I have 5-6 days in August for a cycle tour with my 16 year old son.
He clearly wants to do Alpe d'Huez and le Tourmalet and send me to an early grave but we've compromised on Normandy/Brittany as we can get a ferry from Portsmouth and leave the car at home.
My thinking is night boat in / out via Caen and then the only remaining question is fixed base campsite and tour / cycle out from there or a circular route and what else we do. I'm the weak link here so daily average mileage of 40-50
Camping
- Are we likely to find ride up/no booking night by night camping in August if we go for the circular option?
- Are campsites likely to take single night bookings if we book in advance or are we going to be better off fixed base?
- Any recommendations on how to book (obviously there's pitchup)?
I'm really not minded to be in a position where we're trawling for camping / bivying in a hedge after dark.
Things to see / do & routes
I assume this area will have some WWII history links but if anyone has some tips they'd be gratefully received.
I found this site, which seems to have some good established routes: France Vélo Tourisme: All cycling routes in France
First priority is probably ferries but need to start thinking about the rest.
I found a campsite every night but sometimes needed to try a couple to find space. If you can I would book ahead. A couple of times I had to look tired and pathetic so they found a corner for me.
Euro velo routes are good but can be crowded and go a long way for a shortcut
You can do some good round trips using various ferry crossings , i.e. sant malo or Cherbourg, or even back via jersey, Guernsey. The tour du Manchester, and petit tour du Manchester routes should give you an idea. We found Normandy v quiet , but that must of been out of peak french holiday season.
Thanks both. It's peak school holiday so that reinforces my book ahead mentality on the camping.
Also thanks for the heads up on those routes I'm quite happy with a map and some creativity. We did most of our Dutch trip last year by following the signage and our noses along the coast.
We ended up with Caen as the preferred option as the Portsmouth / Cherbourg service seems to be not operating / available to book at the moment, which is a shame and St Malo has the disadvantage of only a day boat crossing back that goes quite early so unless we have a bike friendly one night hotel stop in St Malo it's not feasible. We've used that crossing by car and foot before as it's a lovely town but both times we've been within bread roll throwing distance of the port.
Give me a call tomorrow?
I'll do that after work. Thanks.
Manche not Manchester btw ?
I did a 5-day trip last September.
We went out Portsmouth - Cherbourg and returned Caen - Portsmouth. There are loads of interesting D-Day and WW2 sites to visit and some excellent museums. We did between 50 and 60km a day which gave us plenty of time to take the sights without having to rush anywhere.
There are plenty of cycle tracks in Normandy although in some places you have no choice and have to ride on the road. However, we found the French drivers to be courteous and overtake sensibly.
We stayed in AirBnB places which were great as they are secure and comfortable. Might be difficult to book and expensive in August though.
I used Komoot to plan each day’s ride and found it to be great for tweaking suggested routes to ensure we saw what we wanted to and choose, as far as possible the surface we rode on.
A few WW2 things to see are:
- The Airborne museum about 10miles south of Cherbourg is fantastic. It covers the airborne US forces that were dropped at the start of DDay, as in Band of Brothers.
- Pegasus Bridge just south of the Ouistream/Caen port. It’s where the British landed gliders behind German lines in the first engagements of D Day.
Has a museum and you can get a coffee in the bar which is the first liberated French building.
- The new museum at Gold Beach by Arromanche.
I also thought the Bayeux Tapestry was worth seeing, but I know it’s closing for refurbishment sometime in 2025.
Very old anecdotal evidence here, but we did a "turn up and see what happens" camping holiday in Normandy and Brittany in, ooo, 2008 or so during the summer holidays (Mrs Pondo is a teacher) - we had to poke around to find a campsite that had space every time we moved, which was frustrating enough when we were in the car (and pretty sure it won't have got better since then). Not an experience we've chosen to repeat, I'd look at booking if possible, just to cut that out.
Years ago did Newhaven Dieppe St Malo Portsmouth. Another year Le havre - St malo. There is a campsite in St Malo overlooking the port and can see the boat arriving early doors and plenty of time to get the tent down and head over to board. Never booked ahead, and never didn't find a campsite for the night. Even if they were full they would find a spot to sneak us in. (but a good few years ago)
In addition to all the WW2 sights, go to Cancale and eat oysters fresh off the beach.
The terrain if you keep to the coast is quite punchy climbs and descents from what I remember, so difficult to get into a good rhythm, get some hills in before you go.
It's a few years since I cycle toured in France, but at the time I visited, many small towns had municipal campsites, which were clean and cheap, and I just turned up at several of them without any booking and got a place.
The WW2 museum at Bayeux is good. One fact I remember is that the Bayeux bypass was built by the allies just after D day to speed their military progress around the town.
Port em Bessin is a nice town for a visit. Still a proper little fishing port and a bit less touristy than the main D-Day hot spots.
The terrain if you keep to the coast is quite punchy climbs
This true, especially on the Cotentin Peninsula. There are some long draggy climbs but nothing that is too bad. Just a matter of head down, keep pedalling and try not to look too far ahead.
When we were there a 30km headwind for the last couple of hours riding on days 1 and 2 didn't help! Definitely Type 2 fun. 🙂
Just wanted to pop back and say thanks all.
Booked the ferry to Caen, and an Airbnb on the Cherbourg peninsula. My son wants to do a fixed base and ride out light each day trip. A little gite makes sense so we can travel lighter (it's about 100km from the port) and see more.
I've made a note of some of the suggested sites above as well.
Now I just need to get fit enough to punch out a hilly 60 miler with some luggage twice in a week (worried face).
I enjoyed the WW2 museum at Bayeux, the cemeteries over the road are a must see too, very moving. Don't know if it's doable but Falaise might be worth a visit if you're into WW2 history.
Loads of things to see along the coast, Pegasus bridge was an highlight for us, you will have a fantastic time, Komoot is good for finding interesting routes
Coutance and Granville are very nice towns.
@garage-dweller Where is your AirBnb?
I’ll check the route I took and see if there are any sites I can recommend nearby.