400bhp
Guru
Hi
My OH and I are looking to do London to Paris later in the year (probably August) We will be on road bikes (23 mm tyres) and travelling as light as possible (large saddle bag, down tube bag and back pockets and that'll be it
). We wouldn't want to do more than 90 miles a day (certainly not 90 miles on consecutive days)
The plan is to drop my 5 y.o daughter off at my sisters in South London (late Thurs night or early Fri morn) then take 3 days to do it, i.e. leave Friday morning (1 day cycling in the UK) and arrive in paris on Sunday (2 days in France). I don't really want to impose on my sister any more than this.
I need a few suggestions for routes in France (route planning in the UK is fine). I've had a look around the web and so far I am at this juncture:
#1 - Newhaven -Dieppe - Paris. Using the Ave Vert for the first 40 miles or so. I have a broad route here, which I borrowed from Donald Hirsh website. I believe the Ave Vert is fine for 23mm tyres.
This seems like a nice route and is the easiest to plan as someone has already ridden it. The route is also similar, I believe, to a route a friend took.
The downside is the ferry times. Newhaven to Dieppe ferries either travel overnight, arriving at 4:30am (which isn't great) or travel late morning, arriving at 4:30 pm. This would limit us to perhaps 40 miles on saturday, meaning 90 miles on sunday.
#2 The other options are Le Havre or Caen (both about 130 miles). I would look to make our way to Le Neuburg, then follow the cycle path to Evreaux. Le Havre ferry crossing arriving at 11:30 or the overnight arriving 6:45am.
However, the web searches seem to suggest the route is rubbish from Le Havre. I'm not convinced this is correct. I could head towards Duclair and take the car ferry over.
Any thoughts or help on route planning would be greatly appreciated. Are there other alternatives on routes we haven't considered?
My OH and I are looking to do London to Paris later in the year (probably August) We will be on road bikes (23 mm tyres) and travelling as light as possible (large saddle bag, down tube bag and back pockets and that'll be it
). We wouldn't want to do more than 90 miles a day (certainly not 90 miles on consecutive days)The plan is to drop my 5 y.o daughter off at my sisters in South London (late Thurs night or early Fri morn) then take 3 days to do it, i.e. leave Friday morning (1 day cycling in the UK) and arrive in paris on Sunday (2 days in France). I don't really want to impose on my sister any more than this.
I need a few suggestions for routes in France (route planning in the UK is fine). I've had a look around the web and so far I am at this juncture:
#1 - Newhaven -Dieppe - Paris. Using the Ave Vert for the first 40 miles or so. I have a broad route here, which I borrowed from Donald Hirsh website. I believe the Ave Vert is fine for 23mm tyres.
This seems like a nice route and is the easiest to plan as someone has already ridden it. The route is also similar, I believe, to a route a friend took.
The downside is the ferry times. Newhaven to Dieppe ferries either travel overnight, arriving at 4:30am (which isn't great) or travel late morning, arriving at 4:30 pm. This would limit us to perhaps 40 miles on saturday, meaning 90 miles on sunday.
#2 The other options are Le Havre or Caen (both about 130 miles). I would look to make our way to Le Neuburg, then follow the cycle path to Evreaux. Le Havre ferry crossing arriving at 11:30 or the overnight arriving 6:45am.
However, the web searches seem to suggest the route is rubbish from Le Havre. I'm not convinced this is correct. I could head towards Duclair and take the car ferry over.
Any thoughts or help on route planning would be greatly appreciated. Are there other alternatives on routes we haven't considered?
