London to Paris

ketsbaia

Completed a London to Paris ride on Saturday, taking the easier London-Newhaven-Dieppe-Paris route.

Highly recommended if you have a long weekend spare. Hardest day was the last, what with torrential rain, howling wind and grumpy Parisians. Best (or rather, easiest) section was from Dieppe to Gournay-en-Bray. Mostly down an old disused railway line converted into an 'Avenue Vert' (i.e. smooth tarmac for cyclists/walkers/skaters, etc.). Thanks go to Donald Hirsch of the LFGSS forum for coming up with a brilliant route.

Reckon I'd do the French leg in a day if I could get to Dieppe early enough. Fairly long at 117 miles, but barely any hills to contend with really.

Anyone else done this route? Or have any alternative ones?

mudcow007

congrats!

sounds like a good adventure

Rich158

I did it last year and it really is a fantastic route. To add to the adventure I only booked the ferry and train home, just stopping when I felt like it which was great. I did the early morning ferry from Newhaven which gets you into France about 3'ish. I'd love to do it in a day sometime, but I wouldn't be overly keen to negotiate the forests on the outskirts of Paris in the dark. It's a great way to arrive in a fantastic city though

notsoblue

Nice, been meaning to do that ride for a while. Could you post your route?

mtb-idle

sounds awesome, well done.

A cycling buddy completed the official one in June (or was it July?).

He ended up coming third overall in the female category which gave us all a laugh

(He's got a non-English name which confused the organisers)

Gussio

notsoblue wrote:

Nice, been meaning to do that ride for a while. Could you post your route?

+1 (please)

NGale

thinking about doing the London to Paris cycle ride myself for the British Legion. I think my limited sanity is the only thing holding me back

jzed

Ketsbaia - did you do it alone? How long did it take you?

Thinking it could make a good weekend ride. Maybe a 24 hour attempt next year.

ketsbaia

Dieppe to Paris route is here, via the beauty of a printable pdf.

London to Newhaven route is here.

I did it in a group of around 13 of us. Took three days all told, but like I mentioned, I did a lot of waiting around for the others. You could feasibly do it in 24 hours if you timed the ferry right. Less, even. That would involve either heading out of Dieppe in the dark or negotiating the forests on the outskirts of Paris in the dark, neither of which would be that good an idea (the former being more sensible, I suspect).

If you've got a Garmin, they come in extremely handy for the outskirts of Paris bit.

A really enjoyable route, though. Definitely recommended. Especially the 2km 7% descent into Triel sur Seine. Mind the drain covers, though. :shock:

notsoblue

Cheers for posting that Ketsbaia. Whats the deal with the forests outside Paris? Too dark? Too dangerous? Both?

ketsbaia

They're fine. I just wouldn't fancy doing them at night is all. Mind you, the Avenue Vert might prove a bit spooky in the dark as well.

If you wanted to do it in less than three days, I'd recommend waking up at sparrow's fart and getting to Newhaven by 9am. That gives you enough time to get to Gournay-en-Bray the same day and Paris the next.

deptfordmarmoset

I bookmarked this a while ago - about halfway down there are 3 links to digital maps. I don't know how they compare to Donald Hirsch's excellent pdf though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11447348

stuaff

NGale wrote:

thinking about doing the London to Paris cycle ride myself for the British Legion. I think my limited sanity is the only thing holding me back

Did it last year, was doing this year's (paid the deposit) but pulled out because I wasn't going to be able to raise the sponsorship (again). Good ride. And not that taxing, honest.

Bikequin

I did London to Paris earlier this summer for a charity called Right to Play – was a fantastic trip. The route we took was Twickenham – Dover – Dunkerque - Arras – Beauvais – Paris. Apart from a few issues with a Garmin and a muddy field on the last day the route was excellent and really not too strenuous.

The best thing about the trip was that we scheduled to arrive in Paris on the Saturday before the final stage of the TDF. As such every afternoon we’d finish up nicely in time to catch the final 2 hours of Tour and enjoy a few pressions. The route also took us few the battlefields of Northern France which at times was really very humbling.

NGale

StuAff wrote:

NGale wrote:

thinking about doing the London to Paris cycle ride myself for the British Legion. I think my limited sanity is the only thing holding me back

Did it last year, was doing this year's (paid the deposit) but pulled out because I wasn't going to be able to raise the sponsorship (again). Good ride. And not that taxing, honest.

reckon I should be able to get the sponsorship with all my forces related contacts. Just need to get myself a more suitable bike rather than the Trek 7.5 flat bar I have at the moment.

I did look at the Battlefield Bike Ride for H4H but perfer the idea of the London to Paris

Rich158

ketsbaia wrote:

You could feasibly do it in 24 hours if you timed the ferry right. Less, even. That would involve either heading out of Dieppe in the dark or negotiating the forests on the outskirts of Paris in the dark, neither of which would be that good an idea (the former being more sensible, I suspect).

You might well be right there sir. The Avenue vert in the dawn light would be far more sensible, spooky maybe but ultimately safe due to the absence of cars. Plus I kinda like the idea of seeing the sun come up over Paris. This sounds like it might be a plan for next year, anybody???????

ketsbaia

Rich158 wrote:

You might well be right there sir. The Avenue vert in the dawn light would be far more sensible, spooky maybe but ultimately safe due to the absence of cars. Plus I kinda like the idea of seeing the sun come up over Paris. This sounds like it might be a plan for next year, anybody???????

Potentially.

Zombie_donkey

How hilly is the London to Newhaven leg?

iPete

Have had a 24 hour Paris run on the cards, part of me wants to via Calais :twisted:

ketsbaia

Zombie_donkey wrote:

How hilly is the London to Newhaven leg?

It's not that bad. You've got Biggin Hill, Hosey Common Hill and Chuck Hatch Road to contend with, none of which are particularly bad. It's a bit 'rolling' once you get through Maresfield, but there's really nothing to worry about.

donaldhirsch

For information,this summer I have heard from one person and one group who have arrived on the night ferry and cycled out of Dieppe in the dark. Both seemed fine - the lone rider got to Paris in under 11 hours from Dieppe (on a fast road bike), and the group were doing London-Paris in under 48 hours. Both used GPS. So if it's a challenge you're after and dont mind missing some nice scenery, it seems perfectly feasible. If I were doing this I would wait till next June to get the earliest possible daybreak!

Glad people are enjoying the route that I have designed. Happy cycling.

Donald HIrsch

Neil Holland

I did LP last month with a couple of mates.

We overnighted in Calais and Amiens completing the ride in three days.

Every review of London to Paris I've ever read had the cyclists not enjoying the last bit into Paris so I planned the route to follow the Ourqc Canal towpath into the city and very pleasant it was too...

We saw no traffic at all for most of the third day you go from the country lanes to the North East of the city into the centre traffic free...