just take your time to have a break, enjoy the view, have a coffee break or lunch in a little restaurant and chill.

THE TET BROCHURE

We invite all riders to remember that when they are out on the trail, they can act as ambassadors for trail riding and contribute to its image through their actions and interactions with the locals.
We have produced this brochure in the hope of giving people a tool to facilitate these interactions by quickly communicating the core concepts and values behind the Trans Euro Trail project.

Also available in other languages

TET Brochure (Français)

TET Brochure (English)