WCC trip to Paris. Friday September.11th – Monday September 14th.
I advertised a potential ride from WIllesden to the start of the first ever TdF, the Reveil Matin cafe, in southern Paris, in September as partof our 100th birthday I tested out the route a little while back in very hot conditions. The original description is at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1buKaXQPqp-iXB860UsSZU2lqmkfa8m0s/view?usp=sharing
To recap, the ride envisaged following the Avenue Vert cycle path from London to Paris over 3 days of around 120km per day, taking the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry . Most of the route was great cycling: the ride from Dieppe to Central Paris (Notre Dame) worked almost entirely, with only a few minor tweaks needed. The ride into Paris from its outermost suburbs was a good deal more interesting than I expected and I saw stuff I’d never see as an ordinary tourist.
In the stretch to Newhaven, most of the route was fine. However I tried the Avenue Vert route (mostly) through South London. It was very fiddly navigation and unewarding cycling. I think a better approach is to take mainly bus laned roads to South Croydon. As soon as I hit downland there it was great, all the way to near Gatwick where the B roads I had chosen became very busy for several miles. I think I see a better alternative for most of that. There is an unavoidable couple of miles of A road into Lewes. That was OK – not too busy and with plenty of passing room.
I ended up eating at the Bridge pub in Newhaven, a couple of minutes from the Ferry with pleasant staff, a good choice of beer and reasonable food. I slept well in the seated area, aided by endless replays of France’s world cup punditry, with no sound ,on its TV.
The problem areas:
Reveil Matin
There has been a lot of change since I did it in 2014 to the ride out along the Seine to the Reveil Matin cafe. Almost the entire route has now got a parallel cycle lane which ranges from good to poor, with the road now narrowed so that cars cannot overtake you for long stretches. A lot of the older housing alongside have been replaced by new flats, doubtless sold at a premium for having a Seine view. The cafe itself (closed for the summer break when I rode TCR) is now part of a hotel/restaurant. When I stuck my head inside, it was full of kids running around and mainly dads drinking beer. There was no sign to say there was a party on, so maybe it was just dads performing childcare on a Sunday afternoon. I did not feel like hanging around to get a Ricard. Getting back to Paris on the RER was straightforward enough, though the train was crowded.
So, the Reveil Matin bit was an anticlimax. I could include it still, but my preference would be to perhaps loop back from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower and find a nearby bar from there – preferably with a cycling history or theme.
Returning via Dieppe.
The old RER trains have been replaced by expresses which take only 3 bikes per train hanging on hooks, which need reserving, a struggle on the internet with a bike. So to return via Dieppe means splitting ourselves across trains and regrouping at Dieppe (which is very pleasant, it’s a resort more than a port). I took the early evening ferry and was able to get home by train just after midnight, however that’s West London, not somewhere further afield. A Man with a Van would cost at least 550 Euros (and that’s just the bikes) and it really looks impossible to hire a self-drive van one way to Dieppe.
A feasible alternative looks like taking an RER to Calais, then a ferry, then a Javelin train to St Pancras. It will cost a bit more than via Dieppe. There are four RERs per day with “loads” of bike spaces apparently and frequent Calais-Dover ferries.
Paris Brest Pastries
None spotted ;-(
So in conclusion a cracking ride, even better with tweaks, but maybe another destination in Paris, and a return via Calais. Who’s up for it? If the preceding or following weekend works better for people, it can move. Please reply via Whatsapp or to ianaudax@gmail.com and let me know.
