Relaxed London to Paris, w/c 14th May

[CopperBrompton]

This is the ultimate in long-shots, but the guy who was supposed to be doing this with me has just flaked-out. I'll happily do it solo, but some company would be nice if anyone fancies it and can get away at short notice.

I'm making it a 'tower to tower' trip: the Shard to the Eiffel Tower. Following the Avenue Verte route on the French side, which is said to be absolutely lovely, and only emerges onto main roads a mile from the Eiffel Tower! Ignoring AV on the UK side as it's a shambles, so looking at a mix of back-roads and cycle paths.

The first day is around 65 miles, then the French side is a relaxed 40 miles a day.

Mon 14th: 65 miles from the Shard to Newhaven
Overnight ferry (with cabin) to Dieppe
Tue 15th: 40-ish miles to somewhere around Serifontaine
Wed 16th: 40-ish miles to Chaumont en Vexin (a friend lives there)
Thu 17th: 30-ish miles to the Eiffel Tower
Then a final 10-ish miles to the hotel in Gennevilliers

Tue 14th is the only night I'm winging it on accommodation. I'm told there's a plentiful supply of guesthouses and campsites with permanent tents along the route, and I can start looking mid-afternoon (or get a tourist info place to phone ahead), so not expecting any drama.

Fri-Sun in Paris, though as I've been to the city more times than I can count, I'll probably stick to exploring the outskirts.

Sun 20th: 20-ish mile ride to St Witz for the overnight coach pickup with http://www.bike-express.co.uk. The pickup is 2am Monday, so as I got a really good deal on the hotel (£33/night for a basic but comfy 2-star), I've booked it for an extra night so I have somewhere to hang out until shortly before midnight.

Costs:

Ferry: £26 + cabin costs (options of a bed in a 1-berth, 2-berth or 4-berth cabin)
Return coach: £144 for a standard bike, £18 surcharge for my recumbent trike
Paris hotel: £33/night (only two nights' stay, so can use my room as a waiting-room on the final night)
Guesthouses en-route: two nights, likely to be cheap

Give me a shout if you want a chat about it.

Ben

 

[james3001]

what a shame mind you going solo wont be to bad this way all the lovley ladies of Pari will magetise towards you well thats my hopeful thinking of my Eastern Europe Trip in 4 weeks, as this will be first solo experience

 

[CopperBrompton]

Trikes are babe magnets; it's well known.

 

[james3001]

True and very stable when you give them a backsie

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Ooh, this looks very, very tempting - the AV has been on my radar for a while now and I've just got a new tourer that needs a proper outing. Only thing is I need to be back in London by Saturday evening. I've only had a quick look at the Bike Express site - hoping for an earlier return time - but I haven't yet figured out how to check for earlier return journeys. But I'm very tempted....

 

[oldfatfool]

I've only had a quick look at the Bike Express site - hoping for an earlier return time - but I haven't yet figured out how to check for earlier return journeys. But I'm very tempted....

They only operate once a week, I am in a similar position, free all week but need to be home by Sunday.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

They only operate once a week, I am in a similar position, free all week but need to be home by Sunday.

I'll have a look for alternative ways of getting back tomorrow. If there's another not-too-pricey way of getting back on Saturday, I'm still very tempted.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Well, with an ordinary bike you could always get the Eurostar. I'm only doing the Bike Express thing as Eurostar couldn't guarantee to transport the trike.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Well, with an ordinary bike you could always get the Eurostar. I'm only doing the Bike Express thing as Eurostar couldn't guarantee to transport the trike.

I'll check availability, timetables and cycle-friendliness tomorrow and send you a PM once I know a little more. Meanwhile, I'm listening to Hollande's victory speech

 

[CopperBrompton]

Cool. They are cycle-friendly, and in fact not trike-unfriendly, they were just a bit bewildered and couldn't guarantee there would be room for it.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Well, after much swearing, I've finally manage to condense the first two day's French route into a 50-waypoint route that my GPS will load without recalculating it out of existence!

Day three, through the forests, is a hopeless proposition for the GPS, so I've just chucked in some waypoints for use in offroad mode (aka an arrow pointing directly to the next waypoint) so I'm expecting to get hopelessly lost but to eventually emerge in the right place. :-)

Can't face any more Basecamp this evening, so will leave the UK route for another day.

 

[rich p]

Well, after much swearing, I've finally manage to condense the first two day's French route into a 50-waypoint route that my GPS will load without recalculating it out of existence!

Day three, through the forests, is a hopeless proposition for the GPS, so I've just chucked in some waypoints for use in offroad mode (aka an arrow pointing directly to the next waypoint) so I'm expecting to get hopelessly lost but to eventually emerge in the right place. :-)

Can't face any more Basecamp this evening, so will leave the UK route for another day.

Maps are your friend!

 

[CopperBrompton]

I have maps 107 and 108 but I can tell you they are very definitely not my friend today! They are 1:100k so there was a great deal of squinting involved, and a three-way reconciliation of paper maps, computer maps and PDF directions ...

 

[CopperBrompton]

Actually decided just to use the tracklog for the final French day. Won't get any routing, but will get a dotted line on the moving map, which will be better than off-road routing.

DM and OFF, either of you coming?

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Hi there, Trikeman. I'm not categorically crying off but I admit I'm having difficulty finding an easy way of getting my bike and me back to London from Paris by Sat 19. The coach lines seem to only accept folders and Eurostar looks like I can't reserve a bike place until I have a ticket/reservation, which is the wrong way round - I need to know there's a bike space before buying the ticket. I'll have another look and see what I can find.