[Closed] Mountain biking in Northern Europe? The Ardennes?

I don't know but I will be watching this with interest. It always looks like a nice area.

Ps. If you head the other way to Normandy, there's some lovely trails in the Suisse Normande.

Ps. If you head the other way to Normandy, there's some lovely trails in the Suisse Normande.

Ok. I'll look up that area. I thought Normandy was flat?

Think again!

Interesting, I thought it was pretty flat too! If you're heading to Normandy then surely better to get a ferry to Cherbourg, St Malo or Le Havre?

Vosges is worth a look, although will probably still be rather nippy.

Most of Northern Europe is indeed quite flat. Suisse Normande is a bit of an exception although the hills are exactly that. Have a look around Thury-Harcourt and the River Orne.

OP Suisse Normande is 3.5hrs (easy quiet motorway - approx €20 tolls) from Tunnel or 30-40 mins from the Caen Ferry (Portsmouth overnight, also Le Havre is close). If you want a foreign holdiay then great otherwise to be honest the riding in Wales, Peak and Lake District is better and more of a "big mountain feel". Normandy you can visit the D-Day beaches, eat seafood on the coast and stroll along the beech (all with a bit of driving - max an hour). Cider and Calvados.

Another STWer very kindly sent me images of the VTT maps as in their infinite wisdom the Tourist Office provides them only in paper form. Will add the link here later and see if I can find some photos. You should also look at Strava Heat Maps and utawagavtt.com you can find a few routes on vttfrance.com also The riding is XC, hardtails will do.

Vosges are on my to-do list although 5-6hrs from Calais and could be snow covered in March.

Thanks for all your advice so far. We are treating it as more of a holiday, where some cycling may happen.

I live practically in Wales, and I'm thinking the lakes and Scotland may be a bit on the chilly side in march. They might not be though.

The Ardennes look like the hills are a reasonable height. I'll keep researching.

Plenty of big hills in the Ardennes, particularly around LaRoche - they used to hold a WC XC there and there are XC skiing trails, it can get quite wintry too. Ridden around there on road bikes and have doubt there's plenty of good mountain biking as it's quite unpopulated.

I'd second La Roche en Ardenne. We passed through in our van last summer and whilst I didn't ride, there are at least 2 MTB hire shops in the town with some decent kit. They'll probably do guided stuff too. It's certainly hilly with plenty of trees. Canoeing is also popular there. We drove down from Zeebrugge and apart from the Brussels ring road, it was a doddle with little traffic. Amazing butchers. Visit La Chouffe brewery if you get a chance.

Suisse Normande (thanks to STW Nigel who sent me the individual maps, I forget his login name)

[img] ~original[/img]

Google Drive Link - individual maps

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4Xghu6ilh2TamF1OUoyenlPZ0U

The site I used for free IGN maps (geoportal.gouv.fr) seems to have removed the detailed ones, there are others I know (forget the links right now) so you can research paths and contours.

this is a very interesting thread - thanks for the maps Jambalaya, just enough to tease us in!

clermont ferrand is 6 hr drive from Portsmouth ferry. Surrounded by amazing telly tubby mountains and is a great city to visit.

Have done xc mtbing in luxembourg that is the Ardennes, sandstone hills and forest.

The Le Havre and Caen ferry crossings are long and expensive. And unless things have improved in the last few years, the le havre ferry was like a cattle boat.

Ardennes is lovely. Seriously hilly but not mountainous by any means.
Houffalize / LaRoche / Achouffe etc

Accomodation in a fantatic chalet 1km from the XC loop in Houffa?: http://www.chalet-houffalize.be/index.htm

Luxembourg similar options for trails - https://www.mullerthalcycling.com/mullerthal-trails/

Plenty of bike options in the region.