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Avenue Verte France cycle route | cycle.travel

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Avenue Verte France trundling route | cycle.travel cycle◦travel Route GuidesRoutes ▼MunicipalityGuidesCities ▼ Map My Avenue Verte France Avenue Verte UK BayTrundlingWay C2C Celtic Trail Coast & Castles Cornish Way Cotswold LineTrundlingacross the Beacons Devon C2C Hadrian's Cycleway Kennet & Avon Lon Cambria London to Brighton Lon Las Cymru Lon Teifi Oxford to Cambridge Pennine Cycleway Radnor Ring Thames Valley Tour de Yorkshire Way of the Roses West Country Way • Bikes on trains • Canal cycling • Full list Birmingham Bristol Cambridge London Oxford Swindon Worcester York • Full list • Add your municipality Avenue Verte France Guide Routebook Gallery Stay Ride reports Forum ...become a ‘rouleur’ on the quiet roads of Normandy Route facts Length: 150 miles Difficulty: Easy GPX file: Download Cross the Channel, and you’ll be truly delighted by the second half of the London–Paris trundling route – a lovely trot on rural lanes and superb traffic-free trundling paths, right into the heart of the capital.(Starting from London? Check out the first half of our guide.)It pains us to shoehorn it, but cycling in France is largest than in Britain. The roads are quieter, the drivers increasingly respectful, and in Paris, safe, physically segregated velocipede lanes are rhadamanthine the norm. In Sussex, plane the quiet lanes are menaced by Audis cornering too fast; in France, you can go for a whole hour without seeing a car.Planethe railway paths are wider, and the gates at road crossings are less tortuous.Paradise? Perhaps. But cycling in rural France has its eccentricities, too. Chief among these is the difficulty of finding something to eat. Yes, many villages have a boulangerie and a bar; but the bar doesn’t serve supplies at lunchtime, and the boulangerie is sealed from 11.30am to 4pm. Turn up at 2pm looking for a late lunch, and you’ll go hungry.Largestto buy your lunch surpassing leaving in the morning, and pack it in your panniers.What sort of bike?If you’ve washed-up the full route from London, bridleways and all, your steed must be pretty sturdy. In France, though, the surfaces are much better. There’s only one bumpy off-road section (at Maudétour) and a handful of gravel tracks. These are easy to stave with a short road detour.How many days?Dieppe to Paris typically takes four days, bringing the total trip from London to six or seven days. A fit, experienced cyclist could do the French section in as little as two.Is it suitable for a first-timer?It’s ideal. The gradients are gentle, the traffic sparse, and the scenery inviting. Set a relaxed schedule and you’ll love the experience.How do I find my way?Our downloadable PDF route-book has a full map of the route.The signage in France is often excellent. The standard sign is a compass symbol, either black-on-yellow or green-on-white, though the AV logo makes a reappearance in Paris. The route in Paris is not so well-signed and you may need to follow your nose. For the final stretch, it coincides with the city’s pink-signed N/S route; squint out for those where Avenue Verte signs are missing.Before the official French signs were erected, the route was signed by little woebegone stickers with a red pointing arrow. These are still in place, though in a few places route improvements have superseded them. Regardless, they will help you navigate through Paris and the few other places where official signage is missing.What well-nigh the ferry?The Newhaven–Dieppe ferry is subsidised by the French government, operated by the ever-efficient Danish DFDS fleet, and often a increasingly pleasant wits than the crush of Dover–Calais. Advance booking is required.Bikes are welcome on board, plane though there’s no defended storage; you simply lock your velocipede to the wall of the car deck. Newhaven Port is a rather minimalist experience, just a car queue with some fences, so don’t victorious too early in bad weather; one hour is enough. There’s a Sainsburys nearby if you need breakfast. Dieppe’s port is a short way out of town and largest equipped, with a useful port towers to top up your water bottles.The crossing takes four hours.Should you follow the official route?The French route is uncontrived and of unceasingly upper quality; you’ll rarely need to diverge from the official parcours. In the rural Vexin, however, the route designers were often tempted by gravel or (on one occasion) grass tracks, and experienced cyclists with faster bikes may segregate to alimony to the road.Should you take a support vehicle?Packing your holiday needs into a pair of panniers is the archetype cycling holiday and is, of course, increasingly sustainable. On the other hand, a car-borne companion will make your return journey easier (no need to worry well-nigh booking your velocipede onto French trains), and faciliate quick dashes to the out-of-town hypermarket when all the boulangeries have closed. Alternatively, a cycling holiday visitor will sort all these worries for you.How do you get home again?The fastest way from Paris to London is by Eurostar. Taking a velocipede by Eurostar is, however, a pain in the seat post. Check out our detailed guide for the full skinny.If you have the time, you’ll get a largest taste of French life on the traditional Intercités trains. The unloved older brothers of the TGV, these still provide a very civilised ‘slow train’ experience. You can take a train to Rouen from Paris St Lazare, then transpiration for the TER (regional) train to Dieppe; or, if it’s easier, take the train uncontrived from St Lazare to Le Havre for the ferry to Portsmouth.Velocipedespace is at the end of each transport and requires neither booking nor dismantling your bike.You can moreover take a Transilien passenger train from St Lazare to Gisors; transpiration for the reopened line to Serqueux, near Forges-les-Eaux (two morning trains, two evening trains); and from there, trundling when withal the 32-mile railway path to Dieppe. No booking required!The best-kept secret of Anglo-French velocipede transport is the EuropeanVelocipedeExpress. This express mentor has a defended velocipede trailer and travels regularly from the south of France to various points within England, with a stop in the northern suburbs of Paris. Stage-by-stage guide and map » Click through to our detailed maps, stage-by-stage guide, walk-up and campsite listings. cycle◦travel Made in the Cotswolds, England. Published by Éditions Système D Ltd. Terms of use & cookies ·Well-nighus · Advertise · Feedback · Contact us