Joined: 11 Jun 2008
Posts: 18
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| There is a French cycle route marked along the coast. I have done this route and several bits of it quite a few times in the last few years. Good in parts. I always liked sea france - cheaper than P&O who charged extra for bikes) Transmanche are worth checking out. think, Brittany Ferries are very pricy but glitzy.
People friendly, used to Brits and can cope with Vegetarians - mostly.
From Calais (which is a dump) I would avoid the coast, the road to Boulogne is busy narrow and has some steep climbs - worst of all busy with British motorists! I prefer to take a rural route via Guines, to Desvres and through the Valee de la Corse (great ride this bit) to Monteuil (night stop and walled town)) and from there via Rue and Baie De Somme along the coast to le Havre. As a bird watcher, I tend to linger at St Valery Sur Somme - fantastic estuary but it would be possible to get to Dieppe and possibly St Valery Caux in a day.
The route to LH takes you past some great little coastal villages including Fecamp and Etretat (you will have seen pictures of the cliffs at L'Etretat they feature in lots of paintings and the French detective Arsène Lupin had an adventure here). The coast from here on in was fashionable back in the day and many "impressionist" painters caught scenes here, which makes many of the local art galleries worth a visit.
We did a lot of damage to LeH during the war and the centre was rebuilt in concrete blocks in a grid patter. is Unesco listed in very modern post war style. Local love it - Brits tend to see concrete jungle. Nice squares.
Cross the Seine via the Pont Normandie (there is a route through the industrial area south of the Ferry Terminal takes you to the bridge - where there is a cycle path! Sunday or Saturday is best, fewer or no lorries. You will feel this bridge move. Then to Honfleur (a must stop) (do stop here too) and along the coast past more fashionable resorts to Ouisterham (means Westerham and was a Saxon settlement) via Pegasus bridge. Caen is accessible on a traffic free route along the river. From there I went via Bayeaux to Caratan. I used minor roads but the N road is fairly quiet and wide. There is am off road cycle route through the centre of Normadie or (like I did) it is worth sticking to roads and seeing more of the landing beaches.The off road route when I did it was OK for a touring cycle but dull compared to the roads.
I reckon 5 days of you do sightseeing. Enjoy!
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