London to Paris: Route Advice

Maybe I missed, but didn't find any links to gpx files in this thread. Does anyone have a good one?

This is the ROUTE
we took.
(note, you don't have to ride that blue bit in the middle)

It follows the Avenue Verte on the French side, designed for stress-free riding with lots of traffic free stuff.
You could probably shave a few miles off..

If people are doing this for the tour I have spare eurostar tickets for 21st July. Drop me a pm if interested

I did Dieppe - Rouen - Le Havre a couple of weeks ago.

The Dieppe - Paris route (whether you pass through Rouen or Gournay) is more pleasant, in the sense of relatively flat, pretty French countryside. It's also kind of boring scenery wise (just pretty).

The ride out of Le Havre, along the Seine towards Rouen/Paris is to my mind far more spectacular. You cycle past giant ports and industrial areas, contrasted by the pretty countryside and towering chalk/limestone cliffs. Then you either cross the Seine at two points or stay on the north bank till you get to Rouen (which is what I did, and was a bloody enjoyable stimulating ride). Rouen is a pretty cool city and a good place to spend the night before pushing to Paris the next day. I prefer this route, you're (mostly) totally safe from any kind of big traffic if you stick to the D roads and it's heaps of fun, if slightly more intimidating and less direct.

Rouen to Paris then can involve following the Seine till you get to Poissy.

I'm locked in on one evening, but thanks for the offers.

Will need to meet my missus on Friday the 28th in Paris..

just doing a basic look at the Le Havre option, most of it could run in the national parks/forests, which seems pretty nice. there are even some hills, it seems....

Anyone been through here?

We are staying here(The Swan) on our first day. Great B&B.

In Paris we are staying at the Ibis/Etape
57-63, AVENUE JEAN JAURÈS
75019 - PARIS
FRANCE

Stay here between Dieppe and Paris. It's amazing and cycle friendly. And has a hot tub.

http://www.lesgrangesdhaillancourt.fr/

^ ^^ Thanks will be having a look at these.

Just booked the night ferry to Dieppe for the 19th July after it seemed it was fully booked. Will be riding with a few mates from there to arrive in Paris on the Sunday.

This website worked for me if anyone else is trying: http://www.aferry.co.uk/

Edit:

Ahm on the ferry. Hell yeah.

Get in alex, would have loved to do this but riding through the night myself!

Zanda, the Thursday night or friday night ferry? We were on the thurs night ferry. We zipped down to newhaven from London on thurs afternoon and then rode to Paris yesterday. It pissed it down for the better part of the day, esp. hard at 02:30 when we got off the ferry to get going after no sleep. However, we cracked on and with only two brief stops we had knocked out 110 miles to the Eiffel tower by lunchtime. A snooze in the hotel, fantastic beers and food and a lazy day today before Eurostar back later. A heartily recommended affair for a fun weekend.

So, I knocked this off on Friday.

I cheated a bit and caught the train to Portsmouth on Thursday. It'd been a tough week at work and I knew i would get stuck at work late and that traffic from central would be crap, so I just booked a one way for a tenner. Turned out to be money well spent, and in the end I was pushed just to make the train.

Last minute I decide to leave audax-spec (heavy) overshoes behind on basis of rain forecast being generally light.

I did consider jumping off somewhere south of Guildford to ride the south downs, but instead i just sat on the train, drank beers and chatted to the very attractive lady in lycra who didnt fancy the ride home on her carbon sunday best, so had opted for the train.

I can confess that I did find the rush to get to a time limiting start (ferry check-in) a little stressful. I grabbed a greasy whopper and a bag of doritos in the rush there, but probably ended up eating a little light. Ferry company kept us standing in the rain for over an hour and cyclists were last to board - by the time we'd farted about boarding it was about 20-30 mins past the sail-away time

First lesson: Pack food for dinner, or stress less about being early for checkin, and hit up a pub in p/mouth

I didnt get a berth, as they were expensive - disproportionately so. found the accomodations generally pretty good, but the motorcyclists at the bar were up past 4:30 drinking and carrying on. Made it very hard to sleep (they didnt bother - just ate breakfast and donned the leathers). Earphone buds in the ears did little to help - and I kept pulling the chord out. also, the lights on the ferry were dimmed but not turned off.

Lesson 2: eye patch covers and earplugs essential. Berth not necessary

Fried brekky on the ferry was greasy and provided much needed calories. Probably should have had 2 given the fact that I hadnt really eaten the night before. Disembarked nearly an hour after landfall (which was on time) - so was a little late hitting the road.

The route I took was hashed together late one evening after work (after midnight) last week, and I must confess I was more worried about being as straight a line as practicable, whilst still being on D-roads. I was conscious that f-about would see me arrive in Paris late, resulting in upset wife. This was a major ERROR. Le Havre being a busy port, the main option for trucks too big for the motorway was the straight D-roads, many of which were 2 or 3 lanes in each direction. sometimes I rode the hard shoulder, sometimes there wasnt one. When there wasnt I rode FAST.

Also, the countryside is actually quite epic if you are rolling through the forest - of which there is plenty in the general line between LeHavre and Paris, but the straight, very flat roads I chose east of Rouen were so straight and so flat I almost found myself zoning out and nodding off. Only an unnecessarily frequent string of traffic lights and the constant threat of being run over kept me alert. This combined with the fact that it was raining upwards as much as it was downwards made part of this ride a bit "not as good as it could have been".

having said all that, there were some fantastic moments on the ride. there were actually some lovely continental climby bits - not long, not steep, but enough to make you smile. There was also some fantastic quiet roads, along sections I had bothered to think about.

Lesson 3: there are good roads out there - spend the time to plan properly, or get a route from someone who has

Finally, a word of warning if you're like me and find that I usually suffer a bit at about the 80-100 mile mark - there weren't many places open selling food to weary travellers. The better the roads, and the further off the beaten track, the more this is true. Plan to pass a town, and take food on when you do, or pack enough to eat.

I had a power bar picnic lunch at Chaussy, which is lovely, but I would have preferred a baguette and a coffee.

Photos of the nice bits to come.

Alex, sorry to hear you didn't have a perfect trip. I'm sure in not the only one who's impressed by a solo to Paris on what could almost be called a whim. You are indeed a monster!

You you and the family (!) had a good one in Paris mate. I've taken notes as I would love to do this ride this year. Not so sure about soloing it though, after 80-100 miles I tend to question myself if I can't see a fellow cyclist suffering alongside me.

Missed you out on the TNRC bud, will make sure you're in for the next one!

Had a lovely, leisurely roll to Paris last week, via Dieppe, Forge les Eaux, Giverny (slight detour) and Chaussy. Would really recommend the Relais de Chaussy - amazingly welcoming, cyclist friendly, serving great home cooking and local beer.

Did the avenue verte route pretty much the whole way. Loved riding through the Vexin, but if I did it again I think I would look for a more direct route into Paris - got slightly tired of the 'Paris 30km' signs, as we looped round the Seine.

Going to be doing the Donald H/Avenue Verte route in Sept/Oct - can anyone who has done this point out bits that might be dodgy on skinny tyres? Our group will all be on road bikes and I'm a bit worried about what towpaths and forest trails will be like if the weather is crappy!

There's a short section on a forest track maybe 10/15km outside of Paris that was dusty when we did it, but might be a bit sketchy in the wet.

Amazing Zanda. Hopefully doing this mid-September with a few mates. Thoroughly looking forward.

Thought I'd add my recent experience to this most helpful thread.

-The Newhaven - Dieppe - Newhaven ferry doesn't always run twice a day (tides).
-The http://ldlines.co.uk/timetables/dieppe-newhaven timetable isn't always right, our ferry left France at 1900, landing in the UK 2230, didn't leave us enough time to sprint to the last Brighton London train.
-Tried to book on-line two bikes on the ferry a day before, computer said no...took advice I read that they had never been refused turning up and buying a ticket on the day, great advice, lady changed some numbers and booked us on, the ferry is huge, 100kg of man and bike easily accommodated.
-Advised to arrive 1hr before departure.
-Buckle Farm (£7.50) in Seaford 2 miles away very handy for an overnight stay (hot showers).
-Lewes (7 miles away has a Tesco open til 2400)
-Dieppe, best to approach on the east side of the river to reach the Avenue Verte.
-Dieppe is lovely.
-Avenue Verte, Dieppe to Forges very pleasant, did get a little bored.
-Forges has a bike shop 100 mtrs south of the Tourist Information.
-Printout a map of Forges as the route goes around the houses, at first opportunity jump on the D13 near Super U, short journey to the centre.
-The Avenue Verte is unpaved, rocky and not suitable for 23/25mm tyres, my 32mm just coped. We left the Avenue 5 miles in.
-The D21 near Forges Les Eaux to Gournay En Bray was beautiful Picardy countryside, possibly passed 5 / 10 cars.
-St Germer De Fly along the D129, right into D3 were amazing dreamy roads, immense field, undulating terrain, forest, village, fields, distant vistas.
-Just after Neuvillette we took a right/west to Tours, highest left after the church over the hill to Chars, again immense field, quiet roads, you could see for miles.
-Took the train from Chars to Paris (25 miles) we were running late and didn't have a detailed map of the suburbs (1:100000 scale didn't tell us much).
-Chars trains are every 2 hrs (i think).
-Dia supermarket in Chars, top of the hill on the east.
-Campsite in Forges La Miniere was still open 5th + 7th October, hot showers. Out of season very quite, rolled up past 2000 set up camp, paid in the morning 4e each!!! Fantastic.
-On return journey Forges to Dieppe followed the Avenue Verte for half way then jumped on the D1 for some of the ride to Dieppe, little bit more interesting and opportunity to stop for refreshments as the cafe's along the Avenue Verte in October seemed to be closed.

Had a great adventure, my first international tour, galvanised for further adventure, next time to Normandy, I've been dreaming of Calvados.

Hi,
Has anyone got anywhere cheap they'd recommend staying in the middle of Dieppe and Paris? I'm planning on riding to Paris and back for four days this summer.

This place in Dieppe was basic, but cheap and decent service with a good breakfast, they have a garage you can put your bikes in.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/eolienne.en-gb.html?label=gen173nr-1DCAEoggJCAlhYSDNiBW5vcmVmaFCIAQGYAS64AQjIAQ7YAQPoAQGSAgF5qAID;sid=7afa5c98553310ca7f75430e7adfb451#

In Paris I would recommend the Ibis in the 11th Arr, cheap and good location. They insisted we put our bike in our rooms too which was great.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/all-seasons-paris-voltaire-republique.en-gb.html?label=gen173nr-1DCAEoggJCAlhYSDNiBW5vcmVmaFCIAQGYAS64AQjIAQ7YAQPoAQGSAgF5qAID;sid=7afa5c98553310ca7f75430e7adfb451

Thanks! Do you know of anywhere in between Paris and Dieppe? Sorry, my first post was not very well written...

For Dieppe we stayed somewhere along the Boulevard de Verdun, Inter Hotel de la Plage I think. Was fine and they let us in at 4am with bikes when we got off the ferry.

What is your planned schedule for the four days?

I broke it down like this last year.
Day 1 Buckingham Palace to Newhaven
Day 2 Dieppe to Paris
Day 3 Paris to Dieppe
Day 4 Newhaven to Home

You can get a ferry about 5pm from Newhaven which gets in around 10

I live in Brighton. I plan on getting the 9am ferry, arriving at 2 then riding for 50ish miles. We'll stay overnight somewhere then ride on to Paris. I plan to do one night in Paris then the reverse back.

Edit: I think we will look to stay in Gournay-en-Bray. Now to search for some cheap accommodation...

Hotel Le Cygne Gournay-en-bray - Stayed here a few times on-route.

Cycle-friendly hotel with good lock-ups out back for bikes, really nice staff.

Avenue Verte is fine for 23's the whole way except for the boring (and time-consuming) meanders of the river after Cercy.