Avenue Verte - what's it like

[vernon]

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?

I did the French side of the Avenue Verte last week. Most of it is fine for skinny tyres even the off road bits apart from Paris where there's cobbles with a nominal smooth bike path next to them but it's narrow and used by pedestrians. The last 15km could be bit of a nightmare in terms of navigation if you are reliant on maps only - some of the route isn't obviously way marked and there's a fair amount of redevelopment going on leading to some diversions because the official route has been dig up or has yet to be laid.

On the whole id's a pleasant ride notwithstanding the Paris problems.

 

[Lemond]

Could anyone advise on whether the UK part of the Avenue Verte is suitable for road bikes? Failing that, can anyone recommend an alternative route to Newhaven that's not too heavy on the traffic. Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

 

[mikeIow]

We kind of made our own way out of London, starting with too much A23 (dull, but gets you out without too much faff!)......then made our way along and out to Turners Hill.....so probably not much of the "official" route.
Sat in Forges Les Eaux right now at the Hotel La Pais after a very nice meal here....stuffed, and expecting a bit of saddle pain tomorrow (60 miles......not a massive distance, but remember I am a leisure/casual cyclist!!)....
But we have had fantastic weather, and we were lucky enough to stay at a friends near Plumpton last night, which broke the journey nicely...
Avenue Verte to Forges is very straight (well, it is a railway line!) with lots of road crossings to slow right down for....it suits someone like me fine, but tomorrow could be more challenging. We plan to follow the Donald Hirsch route, which I think doesn't precisely follow the Avenue Verte route but may be a bit more direct. Of course we may get lost.....I am still getting to grips with the Teasi, which for the most part is brilliant, I should say!

 

[AnneW]

mikelow you're doing a similar to route to the one we did - and yes we did get lost near Paris (we were staying at a chateau in the middle of a park, asking for trouble!!) but the French are great at giving directions.

Lemond, we didn't follow the AV on this side, we used route 23 in places, but it tends to go a bit out of the way, so we adapted it (along R23, dropped south and then picked it up again). I don't have the exact route but we went from London to East Grinstead, to Newhaven - we stayed overnight in those places as we're leisure cyclists too.

 

[mikeIow]

I should perhaps add....WE DID IT!
Day 3 was a long, hot, hilly 70 miles (furthest I have ever done!) & we stayed in the Campanile Villennes-sur-Seine, which I should say was very nice: friendly staff, nice meal, great!
Day 4 was then meant to be a simple 20 mile run into Paris to finish at the Eiffel Tower.....well, it was 20 miles, but in TORRENTIAL rain! Teasi took us a great route (picked from the 3 offered!), pretty quiet for much of it, but boy, heavy rain on cobblestones - what an exciting combination!
Our support crew found us by the South pillar, and we found a shelter to drink champagne and eat cake before deciding discretion was the better part of valour, and instead of us pedalling, we all took the metro back!
Sadly that evening we stayed at the Campanile in Chaville....and we were only out of our room for 3 hours (2 of which were eating in the hotel).....on returning, we found our room had been entered (with a key - no lock broken, so no travel insurance valid) and my daughters pride and joy camera stolen with her iPods and some money etc....about €600 worth gone
Hotel finally admitted 4 rooms were entered, but given they are all summer staff (by their approach!), I suspect it will be a battle to get anything out of Campanile later..... Got a police report, so daughter got the chance to practice her French....

But a great ride, fab weather and great fun as my first proper cycling adventure! Now then....do something else next year, or sell the bike now?

 

[AnneW]

That's terrible about the hotel - I hope you can get something back from them

Glad you enjoyed the ride.... definitely do something else next year!! It doesn't have to be long, you can take your bike somewhere like the Peak District and cycle the Tissington trail, High Peak trail and the Monsol Trail over a few days.

Obviously you can go to lots of areas and do something similar, I mention the Peak District just because I know it.

Happy cycling!