Planning a mini tour for the Summer- which route?

[Glow worm]

I'm thinking of a shortish (maybe a week / 10 days or so) solo ride from one ferry port to another. So far I've got the following in mind:

Roscoff to Cherbourg (around 300 miles)
St Malo to Dieppe (around 230 miles)
Cherbourg to Dieppe (around 200 miles)
Cherbourg to Calais (around 300 miles)
Le Havre to Calais (around 175 miles)
Calais to Hook of Holland (around 260 miles)

So far I'm erring on the side of Calais to Hook, simply because I like the idea of riding through 3 countries but it is potentially rather dull landscape wise (though riding home from Harwich is only 70 miles). Roscoff to Cherbourg looks interesting too, though a pig to get to Plymouth from here to catch the Roscoff ferry.

It would be an easy going ride and I reckon about 40-50 miles a day is about right. Any thoughts/ suggestions welcome.

 

[mjr]

I rode Dunkerque-Oostende-Brugge-Damme-Sluis-Breskens-Vlissingen-Middelburg-Renesse-Goederede-Maasvlakte-Hoek last year. Sluis and Goederede are good lesser-known stops. I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting. We also spent a while in a beach bar on the Dunkerque-Oostende strip.

I'd say 40 miles is a good measure if you want time to stop and look around anywhere interesting along the way. The altitudes may not vary, but the human landscape can be fascinating, especially how the cycleways improve with each border crossing. I suspect it could be tougher than most hilly touring routes you'd choose if the wind is unfriendly - at least if the hill gets too steep, you can walk, but walking is less help into a strong headwind - but we didn't suffer that.

 

[Donger]

Cherbourg to Calais sounds great to me. Take in Barfleur, the D Day beaches and Pegasus Bridge, Honfleur, the Pont de Normandie, the Baie de la Somme, and a great stretch of coast road from Boulogne to Calais taking in the two capes.

You seem committed to making it a coastal trip. Had you considered venturing more inland in a loop? That way you could make the transport logistics much easier by leaving from and returning to the same ferry port. (eg Portsmouth to St Malo/Cherbourg/Caen and back, or Dover to Calais/Ostend and back). That's the sort of thing I have been hoping to make time to do one day.

 

[mjr]

That way you could make the transport logistics much easier by leaving from and returning to the same ferry port.

I would think using the nearest ferry port (Harwich, in my case, as for the OP) for one leg would make the transport logistics easier because it avoids the time restrictions on bikes on trains across London. For example, we can't get to Dover until noon, Portsmouth 1pm or Plymouth 3pm. Hook-Harwich also lets one travel while asleep.

 

[Low Gear Guy]

I did a mini tour last summer from Caen to Cherbourg. I did a loop round to the south to add interest.
Don't stick too close to the coast as the scenery is better and the roads quieter inland. You will also miss the repeating hill climb/high speed descent/strong side wind experience which gets a bit tiring after a while.

 

[Glow worm]

I rode Dunkerque-Oostende-Brugge-Damme-Sluis-Breskens-Vlissingen-Middelburg-Renesse-Goederede-Maasvlakte-Hoek last year. Sluis and Goederede are good lesser-known stops. I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting. We also spent a while in a beach bar on the Dunkerque-Oostende strip.

I'd say 40 miles is a good measure if you want time to stop and look around anywhere interesting along the way. The altitudes may not vary, but the human landscape can be fascinating, especially how the cycleways improve with each border crossing. I suspect it could be tougher than most hilly touring routes you'd choose if the wind is unfriendly - at least if the hill gets too steep, you can walk, but walking is less help into a strong headwind - but we didn't suffer that.

Good call- I'd forgotten about Dunkirk ferry option too.

 

[Glow worm]

Cherbourg to Calais sounds great to me. Take in Barfleur, the D Day beaches and Pegasus Bridge, Honfleur, the Pont de Normandie, the Baie de la Somme, and a great stretch of coast road from Boulogne to Calais taking in the two capes.

You seem committed to making it a coastal trip. Had you considered venturing more inland in a loop? That way you could make the transport logistics much easier by leaving from and returning to the same ferry port. (eg Portsmouth to St Malo/Cherbourg/Caen and back, or Dover to Calais/Ostend and back). That's the sort of thing I have been hoping to make time to do one day.

Thanks Donger- some nice ideas there. I'm not particularly tied to a coastal route so will look at some possible loops too.
The idea of a port to port ride came about as a couple of years or so ago, I had my heart set on riding from the Hook to Esbjerg in Denmark which would have been great as the ferry from Esbjerg would have brought me back to Harwich but as you probably know that route is no longer open sadly.

 

[Glow worm]

I did a mini tour last summer from Caen to Cherbourg. I did a loop round to the south to add interest.
Don't stick too close to the coast as the scenery is better and the roads quieter inland. You will also miss the repeating hill climb/high speed descent/strong side wind experience which gets a bit tiring after a while.

Crikey- another port I'd completely forgotten about- good suggestion!

 

[Donger]

I think I might do Roscoff to Cherbourg. No, Cherbourg-Calais. Hang on, St-Malo Dieppe looks nice. On the other hand ...

.... It's lovely cycling there. And the few times I've been into Britanny it's been very pleasant, so I think I'd plump for Roscoff - Cherbourg. Or perhaps one of the others.

Plymouth to Roscoff does have some nice scenery at each end of the crossing. The Hoe at one end and a few nice little rocky islands off the Breton coast make it my favourite crossing ..... and I think I may have done all of them (except Caen). By comparison Cherbourg and (particularly) Le Havre are both pretty grim, industrial places.

 

[mmmmartin]

Somewhere on the wonders of the internet you'll find routes used by the Friday Night Ride To The Coast annual European tour. Feel free to copy them.
We've done most of your ideas.

Of your ideas, I'd go for the Hook then inland round the Netherlands, lots of campsites or you can join the vrienden op de fiets, and there's no language problem. Back from the Hook, because you can get a train back from your destination across the Netherlands, bikes are tricky so ask at the station first, but it can be done. Two bikes per train, an extra bike ticket, and only outside the rush hour I believe.

The cycling is lovely, either coastal cycle paths or inland riverside rides, many pretty villages.

But if you want to cross from Dover, I'd start from Dunkirk not Calais, it's shorter and you may have to ride inland some miles from Calais to then ride north if The Jungle is back as reported. There'll be police and road blocks. From de Panne you can put your bike on the longest coastal team in the world, to Ostend.

French hotels are expensive, but many campsites. F1 hotels let you take the bike to the room but they tend to be on industrial estates near ring roads.

You'll find Plymouth tricky and expensive to get to, and Caen northwards becomes surprisingly hilly along the north French coast. That's not a bad thing and you may like it, many do, but there are many big hills.

With a bike you can book a cabin to Caen but not to St Malo, with a bike on that crossing you can't have a cabin.

And questions, pm me.

 

[robing]

Are there still cross channel ferries from Ostende?

 

[User169]

Are there still cross channel ferries from Ostende?

Yes. From Zeebrugge (a few kms east of Oostende) to Hull

 

[snorri]

Unless you are keen to see WW2 historical sites I would vote for Calais to the Hook of Holland. Do a little Google research into the LF1 route, this should help with navigation for part of your route, although it has been a few years since I followed it in entirety. It is interesting to observe the differences as you cross national borders with cycle friendliness improving at each crossing.
You would have the option of extending the Dutch section up to Ijmuiden and getting the ferry homewards from there to Newcastle.

 

[Aravis]

If you want to up the ambition a little bit, you could maybe look at something like this, from Calais to Roscoff. Viewed in context it looks commendably complete, taking in the full sweep of the French channel coast, giving it a touch of grandeur. The route is for illustrative purposes only and could certainly be improved in many places, but I've been careful to include the Alabaster Coast north of Le Havre. It comes out at just under 450 miles

 

[Glow worm]

Somewhere on the wonders of the internet you'll find routes used by the Friday Night Ride To The Coast annual European tour. Feel free to copy them.
We've done most of your ideas.

Of your ideas, I'd go for the Hook then inland round the Netherlands, lots of campsites or you can join the vrienden op de fiets, and there's no language problem. Back from the Hook, because you can get a train back from your destination across the Netherlands, bikes are tricky so ask at the station first, but it can be done. Two bikes per train, an extra bike ticket, and only outside the rush hour I believe.

The cycling is lovely, either coastal cycle paths or inland riverside rides, many pretty villages.

But if you want to cross from Dover, I'd start from Dunkirk not Calais, it's shorter and you may have to ride inland some miles from Calais to then ride north if The Jungle is back as reported. There'll be police and road blocks. From de Panne you can put your bike on the longest coastal team in the world, to Ostend.

French hotels are expensive, but many campsites. F1 hotels let you take the bike to the room but they tend to be on industrial estates near ring roads.

You'll find Plymouth tricky and expensive to get to, and Caen northwards becomes surprisingly hilly along the north French coast. That's not a bad thing and you may like it, many do, but there are many big hills.

With a bike you can book a cabin to Caen but not to St Malo, with a bike on that crossing you can't have a cabin.

And questions, pm me.

Thanks I'll check out the Friday's site. If I wasn't such a miserable, anti-social git I'd probably join one of those rides !
Thanks for the other tips too- Dunkirk certainly sounds like a better option than Calais.