Avenue Verte - what's it like

[Tim Hall]

I'm possibly riding from London to Paris with some people I don't know. The trip isn't until June, and the route is up for discussion.

What's the AV (alleged long distance cycleroute from London to Paris) like? More specifically, is the surface ok for skinny (23mm) tyres? I'll be on sensible rubber, but others are likely to be more of the racing snake persuasion.

@Aperitif, @dellzeqq et al, what route did you take from Dieppe?

 

[dellzeqq]

I have totally cracked the Paris route thing. And it only took three attempts.

I can send you a google maps link. As Hadrian has it, we go through Saint-Saens, Gisors and Cergy-Pontoise. The route as far as Gisors is delightful, the next bit is dull, and the our route from Cergy-Pontoise is so clever it makes me want to rub myself all over with GT85 and be cruel to sparrows.

 

[TheDoctor]

Avenue Verte surface is tarmac iirc. I rode it on a Brommie with no problems.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I have totally cracked the Paris route thing. And it only took three attempts.

I can send you a google maps link. As Hadrian has it, we go through Saint-Saens, Gisors and Cergy-Pontoise. The route as far as Gisors is delightful, the next bit is dull, and the our route from Cergy-Pontoise is so clever it makes me want to rub myself all over with GT85 and be cruel to sparrows.

I was wondering where all the sparrows had gone.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I have totally cracked the Paris route thing. And it only took three attempts.

.... we go through Saint-Saens .... and be cruel to sparrows.

Weren't they in the animal carnival or was it more a case of a dance macabre?

 

[Tim Hall]

Weren't they in the animal carnival or was it more a case of a dance macabre?

Is anyone else picturing Bugs Bunny?

 

[Tim Hall]

I have totally cracked the Paris route thing. And it only took three attempts.

I can send you a google maps link. As Hadrian has it, we go through Saint-Saens, Gisors and Cergy-Pontoise. The route as far as Gisors is delightful, the next bit is dull, and the our route from Cergy-Pontoise is so clever it makes me want to rub myself all over with GT85 and be cruel to sparrows.

Google maps link would be splendid. Thanks. And as for being cruel to sparrows, je ne regrette rien, milord.

 

[andym]

There seem to be lots of videos on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=avenue+verte&sm=3

might be worth a look

 

[400bhp]

Google maps link would be splendid. Thanks. And as for being cruel to sparrows, je ne regrette rien, milord.

+1, I'd like to see this too.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The AV was full of cute French girls on inline skates last time I rode it. I was on 28's but I'd have though the racing snakes would be ok.

think of it as the cyclepath to Mumbles with added road crossings but with fewer cute young Welsh girls on inline skates.

 

[Aperitif]

I'm possibly riding from London to Paris with some people I don't know. The trip isn't until June, and the route is up for discussion.

What's the AV (alleged long distance cycleroute from London to Paris) like? More specifically, is the surface ok for skinny (23mm) tyres? I'll be on sensible rubber, but others are likely to be more of the racing snake persuasion.

@Aperitif, @dellzeqq et al, what route did you take from Dieppe?

The ride from Dieppe is totally bonzer, Tim. A good chugging pace and a few notable ups and that long, blasting straight section to Gisors - or wherever the main peloton went for lunch in 2012? can't remember...You would love all that. Nothing on the road phased me, in terms of traffic, but I think folk found it a little busy as we approached Paris. I liked the view on approach, and then the ducking down from the North to The Champs Elysees, through the outskirts. Easily do-able in a day from Dieppe. Even easier if you are not lashed from the night before, afternoon before, ferry trip in the morning, hip flasks emptied between Lon and Newhaven etc...if you get my drift. I might have a 'Ride with GPS' somewhere..but Simon has it covered perfectly. Haven't done AV. (ABV Leffe, Pelforth etc)

 

[frank9755]

Very sensible to plan the route ahead of time, Tim.

When 'Teef and I did it a couple of years ago we forgot to do that bit. I could remember some of the way from having having done it the year before - but it was in the dark, and I hadn't actually gone to Paris. Anyway, we didn't do the AV but the roads to the outskirts of Paris were a joy. But we then ended up on a busy autoroute and got a bit lost in some sort of university campus. After that, we found some pleasant back roads into town, got stopped by some policemen for not riding through red lights, did a couple of laps of the Arc de Triomphe, got told off by more policemen for stopping there, and then on to the hotel and dinner.

I look forward to seeing DZ's cunning route in that most likely doesn't do the autoroute or university campus bits but instead passes through fields of bungalows.

 

[dellzeqq]

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=Unknown road&daddr=49.922892,1.078534 to:49.9084481,1.1006763 to:49.852633,1.1631714 to:Saint-Saëns, France to:49.597156,1.371809 to:49.563991,1.417117 to:49.4902439,1.4870997 to:49.3611262,1.6249579 to:49.3380638,1.6639037 to:49.3223803,1.7228398 to:Gisors, France to:49.1429406,1.9807885 to:49.120172,2.0114746 to:Unknown road to:49.0207801,2.1486729 to:49.0129351,2.1862491 to:48.9954849,2.2398859 to:48.98715,2.26222 to:48.9867778,2.2661992 to:48.9679151,2.2884461 to:48.9475684,2.3324037 to:48.916979,2.3300559 to:Bd de Magenta&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=49.908732,1.105757&spn=0.047261,0.077162&sll=49.360192,1.625097&sspn=0.005947,0.009645&geocode=FXzu-QIdnaAQAA;FUzD-QIdBnUQACl7Z4S6B6LgRzGLcKLKqHeBFA;FeCK-QIdhMsQACnJxTREQKLgRzGhn1uXfGVbow;Fdmw-AIdo78RAClXy5N6VqPgRzFyr0h_Ele5aQ;FXr09QIdL5YTACkXqyoSMsjgRzFWIfMK7bSdpA;FeTK9AIdoe4UACltGiFyeczgRzF6jgfVH9VCtg;FVdJ9AIdnZ8VACkNfgFW1MzgRzG_zw1xdjCqtQ;FUMp8wId-7AWACllyMlYyC3nRzGa7mPbZJLBFg;FeYw8QIdfcsYACkN3-UJjyfnRzFQrdjRH-fnQw;Fc_W8AIdn2MZACmhhlumvtjmRzGj9L_WMw8EWg;FYyZ8AId10kaACmzq15-CN_mRzEujwEFdd8keA;FR7z7wIdwxsbACnxeoZmpeDmRzEjErn--yczYQ;FZzc7QIddDkeACnjpF4Hq_HmRzEb2650UWLp4w;FayD7QIdUrEeACnhoJ4UQfHmRzHBMC1OwJifEQ;Fflv7AIdiBcgAA;FWz_6wIdQMkgACld8By9eGDmRzHvHgtTIFep2w;Fcfg6wIdCVwhACmLnmcHpWDmRzGaCnZ_xSJUZA;FZyc6wIdjS0iACkNZF3IC2fmRzGw79l76cl9jg;FQ586wIdzIQiACmD5c-gt2fmRzFrdtXH3UdK1g;FZl66wIdV5QiACnRgYwwyGfmRzFl3uKUzwEXlg;Fesw6wIdPusiAClFWn0ynWjmRzHo0jMItOnoZQ;FXDh6gId85YjACklmCctJmnmRzEuvCBgaTBBZA;FfNp6gIdx40jACnpzbgs3m7mRzGd-0GkWUS6Yw;FcbS6QIdOuwjAA&oq=paris&mra=dpe&mrsp=8&sz=17&via=1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22&t=m&z=14

and here it is. Watch out for the metal bridges in Dieppe, enjoy Saint-Saens, make a small diversion to the boulangerie on the Ave. St. Adrian in Morgny, check out the bike shop in Gisors, go through Corneille le Vexin, marvel at the simplicity of the route through Pontoise, watch out for the left turn to Pierrelaye, wonder at the genius that takes you down the Chausee Jules-Cesar (why doesn't every route to Paris do this?) and then follow the route carefully along the Rue d'Ermont, because that took endless hours of streetviewing to check.

I have the route from Pontoise as an eight page pdf. E-mail fnrttc@yahoo.co.uk if you'd like it.

Marines is tricky - I'll explain that later............

 

[frank9755]

That looks very good. The only thing is, it does rather make a beeline for Gare du Nord. So it is, in fact, perfect if one is only travelling there to jump on the first Eurostar home...

 

[db7db7]

http://www.donaldhirsch.com/dieppeparis.pdf

The AV is a good surface, but a bit boring. After getting off the ferry at 5am with no sleep and a full day of cycling the previous day i struggle to recall much of it. The above link has the route (nice) that we took from Dieppe to Paris via the AV.
Good luck and enjoy. Oh, and if you can go out and get smashed in Paris it rounds the trip off beautifully - the people were so friendly and were buying us drinks all night/morning based on the fact we told them we'd cycled all that way to meet the "nice people of Paris"!