Pop to France

[Simon_m]

Hi, has anyone popped over to France on a Friday night Ferry into Calais or St Malo, then cycled around on Saturday and Sunday, coming back on the Sunday night Ferry?


PS, still planning to cycle from the English Channel to the Med' in 2016 now.
PSS, still hope to get to Lanzergrote for some warm cycling too

 

[Dave Davenport]

Done lots of 2 to 5 day trips in Normandy and Brittany (will do another in May). We usually sail to one place and back from another between St. Malo, Caen & Cherbourg. It works pretty well for us as we're 24 miles from Portsmouth and 50 from Poole (Brittany ferries go out of both).
Although it's a short/cheap crossing the cycling's not fantastic straight out of Calais IMO but it depends on where you're coming from and budget whether it would be a better option.
I can give you some specific examples of distances etc. point to point if you're interested.

 

[Simon_m]

ah right, is it not? What we will do is get a late train form London down to Posrtmouth I guess. Isn't it pretty flat though, in that, if we do a 2day loop, we wont get far enough South to hit any hills?

 

[Dave Davenport]

ah right, is it not? What we will do is get a late train form London down to Posrtmouth I guess. Isn't it pretty flat though, in that, if we do a 2day loop, we wont get far enough South to hit any hills?

I'd suggest;
Portsmouth to St. Malo overnight Friday
Sat: Follow the coast around the bay of Mont St. Michel East and stop somewhere around Villedieu-les-Poêles
Sun; On to Ouistreham (Caen port) for the overnight back.
60 to 70 miles each day of easy riding and some nice views.
There are plenty of campsites in the area but many won't be open this side of Easter. If you're not camping there are budget hotels at about 40 euro for a twin room.
There's some lovely cycling South West of St Malo if you wanted to do a loop you but you'd have to wait for the Monday daytime ferry.

 

[Simon_m]

Morning. that's great, thanks for the info. I don't think we would head out to May June when the weather is possibly slightly better.

 

[TheDoctor]

I've done this quite regularly - once to Champagne on Eurostar, and twice around Calais.
The advantage with the Calais option is that the ferry costs the same whenever you book it, so spur-of-the-moment trips are quite doable.

 

[srw]

Dellzeqq has led regular short rides to Paris - overnight to Newhaven, ferry to Dieppe, two days to Paris, return on Eurostar. Some of his riders have just ridden (or staggered) around Dieppe. I'm hoping we can join him this year.

 

[Simon_m]

Isn't the eurostar pricey with a bike? isn't it much cheaper to hop on a ferry and invade France that way? Sounds like a nice thing to do, not the invading, but just cycling different roads in a different country for a few days

 

[TheDoctor]

Eurostar is pricey with a bike these days. Unless you take a folder, it's going to cost an extra £20 with the bike in a bag, otherwise it's £60.
It's a way of getting to somewhere-that's-not-Calais for the weekend though, so I wouldn't rule it out. Touring by Brompton is a bit of a change...

 

[Simon_m]

Yes your right, would be nice to get down to some hills and mountains for sure. then again, not sure how good a Brompton would be on mont ventoux lol. Although have seen a borris bike go up it! thanks

 

[TheDoctor]

Ventoux has been Bromptoned, and I plan on maybe giving it a bash myself later this year.
Perhaps.

 

[Simon_m]

your going to do it a on Brompton too?!

 

[TheDoctor]

Maybe...