London to Paris and back

[derrick]

Avenue verte is ok if you are in no rush, lots of stop starts crossing roads, i did it last year, not the nicest ride.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1500731672 London Newhaven
https://www.strava.com/activities/1502923690 Diepe Paris.
The best part of the trip was when we got back to Diepe we had a 6hr wait for the ferry, so we planted ourselves in a nice bar and had a few beers and a bit of grub.

 

[Glow worm]

Living in Crawley I cycle along the B2028 quite regulary. What I find is at times traffice is light and cycling is not so bad, however sods Law means when you want to ride it every man and his dog is out in there cars using it a a urban raceway. if you look at your map you will see that there lot;s of minor roads which run north and south down through the weald whilst then do have some naughty hills in places they are by far a more pleasent option. As someone suggested it is far easier to use the new cycleway alongside the A23 from Handcross to Bolney rather than follow the signed route via Staplefield. Mind Staplefireld has a couple of Pubs and the Victoria does dome nice food.

Thanks for the tips- much appreciated. I think I'll take your advice and find a quiet alternative to the B2028. I looked at the A23 cycleway route but thought it would be pretty unpleasant with all the traffic noise. Looks pretty direct though although I won't be any hurry as I'll aim for the overnight ferry so I can take my time.

 

[MichaelO]

Avenue verte is ok if you are in no rush, lots of stop starts crossing roads, i did it last year, not the nicest ride.

I rode to Paris & back one weekend a couple of years ago - used the Avenue verte for about 25 miles from Dieppe and it was fine. Certainly no gravel sections, and I don't remember it being lots of stops/starts.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

There's a few gravel sections on the Avenue Verte closer to Paris, but they're easily bypassed. The French half of the route is a lovely ride. (The British half is inevitably a little more compromised because, well, it's the south of England and the councils won't pay for proper routes, but it's mostly good. I could survive without cycling through Crawley again, though. There's an alternative route that avoids Crawley, with just a bit of off-road at the southern end: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/8097 . I wrote up this and the rest of the route in two halves at https://cycle.travel/routes/ . )