Cherbourg to Le Havre

chickenlegs

Hoping to do a tour from Cherbourg to Le Havre in May, travelling over and returning to Plymouth. The preferance is to stay reasonably close to the coast possibly dropping in to Bayeux on the way, probably doing no more than about 50 miles per day ....this is intended to be a "chill out tour".

Has anybody got any information on such things as:

(a)Routes/distances
(b)Timing of ferry crossings eg one does not want to arrive in Cherbourg at 1.00 am in the morning!
(c) Hotels/guest houses cafes, restaurants etc en route
(d) Places of interest en route
(e) Any other relevant or useful information

nicktheluddite

This viewtopic.php?f=40003&t=12755003&p=16758514&hilit=pont#p16758514 will tell you about the detail of getting into Le Havre.
aferry.co.uk useful for checking ferry times/routes although I'm sure there are other good sites too.

chickenlegs

Cheers Nick, some useful links.
Many thanks

chickenlegs

BUMP ; Somebody must have done this route or even Cherbourg to Caen (Ouistreham)??????

nicktheluddite

get a spiral bound michelin 1:200,000 atlas. Tear out the relevant pages and leave the rest at home. Stick to yellow and white roads and you'll be alright. Viamichelin.com says 236km (although it is mostly on red roads and Pont de Normandie will be a good shortcut) so at less than 80km/day you'll want 3 or 4 days. No idea about sights - but make sure you eat some brie and drink some local cider. No idea about hotels/B&Bs.

chickenlegs

Many thanks for all the good advice Nick, will certainly be sampling the Brie & Cider plus any other delecasies.
I believe that they do a pretty mean line in Pear Tart in that area!!

al_yrpal

My pal and I did this trip over 5 days, we camped.

We arrived at Cherbour at 7.30pm and made our way here http://www.anse-du-brick.com/ A very nice site, they cooked us a hot meal at about 9pm. The next day we cycled to St Vaast La Hogue for lunch. This is a small (gourmet) fishing port, one of my favourite places. There is a campsite. If you stay overnight stay at Hotel de France, their Fuschias restaurant is to die for. You can also visit Isle Tatihou, which has an interesting museum and walk back through the Oyster beds at low tide. We continued down the peninsular to Utah beach taking in St Mere Eglise (very interesting D Day bits). The campsite http://www.camping-utahbeach.com/ is very nice but there are no restaurants nearby, make sure you visit a Charcuterie first for something to cook. Next day we continued through Carentan, a very interesting town with interesting church windows, also Isigny and Grancamp, very nice places. We spent the night here http://www.camping-calvados-normandie.f ... aha-Beach- a very nice site. Next morning we visited the American Cemetary at Omaha Beach. The Americans buried all their Normandy casualties here so its huge.
Then it was on to Courseilles sur Mer and we stayed here http://www.courseulles-sur-mer.com/tour ... mping.html . On the way we dropped in to Aromaches where there is the Mulberry Harbour and a good little museum. Courseilles is where De Gaulle landed several days after D Day.
The next day we headed to Trouville via Pegasus Bridge and stayed here http://www.camping-des-haras.com/ A bit expensive and noisy. Between the Caen canal and Trouville the coast is pretty unattractive being largely built up
On our last day we cycled to Honfleur for lunch, a wonderful town full of history. Definately worth a stop overnight with dinner at the harbourside.
When I had my own yacht I used to visit this coast line again and again. I love it. Most Brits drive straight through but its one of the most interesting parts of France. There are few big hills. If you stick to the coast you will see lots, there are dozens of things I havent mentioned.
You can find the Ferry Information on Brittany Ferries and LD Lines websites. Reckon on 50 miles a day, leaving oodles of time for sightseeing. Its only about 145 miles in all but we did 245 or so diverting all over the place.
If I were doing it again I would go out on Cherbourg and return from Caen. I would ride to Honfleur and back to Caen because Honfleur is the jewel in the trip. That would avoid Le Pont de Normandie across the Seine (horrific for cyclists), and avoid LD Lines sluggish but cheaper ferry.

Have a good time and don't miss St Vaast and Barfleur

Al

chickenlegs

Al, you're the greatest. Fantastic amount of information, I am already begining to salivate at the gourmet opportunities.
Following your comments we are going to modify our plans and return via Caen (Ouistreham) after visiting Honfleur. Some years ago we visited a patisserie in Bayeux that one would die for, sadly it was closed at the time, although the proprieter tortured us by letting us in to look round and take pictures only. We therefore have unfinished business in Bayeux!!!
My sincere thanks for all the info.