France

Almost 2 weeks ago a friend Nicola and I cycled our bikes onto a ferry to the continent for the first time, the actual culmination of July travel musings about bikepacking with my brompton – including camping, wanting to see what Paris had done with its cycling infrastructure, and spend more time in that city than the odd days in the previous decades as a stopover on the way to warmer climes in France.

My research turned up the Avenue Verte route from Dieppe to Paris and the tentative decision was made for a trip in September, weather dependent.  I used the Sustrans guide book and then the France Velotourisme site for this and all the other routes across the country.  Both good resources imo.

Over the next few weeks I assembled equipment, leading to the bike looking like this .

The weather forecast towards the selected time period was looking favourable, so we landed in Dieppe after a night-time drive in the campervan down to Newhaven, leaving it there in the port parking.

After a 4-hour pleasant ferry crossing, which I would recommend, we cycled in the sunshine to our first campsite in Arques-la-bataille a few kms along the route. Nothing had been booked apart from the Paris hotel, so we had ultimate flexibility to change or abandon the route and/or accommodation.

1st morning take down

We counted the first night as a success in that we managed to get some sleep, pack everything away and get it back onto the bikes. The tent, borrowed sleeping bag, thermal inner and ‘Trangia’ cooking set did the job, meaning cups of tea and porridge for breakfast. The campsite was very pleasant, including heated toilet block next to the pitch, as was the 30 miles of former railway line route the next day.

The weather started off bright and we enjoyed the landscapes and quick views of chateaux on route.

The gloom increased though and we stopped for a coffee or two to get out of the cold in Neufchatel-en-Bray, finally arriving in very low dark clouds and mist at the Forges-les-Eaux municipal campsite. These two sites were in their last week of opening, and felt it, and the latter had no heating in the toilet blocks. But of course very cheap. Bedtime was preferable to sitting outside in the cold and dark, so between 8 & 9pm by the time we’d done everything; the availability and usefulness of a picnic table and benches were recognised and used for sitting above the wet grass to cook, have food, and keep things dry from the dew while packing up the next morning.

The lack of rain and wind continued in day 3 thankfully, but we had decided to try and book ourselves into one of the two small hotels in the town of Gisors when we arrived, having cycled 40 miles including some long hill climbing. Beautiful route again.

Another highlight was meeting 4 guys from the UK also cycling to Paris at the almost top of one long climb, providing a lift for our spirits with good fun conversation and the very welcome gift of sweets.  I didn’t get immediately what they meant with their ‘spooning’ 🤣recommendation for keeping warm, but we pointed out that we more than happy to be in our own separate tents despite the cold. They did say that we could join them in their chambre d’hote as Nicola indicated we may have to crash their pad should we not find a hotel room, but it might not be pleasant spooning between the four, and putting up with their snoring. We didn’t need to gatecrash and had a wonderful nights sleep in a 2-star hotel after a lovely meal out in the centre of the small town.

We now had another planned 3 days of cycling and two nights of camping before getting to our booked Paris hotel. The weather forecast was looking good and the day started positively bumping into the 4 guys again who recommended a cafe which could meet one of Nicola’s romantic (not unreasonable altho’ for late September …) expectations of being able to sit in a small town square at a french cafe in the sun:)

So that we would only have to put up and pack up all the kit once more, and then enjoy a non-cycling day, we decided to combine two days cycling into one to reach the last campsite – a 4-star in the town of Maison Lafitte on the Seine, hopefully meaning heated toilet blocks, and a cafe/restaurant for a comfortable meal whiling away some evening time.  This meant 50 miles of cycling and abandoning some of the route’s tracks aross fields in favour of our own satnaving on quiet roads. It was a long day, sunny, no wind, but I at least was knackered and had had enough of being on the bike as the approach to the town seemed by now interminable.

The decision was a good one, the campsite was lovely but the pitches were without decent grass, having mainly been occupied by motorhomes over the season, so somewhat muddy, and no picnic table set up. Packing up, although in the sun, took quite a long time on the next but one morning, avoiding mud and dealing with the heavy dew and condensation. We enjoyed the restaurant evening meal and cafe the next morning.

Our grand Paris Entree was 30 miles of cycling along initially beautiful parts of the Seine, including through Rueil Malmaison, perhaps similar to places along the Thames, west of London.

The route then morphed into separate cycling provision along busy dual carriagways in very industrial logistics areas.  No cafes, McDs, or similar for a needed stop for quite a way. Thankfully the Komoot app navigation, into which I’d loaded a GPX file of the route performed a treat, and matched the regular Ave Verte signs at the key intersections. Back to tracking the Seine, we now cycled along the Saint Denis canal through the banlieus of the same and then Aubervilliers, both more deprived areas.  My phone having finally given up the ghost re power, we followed cycling signs to Notre Dame, the final destination of the route.

And we did it. 

With a celebratory french millefeuille for me.

We had reached the reality and luxury of a hotel base for 3 days of cycling exploration of the city and train journey back to Dieppe.  Next post to document this.