"D" roads in France

raybo

I am trying to create a route from CDG (Paris) airport to Caen in Normandy.

I am using a road atlas (1 inch = 3 miles) and bikely.com. There are many more roads shown on bikely.com than on the road atlas. However, some of the roads I'd like to take are D roads followed by 3 digits, an example would be D923 between Amblainville and Gisors.

I am wondering if such "D" roads are good to tour along? Put another way, are 3-digit D roads in France like the 3-digit B roads in England?

Thanks,

Ray

bike_the_planet

Whilst larger motoring atlases are good for general route planning, when it come to picking cycling routes in France you need a scale of 1: 150,000 or less. The best maps to use are the Michelin 1 : 150,000 - these show you all the main roads in red, the major D roads in yellow, and the minor D roads in white. The minor D roads are the ones you should predominantly use for riding where possible. They are often the most interesting anyway.

As far as I am aware, the numbering is not necessarily an indication of whether they are major routes or quiet ones; ie the D7 could be quieter than the D 296 - the number of digits is not, I believe, significant

If you can get them, the IGN Top 100 maps at 1:100,000 are even better as they also show contour shading - the Michelin ones fon't have that.

Both types of map are available, I think at http://www.stanfords.co.uk.

Cheers

andymiller

The comparison with UK B roads is a reasonable one. The D means that the road is the responsibility of the département. They are definitely the ones to go for as opposed the the routes nationales - if you have a choice.

bahzob

For touring France I bought the Michelin 1:200000 Tourist and Motoring Atlas, then just cut out the pages I needed and took with me. Found it very clear, accurate and remarkably weather resistant.

Apart from yellow D roads you can also use "C" roads which are the next step down and will have no colour. These are like our country lanes though usually road surface will be better and there will be next to zero traffic.

One word of warning and another reason to use D roads. Getting into major cities can be a hazard if you follow main roads. These can abruptly change into roads where cyclists are (in theory) prohibited, with no advance warning and poor, if any alternative signposting. If you plan to go into Caen centre then would advise planning carefully, maybe posting here for specific advice if you know where you will end up and where coming from.

raybo

Thanks for the feedback.

When I tour in England (I live in San Francisco but have family in England), I use the AA road maps that are the same scale and they work fine, except for cities. I have the AA map for France, which at 1 inch to 3 miles is 1 to 190000. The problem is that around Paris the "C" roads get overwritten by town names and it is hard to find through routes on them.

It is clear from route planning on bikely.com that there are lots of tiny roads that won't be on any but the most local of maps. The "D" roads are on my map and bikely.com and will be easier to find when I am on the bike. That said, I try to stay off"B" roads in England as they rarely have a shoulder and are used by lots of lorries.

Once I am outside of a city, the AA maps should work fine since they work fine when I am in England.

Will the "D" roads in France have any shoulder?

Ray

andymiller

That said, I try to stay off"B" roads in England as they rarely have a shoulder and are used by lots of lorries.

That's not been my experience in the UK, I think you've been unliucky so I wouldn't generalise from that and start avoiding the D roads in France.

The D roads in France are anything from a country lane to a minor road. They may be used by commercial traffic if there is no alternative route nationale. IME they won't have a shoulder but i'd far rather ride a d road than the shoulder of a route nationale.

The C designation means that the route is the responsibility of the commune. I've seen C roads that are unsurfaced dirt roads and others that have been in better condition that D roads.

You might also find it worth consulting viamichelin.com, which, as you'd expect, has good french mapping. and of course there's Geoportail.fr.

craigenty

Hi Raybo,

99% of our riding in France is on the yellow, white and some red D roads. Definately avoid the red RN's.

We use the Michelin 300 local series maps. They are only 4.5€ each and are totally adequate for bike touring.
To get from CDG to Caen you'll need a combination of map numbers 303, 304, 305, 312, and possibly 310 and 311 depending on how far south you are to the west of Paris.

onbike 1939

Avoid those d roads which are a direct connection between towns as these can be as busy as RN.

magfos

We've used the Michelin 1:200,000 maps on several trips in France with no problems other than getting into and out of the larger cities. As others have said, stay with the small yellow D roads and the white roads and enjoy it.