A small group of us are thinking about doing a few days road riding in Northern France next year. Preferably multi-stop and riding from St.Malo. No camping, so hotels / hostels etc.

We’d be looking at doing 100-150 km per day with plenty of time for nice food & wine.

Any suggestions?

fougeres is awesome, as is honfluer.

We did a couple of days earlier in the summer, St Malo to St Lo which ended up being 95 miles by the route we took (the river route to St Lo is well worth a look) then St Lo to Ouistream via the D Day Beaches on the 2nd day – 65 miles.

Personally I would have preferred to do it over 3 days but that was lack of training

Route here
http://imnotthealien.com/cycling/?page_id=2179
http://imnotthealien.com/cycling/?page_id=2140

Cheers, what kind of places did you stay in?

Charlie bikemonger posted some good info on a coastal tour in N France, worth looking up / asking him.

I’ve just spent a week just outside of Honfleur, it was nice but a bit of a tourist trap.
I’d go West from St. Malo, not East.

formula, ibis type hotels.

We were at an Ibis (I think) at St Lo, there was a formula just over the road that was a tad cheaper but I think ferry to StMalo, hotel at St Lo, Ferry back from Ouistream was about £120 all in

Oh & there was a Buffalo Grill close to the hotel, filled up hungry cyclists that night, a bit heavy on the stomach next day.

Pre booking the hotel is cheaper than just turning up.

The river gorge from Tessy to St Lo was really nice although not tarmacked for most of it – so careful on the tyres (my specialized Roubaix armadillo’s did fine) – the main road over the top would have been a bit unpleasant

+ 1 for Honfleur on a day visit.

Just seen that there is a Bernard Hinault Sportive – could be fun!

Final thought from me, just south of Averanche we came across some lovely smooth tarmac, turned out we were on the TdF time trial course about a week before Froomey 🙂

Honfleur is very nice. There are some nice places around Caen. Pegasus bridge is a good tourist trail spot and there are canal towpath bike paths all the way into Caen. So flat and straight I’ll be impressed if you don’t end up racing! The castle in town is worth a look.

In the countryside beuvron en auge is quite a nice place for a lunch stop and there was a cracking bakery in troarn last time I was there.

The coastal stretch between cabourg and trouville is quite nice, the hill behind Benerville has some good views from the gun batteries if you can go (light) off roading.

(I used to lead cycling trips in parts of France. Knowing where the good places to buy cake and east lunch are help!)

Finally, if you’ve not had one before I recommend trying the pastry known as ‘la religeuse’. You won’t regret it.