Head east, young man! Taking a tour of eastern France might be the best bike trip you've had in years. There are mountains, gorges, forests and quaint historic towns, majestic castles and tranquil lakes... and there are the kind of biking roads people dream about. Mile after mile of twisty tarmac, mostly with the kind of immaculate surface we can only dream of in the UK.

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The best thing is these are quiet roads. For a long time the Vosges felt like a secret destination – and though the word has got out, they're still quieter than the Alps. But the Jura really does feel like somewhere undiscovered by the biking masses... or even the general populace. You can ride long stretches and barely see any other traffic at all.

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Though these two ranges of low mountains give the tour its name, there's great riding every day, cutting down through the Ardennes on the way to the Vosges du Nord and looping back through Burgundy and Champagne. The tour only touches motorway to get out of Calais and back to it – other than that it's pure riding pleasure all the way.

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What’s included on the route? Each day’s route has recommended places to stop for coffee in the morning and afternoon, a suggested lunch stop and planned fuel stops. Tourist attractions along the way are highlighted, so you can pick which to visit.

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How long is each day’s ride? Each leg of the tour is planned to be a full day in the saddle: check-out of the hotel and on the road at 9-9:15am, getting to the next location at 5:30-6pm. That's with stops for coffee and lunch: the aim is for this to be a relaxed ride. Saddle-time rating: six out of 10.

 

What are the highlights? The Route des Crêtes in the Vosges is one of the high points – literally, as it crosses Grand Ballon, the highest mountain in the range. There's awesome riding in the less-well-known Vosges du Nord area as well, but for me, the riding along the Swiss border in the Jura might be the real gem – the roads are so good but so quiet. If you can take the two extra days to ride the daytrip loops that are included with the tour pack, it lifts the trip to another level, showing so much more of these areas.

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When can it be ridden? The height of the mountains means this tour is best between May and the end of September.

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Why seven days? The tour is designed to fit in with one week off work, even if it'll take a day to get to Folkestone for the Eurotunnel: travel down on Saturday, set off on Sunday morning, return the following Saturday afternoon and take the Sunday to get home. But if you can leave on Saturday morning and come back the following Sunday, the tour pack has extra routes in the mountains to deliver a full nine-days of brilliant riding.

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How is it supplied? Everything downloads as a zip file: the basic seven-day tour contains an interactive eBook of notes plus separate GPX files for every day; the Tour Pack has the interactive eBook of notes plus printable tankbag notes, with separate GPX files for the seven-day touring route plus two daytrip routes to let you expand the tour– and comes with hardcopy maps (posted separately). Or if you want to build elements of this tour into your own trip, you can download individual days