Cycling into Paris

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dodd82

Well-Known Member
Hi all

You may have seen my recent thread about a London to Paris ride... and I have now planned day one (London to Newhaven) and day two (Dieppe to Meru).

Day two is going to be one hell of a challenge - overnight ferry and then nearly 80 miles of cycling!

So, now I just need help on day three, getting into Paris.

I have, up to this point, used a map and online software to plan a quiet route where possible. But as you approach Paris, it looks like a minefield.

Does anyone have any suggestions about approaching Paris in a fairly direct manner, but so as to avoid any particularly busy/dangerous roads?

This would be approaching from the North, past Chambly.

Thanks!
 

Mile195

Guru
Location
West Kent
Personally I'd avoid Paris altogether - too full of Parisians for my liking, but I guess that would defeat the object of the ride!

However, slightly off topic, but can I ask what software and maps are you using to plan your route just out of interest? I'm doing a long one later in the year myself, and in this great age of technology, drawing on an OS map with a pencil doesn't seem like it's going to cut the mustard for a 260 mile bike ride.
 
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dodd82

dodd82

Well-Known Member
Personally I'd avoid Paris altogether - too full of Parisians for my liking, but I guess that would defeat the object of the ride!

However, slightly off topic, but can I ask what software and maps are you using to plan your route just out of interest? I'm doing a long one later in the year myself, and in this great age of technology, drawing on an OS map with a pencil doesn't seem like it's going to cut the mustard for a 260 mile bike ride.

haha I think you're right!

Gone, seemingly, are the days of plotting a route with lots of little straight lines... these sites now work out the exact journey you'll take just by plotting points along the road - very impressed.

www.bikehike.co.uk is a UK version that is brilliant. Tick the elevation box when you start, and this will help you avoid/find hills!

www.bikeroutetoaster.com is a worldwide verison. Slightly less user friendly, because the distances are in km, the elevation in metres, and the elevation map doesn't appear with details of the location, so you have to track through and work out where the big hills are. Still very good though.
 

Mile195

Guru
Location
West Kent
haha I think you're right!

Gone, seemingly, are the days of plotting a route with lots of little straight lines... these sites now work out the exact journey you'll take just by plotting points along the road - very impressed.

www.bikehike.co.uk is a UK version that is brilliant. Tick the elevation box when you start, and this will help you avoid/find hills!

www.bikeroutetoaster.com is a worldwide verison. Slightly less user friendly, because the distances are in km, the elevation in metres, and the elevation map doesn't appear with details of the location, so you have to track through and work out where the big hills are. Still very good though.

That's superb! Thanks! I will be sure to check them out.

Can't really help you much in return I'm afraid, although do avoid the St. Denis area of Paris. I stopped in hotel there once. The whole area from what I could see was pretty grim with lots of groups hanging around on corners. Someone told me when I got back that it gets very violent, particularly after dark.
 

jay clock

Massive member
Location
Hampshire UK
slightly off topic, but i have found some superb mapping tools for Android. Not things you would want running 24-7 probably due to battery life, but ideal if stuck and wanting some guidance. Both these are 100% free, totally offline and no data usage when in use, solely based on downloaded maps and the GPS

Maps with Me. Just a map showing where you are, fully zoomable.

Navfree. Car style satnav just like tomtom, and will get you from a to b. Need to manually download each country/region after installing the app. A few mins per location over wifi. England is one country, Scotland etc, then France is regions. I cannot get over how good this is. You can choose shortest/fastest routing etc (aimed at cars) but you could easily plot a 5 mile shortest route from one place to the next
 

crisscross

Senior Member
Hi, we did the ride a couple of years ago with our youngsters and took a similar route to you.

We entered Paris along a lovely canal towpath that took up right into the heart of the city and was incredibly safe.

I will try and find the details but if you search for "Paris with children" it may come up.

We had a support car with us in case one of the children got fed up but they never did, thinking of doing it again on our own this summer.

Paris at the weekend is a doddle to cycle through, far easier than most towns here.
 
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dodd82

dodd82

Well-Known Member
Hi, we did the ride a couple of years ago with our youngsters and took a similar route to you.

We entered Paris along a lovely canal towpath that took up right into the heart of the city and was incredibly safe.

I will try and find the details but if you search for "Paris with children" it may come up.

We had a support car with us in case one of the children got fed up but they never did, thinking of doing it again on our own this summer.

Paris at the weekend is a doddle to cycle through, far easier than most towns here.


Thanks.

I've actually planned a road route that is different to the canal path, so we take the tarmac Avenue Verte until Forges Les Eaux, and then it's road all of the way. I've tried to avoid hills where I can, though there is one beast!
 

crisscross

Senior Member
The Avenue Verte is fantastic, very fast, flat and quiet, my children learnt to ride no handed along there which gave me a few palpitations at the time.

As far as I remember there were no real beasts on our route, but plenty of dimples and pimples as the kids referred to them.

Looking back our bikes were rubbish and more importantly bikemanship knowledge was non existent and we were fortunate that we didn't have any mishaps - but it was great.

Have fun. Neil
 
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dodd82

dodd82

Well-Known Member
The Avenue Verte is fantastic, very fast, flat and quiet, my children learnt to ride no handed along there which gave me a few palpitations at the time.

As far as I remember there were no real beasts on our route, but plenty of dimples and pimples as the kids referred to them.

Looking back our bikes were rubbish and more importantly bikemanship knowledge was non existent and we were fortunate that we didn't have any mishaps - but it was great.

Have fun. Neil

Thanks!

You don't happen to remember or have a record of the route you took, do you?
 

JackE

Über Member
Location
Hertfordshire
Donald Hirsch's route has been praised on this forum quite a bit: http://www.donaldhirsch.com/dieppeparis.html. It's a little longer than others but he seems to use cycle/river paths very wisely. I've done L to P twice and both times the last 5-10 miles were a bit "hairy" because of traffic so any route that gets you off busy roads is well worth considering.
 

dellzeqq

pre-talced and mighty
Location
SW2
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=Dieppe, France&daddr=49.864371,1.152544 to:49.681411,1.271448 to:49.1376748,1.9866427 to:49.0775008,2.0739471 to:49.0542602,2.0929616 to:49.001511,2.180506 to:48.9951551,2.1734768 to:Paris, France&hl=en&ll=49.222138,1.837893&spn=0.046697,0.077162&sll=48.985061,2.194777&sspn=0.04692,0.077162&geocode=FbDD-QId63AQACn5GQZnB6LgRzFFhUF4PQqirg;FbPe-AIdIJYRAClbbPVgQ6PgRzFXbX1-ZWHW5g;FQMU9gIdmGYTACnXZt5KIMjgRzHbOGp8quuhIw;FQrI7QIdUlAeAClzVChUBvHmRzGnp0qrYGqFzQ;Ffzc7AIdW6UfACmPu-V5tPXmRzEsV4ycumenww;FTSC7AIdoe8fACnFcCb2cvXmRzHMVujoYDPanQ;FSe06wIdmkUhAClLokkMv2DmRzHiXbpk6UvCuw;FVOb6wIdJCohAClvKL8g6mDmRzGmyHU6_tusJw;FSZ-6QIdXuQjACkPt-IGH27mRzFglIxow4ILBA&oq=pari&dirflg=w&mra=dpe&mrsp=6&sz=14&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7&t=m&z=14

the Fridays route - and, so I'm told, way better than the Avenue Verte
this doesn't quite do it right because Google Maps won't do certain things
a) south of Marines we just go straight on - you have to hop over a barrier at the end of the road, but it saves you almost a mile
b) going in to Pointoise we just go straight on until we get to the river, turn right and then turn left over the bridge. This is a very pleasant part of the ride.
c) I don't think our route is all that clever from La Patte d'Oie d'Herblay, and I think I'd keep straight on the D14 and then turn right on to the D122 to get to Argenteiul
 

crisscross

Senior Member
Come in from the east along the Canal d'Ourq? I think this is the route that crisscross is referring to.

Yes, that was our route - it was fast enough for us but we are relatively pedestrian.

When we did our ride I didn't come across anyone else that had used the canal towpath but it worked a treat for our needs.
 
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