New French Routes?

[wintonbina]

Hello,

My name is Tony and I help run a sporting foundation which was set up in memory of my son Stevie. We raise money for youngster's in sport by doing various events and bike rides in France are proving popular. Last year 37 of my son's friends cycled from Cherbourg to Bayeux and back and last month 30 of them cycled from Cherbourg to St Malo (both over 3 days and camping en route). We plan our own routes and recce the route x 3 to ensure it's safe etc and then print individual flip chart type route maps( inc photos of turnings) for each cyclist so they don't get lost.
Which leads me to ask if anyone could suggest any good routes for our next jaunt next year, we have a 4 day pocket and we reside on the south coast near Poole so I would appreciate any suggestions. Many thanks, Tony

 

[Penfold]

Tony you could always do the D-day beaches....Lots to see and I'm sure it would interest people of any age.....Lots of municipal campsites to use (5€ per night) and its an easy ride once out of Cherbourgh and en-route to caen.
Have a look at my crazy guy blog here:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Penfoldsmith

At least thats broken your answers duck...Hope others can contribute to such a great cause. Good luck

Regards Graham

 

[bauldbairn]

Sounds very interesting Tony - hopefully some CCers will come up with some suggestions for you.

Good luck with Stevie's Memorial Sporting Foundation it sounds like a very worthwhile cause and well done to you for keeping it going.

Welcome to the Cycle Chat forums by the way and all the best for the future.

 

[wintonbina]

Hi Graham, Thanks , we did the normandy ride last year and very good too we got invited to the official service at the British cemetry in Bayeux by the police Chief who liked the idea of us all in bright yellow shirts & lycra!! But seriously I would recommend that ride to all & sundry. regards Tony ps I'm originally from wolves ( ashmore park for my sins,left @ 30 years ago)and glad to see you had a good time via your blog!

Tony you could always do the D-day beaches....Lots to see and I'm sure it would interest people of any age.....Lots of municipal campsites to use (5€ per night) and its an easy ride once out of Cherbourgh and en-route to caen.
Have a look at my crazy guy blog here:

http://www.crazyguyo...oc/Penfoldsmith

At least thats broken your answers duck...Hope others can contribute to such a great cause. Good luck

Regards Graham

 

[Arch]

The Avenue Verte leads out of Dieppe, and is off-road bike path (old railway line) for the first 30 miles or so - smooth tarmac, flat, lovely. It heads in the general direction of Paris, (eventually the off road route will go all the way, but it's doable on quiet roads now. I think a few forummers have done the trip to Paris, in a couple of days)

http://thames-path.com/MU/avenueverte/

(that website is the best I can find and not terribly informative - and you need to drag the map southwest a few times to find the route marked on it...)

I've not camped, but from what I gather, it should be easy enough to find sites en route.

There is one ice cream/drinks cabin along the bike path, but you can always detour off it to find villages with cafes etc.

 

[andym]

Britanny? (can't remember whether there is a ferry from Poole or not).

But you have some wonderful countryside on your doorstep: the Purbecks, Jurassic Coast, Wessex etc.

 

[wintonbina]

Hi Andy,
Yes there is a ferry from Poole which makes it convenient to go to France.
With regards to the beautiful countryside around here , yes they are good rides but when there are 30 of you the British drivers treat you with....distain to be polite whereas the French drivers have a very good attitude towards cyclists ( and it feels as if you are on holiday :-) ) Cheers, Tony

Britanny? (can't remember whether there is a ferry from Poole or not).

But you have some wonderful countryside on your doorstep: the Purbecks, Jurassic Coast, Wessex etc.

 

[wintonbina]

Thanks Arch, I will definately take a look at that route. Tony

The Avenue Verte leads out of Dieppe, and is off-road bike path (old railway line) for the first 30 miles or so - smooth tarmac, flat, lovely. It heads in the general direction of Paris, (eventually the off road route will go all the way, but it's doable on quiet roads now. I think a few forummers have done the trip to Paris, in a couple of days)

http://thames-path.com/MU/avenueverte/

(that website is the best I can find and not terribly informative - and you need to drag the map southwest a few times to find the route marked on it...)

I've not camped, but from what I gather, it should be easy enough to find sites en route.

There is one ice cream/drinks cabin along the bike path, but you can always detour off it to find villages with cafes etc.

 

[andym]

Hi Andy,
Yes there is a ferry from Poole which makes it convenient to go to France.
With regards to the beautiful countryside around here , yes they are good rides but when there are 30 of you the British drivers treat you with....distain to be polite whereas the French drivers have a very good attitude towards cyclists ( and it feels as if you are on holiday :-) ) Cheers, Tony

That's not been my experience (and I've ridden in the Purbecks and all over South East England, as well as France, Spain and Italy etc). My experience is that drivers are pretty much the same in whichever country you go to - what makes a difference is where you are riding, eg drivers on country roads tend to be more courteous and patient than drivers on main roads. Most drivers will give cyclists lots of space provided it's convenient for them - but if given the choice between waiting and passing close then most drivers in whichever country will pass close rather than wait. Human nature is human nature.

And in any case, if there's thirty of you then you've got numbers on your side.

I was with some Italians earlier this week who were admiring a book of aerial photos of southern England - including Corfe Castle. Seems such a shame to me that the British seem to undervalue what is on offer in their own country.

 

[Arch]

Most drivers will give cyclists lots of space provided it's convenient for them - but if given the choice between waiting and passing close then most drivers in whichever country will pass close rather than wait. Human nature is human nature.

I wouldn't say that's been my experience in France - and plenty of others feel it too....

I certainly prefer French drivers to UK ones - that's not saying that all UK drivers are bad, or that all French ones are good, but on the whole, the French are nicer.

Whenever we were passed close in France, the car tended to have GB plates.

With a big group, I think more UK drivers would get impatient, whereas the French would cheer them on with 'Allez allez!'


Anyway, add in the preponderance of places to get a coffee, and the cheese, and France wins hands down....