In my teens, I was a keen aeromodeller. At first, I built from kits, but soon I needed a wider range of flyingmodels to choose from , and greater responsibility for the end result. I started to buy and build from plans, procuring my own materials and doing my own marking out and cutting.

Recently, I came across a company that provides the equivalent service for travellers - Discover France. Established in 1994, Discover France specializes exclusively in travel to France. It offers self-guided biking, walking and driving tours designed to provide you with real insight into life in the country 's diverse regions.

Discover France's self-guided biking tours start from $230 per person double occupancy, which covers two nights' accommodations in the Loire Valley, breakfast and dinner daily, luggage transfer, route map and local emergency assistance. That's for normal, touring-minded folks, but if you want a bit more of a challenge, they can cater for you.

This year, 60 or 70 adventurous cyclists will be sampling a plan which has taken Discover France years to organise. This is how they described it:

Cycling enthusiasts on this trip will experience the thrill of riding segments of the Tour de France on the days that the race is in progress. The Discover France cyclists will be on the course each morning, two to three hours before the racers. Later in the day they will watch the end of the day's racing, or stage -- and will have the opportunity to meet some of the racers.

Discover France will take three separate groups, each consisting of 20 to 24 participants, along different parts of the course during the July 2002 Tour de France. The general plan of the trip is the same for all three groups, though the actual experience will differ somewhat as the groups will be cycling through different regions and over varying terrain.

Each group will be led by a professional French guide and will be accompanied by a bicycle mechanic and a van. As with all Discover France trips, the support is excellent and comprehensive.

The Discover France package combines the excitement of the Tour de France with the traditional pleasures of a biking vacation, seeing the countryside at first hand, gaining a personal experience of the people and the culture. This approach is consistent with Discover France's philosophy, that France is best appreciated up close and personal, not through a bus window.

The package is a nine-day/eight-night trip and participants will ride on most days. On riding days, the morning will begin with a hearty breakfast, after which the Discover France cyclists will head out on the official Tour de France route.

The Discover France group will ride for about three hours, stopping for lunch, which will be a catered picnic in the countryside or at a restaurant chosen for its typical regional ambiance. (The van will carry a change of clothing so riders can get out of their cycling gear.) Much of the afternoon will be devoted to seeing the local sights and cultural attractions before heading for the finish line to see the stage's end. Dinner will be in carefully selected restaurants or hotels serving regional food. Because the towns and villages on the Tour de France route are crowded with spectators, the Discover France groups will generally stay in nearby villages. The hotels vary from the two-star to the four-star level, always with private bath.

The Champagne and Normandy group (July 5 to July 13) starts from Luxembourg and bikes through such northern French cities as Metz in the Lorraine region, the cathedral city of Reims, Rouen, and through the heart of the beautiful Champagne region. The group will observe individual and team time trials. The trip ends in the Norman town of Alençon.

The second group (July 13 to July 21) traverses the magnificently scenic Bordeaux wine country, Gascony and the Mediterranean region of Languedoc-Roussillon. There are stops at Pau, in the Pyrénées; at Lanemazan; in the historic city of Béziers; and in the regional capital of Montpellier, one of the most attractive cities in all France. Languedoc-Roussillon, less well known to Americans than Provence, is a southern region of dramatic topography with an eventful history.

The third group (July 21 to July 29) covers France's eastern regions, including the French Alps, and is possibly the most difficult part of the Tour de France. This group will cycle through Aime, Cluses and Bourg-en-Bresse -- much of this is dramatic countryside -- before heading into Paris to watch the race's exciting finale at the Arc de Triomphe.

Those interested in taking this trip should consider the terrain of each segment before deciding which group to join. Parts of the Tour de France are over rolling countryside but others are in difficult, mountainous country. Everyone who joins this Discover France trip should be an experienced cyclist and should bring their own bicycle. That having been said, the professional leadership and excellent support will be a constant presence.