Something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while. Tales and or blog links from recent trips to help with the day dreaming would be most welcome.

Is doesn’t get any easier for foreign bike travel than France via ferry. Easy and cheap to cross the channel, loads of cycling infrastructure once there, drivers are relatively polite, municipal campsites are cheap and ubiquitous. French are friendly and helpful outside Paris.

Do it!

War memorials/museums?

bookmarking.

Have a look at TJ’s posts from last year – some of that was northern france

When the kids were young we used to go to Normandy, Brittany and the Vendee. I’ve got very happy memories of those places and so I would love to go back on my bike.

We live 30 mins from Portsmouth so every other year a group of ~8 ol’ giffers go for a cycle ride.  We did St Malo and West of it last year utilising the train to ensure most of our cycling was on the coast.  Top tip: if you do that, train into the likely westerly wind – like riding downhill all weekend! 🙂

If it were me thou, nicest part is into Caen and going east from there, Sat night in Honfleur so you have easy ride over the big bridge Sun AM and then explore countryside North of Le Harve, to then ride back along the coast to catch the ferry.

The odd years we then fly somewhere: my favorite I couldn’t recommend enough was Biarittz: get the hire bikes delivered to the airport, ride down to San Sebastian and then up a tarmac’ed tin mine path into the mountains for the night followed by a countryside ride back to Biaritz.  Smashing

ride up the canal to breakfast in the city.  On to Bayeux (train if you want) as it’d be rude not to and then hit the coast for a gentle peddle east as far as you want to go.

We crossed the big bridge to Le Havre on Sunday morning and it was amazing or you can ride up

The Tour de Manche?

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-other-routes/tour-de-manche

You can even do a long weekender, overnight to Saint Malo Thurs night, 3 days pootle & fast cat back from Caen 🙂 or you could a few years back.

We’ve just done a trip based around the Tour de Manche. Drove down to Portsmouth and parked up on a Saturday, then got the overnight ferry to St Malo. We didn’t follow the TdM route – we stopped at Mont St Michel (well the village just inland), Granville, Corentin, and Saint Vaast on the peninsula, then got a Thursday  evening ferry to Poole.

Friday we rode to Lymington and got the ferry ot the Isle of Wight for some exploring. Saturday we did more riding round the island then got a fast cat ferry back to the mainland and drove home. Happy to send on our plans including routes and stopover details if it will help

Earlier this year me, the OH, her sister, their dad, and a mate (who is dating her sister…) did the Avenue Vert over 3 days. then stayed a night in Paris, and got a train back North..

Next year we rally wanna do the petit tour De Manch.. From what i’ve seen, there isn’t actually a set route like the Avenue verte, so I guess you kinda just  see what others have done?DrP

Watching with interest…. I’m looking to plan ‘something’ around may next year probably.

From what i’ve seen, there isn’t actually a set route like the Avenue verte, so I guess you kinda just  see what others have done

there’s a website with a suggested route, but we didn’t follow it as it didn’t make sense for the distances we wanted to cover each day, and tbh cycling in France is mostly fine even when you’re not on the Voies Vertes

I always thought this looked interesting

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/oct/19/new-cycling-trail-northern-france-french-flanders-reseau-cycle-network

We had plans to head over and spend a week or ten days riding part of it but life got in the way.

Parc des caps et marais d’opale area just S of Calais is lovely. Ridden through it a few times and have always thought it’d be great for a long weekend trip. Like the best of the rolling English south but hardly any cars and bar tabacs in sleepy villages for 1 euro coffees. 

Any french petrol station, and elsewhere, will have a national map of cycle paths, most offroad. Brittany is littered with them! Many follow long abandoned mining railway lines.   many extend further south too…
Plenty there to keep you busy!

If you just want “abroad” the also consider the Hull Ferry to Amsterdam (sadly the ferry to Zeebrugge doesn’t run any more, the cycling round Bruges way is excellent), it’s easier to get to Hull from Oop North

If it must be France, then as well as ferries consider the eurotunnel bike service

https://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/travelling-with-us/vehicles/bicycles/

Carte des voies vertes et véloroutes de France

Starts in the north….. Ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, (if you can afford it, it went up a bit last year!) Then La Velo Francette to La Rochelle.

https://cycling.lavelofrancette.com/your-journey/la-velo-francette

It is a really varied route through deepest France, loads of municipal campsites and about 600km of loveliness!

I posted the below on another thread a few days ago.  Newhaven-Dieppe crossing.

I recently did a 2 day loop to the Seine and back.  Just made it into one file and shared on RidewithGPS.  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44993558

Planned via extensive use of streetview and local french cycle routes.  There is more off-road to be had but I didn’t want to risk having to backtrack if the route wasn’t passable.

We got the Friday evening ferry and hotel in Dieppe, but I’m tempted next time to take my camping gear off the bike and kip on the floor in a corner on the overnight ferry service (lots of people tuck into corners or under the stairs rather than use the reclining seats or cabins).  If I do it in the summer I might see if I can get away with sleeping on the top deck outside!

Thanks to all. Some great stuff there. We have taken bikes over in the van and ridden a bit over there. I remember doing the Voie Verte between Dinard and Dinon and it was lovely. https://www.francevelotourisme.com/itineraire/saint-malo-a-arzal-voie-2-bretagne/st-malo-evran

Another just bookmarking. We’re definitely up for a bit more touring

Down a rabbithole now:

https://www.francevelotourisme.com/itineraire/la-velomaritime-eurovelo-4