Start in Cherbourg or Caen?

raybo

I am planning a tour across France in May, 2008. I want to start my tour in Normandy, France and I will be taking a ferry to there from Portsmouth, England. There are two ports of call: Cherbourg or Ouistreham(Caen).

The Cherbourg ferry takes about half the time (3 hours) of the one to Caen (6+ hours) but costs the same. They also both leave about the same time. That means the one to Cherbourg arrives about noon and the one to Caen arrives about 3pm.

Cherbourg is about 30 miles from the D-Day beaches, while Caen is much closer.

Does anyone have any thoughts on either of these options?

Thanks,

Ray

tatanab

Of the two, I always take the Caen crossing because it tends to suit my plans better. The other preference is to take a night crossing so I get a reasonable nights sleep and an early start on docking in France.

Percycp

Depends where you are heading to when you say 'across France'. Also depends on how long you have, how far you want to ride, where you want to get a ferry back from etc etc.

I've always done the overnight crossing to St Malo (one you don't mention, do they still run it?), but then I was always heading South. You can have a kip and start riding off the boat at 8am, stopping in the nice little patisserie in St Malo to pick up breakfast.

graemetherunner

Check out the ferry companies... last time I went out of caen they charged for taking the bike, but travelling out of cherbourg its free.

raybo

Thanks for the replies.

I am planning to ride from Normandy to Avignon so my route is to the southeast. I have about 3 weeks for the trip once I get to the ferry (I will be leaving from Beaconsfield for the ride to Portsmouth).

Though I haven't planned my route fully and am open to any and all suggestions, I wasn't planning on going as far west as St. Malo. I wanted to see the D-Day beaches and then start heading south.

My first idea was to go out of Caen. However, after checking the ferry schedules, the ferry to Cherbourg leaves Portsmouth at the same time, is the same cost, and arrives 3 hours earlier--at noon instead of 3:30pm. I could use the extra time to get some riding in the first day. If I go to Caen, it will be ride off the ferry and find a place to stay for the night.

Other than to see Mont Saint Michel, is there any other reason to head over to St. Malo?

Thanks,

Ray

Special K

tatanab wrote:

Of the two, I always take the Caen crossing because it tends to suit my plans better. The other preference is to take a night crossing so I get a reasonable nights sleep and an early start on docking in France.

This is excellent advice. You can see the beaches and have a good nose around in one of the major fortresses or museums pretty much in half a day. That part of Normandy tends to gravitate to large roads that dissect the countryside, but if you look on the IGM 1:100,000 maps you'll find some handy canals which will allow you to put some distance in.



Rode in Burgundy in the summer and can recommend a route that joins the following dots:

Auxerre
Avallon
L'isle su Serein
Semur-en-Auxois
Pouilly-en-Auxois
Savigny les Beaune
Beaune
Mersault (wine....hmmmm)
Chalon-sur-Saone.
Cluny and west side of the Maconnais
Macon
Perouges
AVOID LYON
Lac du Paladru
(we then headed east, but that'll be irrelevant if you're going for Avignon).
Reckon that 110km a day was pretty good going. But it's very possible to much much further if you are fast and get up early. We didn't have camping gear.

chickenlegs

Caen night ferry by far the easier & more relaxing - get a good nights sleep on the ferry, arrive early, plenty of time then for the WW2 visiting, straight off the ferry & onto the tarmac canal towpath from Oestreham (?spelling) to Caen via the Pegasus bridge. This route gets you through Caen fairly easily & out onto the rural roads. You may find more hills in Normandy than you were expecting!!
You will find the Cherbourg peninsula is a long way down & adds a lot of kms.
Whatever you end up doing, have a great trip.

3spd

There are WWII sites to the west of caen that are worth a look and you can divert to Bayeux and see the 'needle work' :?