Relaxed London to Paris, w/c 14th May

[CopperBrompton]

They can't tell you which departures have bike spaces when you call them? That's a bit rubbish! With 16 departures a day, I'd be surprised if they didn't have bike spaces on some of them at least.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

They can't tell you which departures have bike spaces when you call them? That's a bit rubbish! With 16 departures a day, I'd be surprised if they didn't have bike spaces on some of them at least.

I'll check tomorrow - they've all retired to their chateaux for the night.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Cool. I have a room booked for Tue night, and they've confirmed that they have another one free. Weds night just going to wing it and start looking around the 40-mile mark, which will give plenty of time to find somewhere. (If there's a tourist info place en-route, can ask them to recommend somewhere and call ahead.)

 

[oldfatfool]

Wish I could but just can't find the finances tbh

Hope you have a great week, and look forward to hearing about it.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Sorry you can't make it, OFF.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Sorry, Monsieur La Triciclette, I'm going to have to call off as well - it turns out I need to get back to London earlier than I thought. Shame, I'd even managed to get a lass at Eurostar to let me make a provisional train booking so if there wasn't a space for a bike I wouldn't lose money.

 

[CopperBrompton]

That's a shame, but never mind, I shall try to remember to post lots of photos to show you what you missed :-)

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Aye, give us a full illustrated account of how you get on and I'll let it whet my appetite for later in the year. But, first and foremost, have a great trip!

 

[CopperBrompton]

I'm sure I shall. If you haven't heard from me by July, please send a search-party into the forests to the west of Paris.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Someone from the London Cycling Meetup Group is now joining me. Though oddly he plans to ride something with only two wheels - do those things really work?

 

[CopperBrompton]

Well, it was wet. Very wet! Hail at times. Thank the gods for good waterproofs. But the route is absolutely fantastic. A little hilly on day three (ie. day two on the French side) but beautiful and very, very quiet. Stayed in a couple of great guesthouses too.

222 miles in total. Will post up a full trip report when I get home next week.

 

[oldfatfool]

Glad you enjoyed the route, shame about the weather, I was just thinking about how pleasant it would have been to join you as we have had our first extended period of sun (mon tues wed)!!

 

[CopperBrompton]

Always the way - but very enjoyable all the same (apart from the first morning). Hope you get to do it soon.

 

[CopperBrompton]

If using European Bike Express for the return, St Witz is a bit further than it looks due to one side of CDG having only motorways and near-motorways, so you have to go the long way round. Was 33 miles from Gennevilliers, so I guess 40-ish miles from the centre of Paris. Mostly nice route, though.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I need to add the GPS tracklogs, but the blog is here:
http://www.benlovejoy.com/cycle/tripreports/londontoparis/

which includes video of a solid four minutes of downhill into Trier :-)

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Wh1k8-wZ4&feature=youtu.be


And yes, there was a fsck of a lot of climbing beforehand!

Ben