Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
For a couple of years now I have been musing over the possibility of making time to get away on a mini break across the channel. It struck me that you could sail from either Poole or Portsmouth and ride from one French port to another, returning to the same place you left your car. Either St Malo to Cherbourg (from Poole) or Cherbourg to Caen (from Portsmouth) sprang to mind as possible routes, but I have as yet taken it no further.
Having now done quite a bit of cycling in France, and having recently completed my first imperial century, the urge to try out one of the above routes is getting stronger. And I've just been looking at the Audax UK website and noticed that those exact routes appear as "Permanents", both listed as 200km in 14 hours. Sounds tempting.
Has anyone ever done these routes? If so, what did you think of them? I know the ferries are much less frequent to Normandy and Brittany than they are over to Calais, so I'm wondering about the logistics. Whilst at first sight it looks like it might be possible as a day trip, would it in fact require one (or even two) night's accommodation because of the ferry schedule? (I seem to remember that being a problem when I looked into doing a day trip to follow the TdF in Normandy a few years back).
Having now done quite a bit of cycling in France, and having recently completed my first imperial century, the urge to try out one of the above routes is getting stronger. And I've just been looking at the Audax UK website and noticed that those exact routes appear as "Permanents", both listed as 200km in 14 hours. Sounds tempting.
Has anyone ever done these routes? If so, what did you think of them? I know the ferries are much less frequent to Normandy and Brittany than they are over to Calais, so I'm wondering about the logistics. Whilst at first sight it looks like it might be possible as a day trip, would it in fact require one (or even two) night's accommodation because of the ferry schedule? (I seem to remember that being a problem when I looked into doing a day trip to follow the TdF in Normandy a few years back).