London to Paris
Macdory
Posts: 113
Time to complete part of a bucket list ...
I would like to do an organised tour from London to Paris in 2016 ... any advice on the best one to go for?
I would like to do an organised tour from London to Paris in 2016 ... any advice on the best one to go for?
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Be interested myself, been wanting to do this myself.I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.0
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In what time period? Might help narrow it down.
Most of them expect a lot of fundraising to be done and it may be worth pulling some other riders together and doing it yourself?0 -
Unless you really want to see London or Paris, then I would suggest that there are far nicer routes to ride....0
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I would agree with Berni. I rode from just outside London (where I live) to Paris earlier this year. It was a great ride until you hit the suburbs of Paris. The forest tracks in Paris were good, the rest hard work. If you do go for a non-organised trip we followed the route on donaldhirsch.com0
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A few years ago I did this with a bunch of people off here. We met up online, set up a website and organised it ourselves. We arranged to meet up in London on the evening before the ride and then set off. The son in law of one of the riders very kindly drove a minivan for us and we paid all his expenses.
We got sponsorship from Eat natural with about 200 of their bars which did all our on bike snacks and a Cornish pasty company gave us pasties for food on the first day.
We sorted out a route from London to Calais with an overnight stop, then onto Amiens with another night and then onto Paris.
We then came home separately. I am still in contact with some of the people. Much cheaper than going with one of the organised rides which have a large profit element.0 -
Riding to Paris (well Versailles) tomorrow - Newhaven-Dieppe crossing.
I'm following a slight variation on the Donald Hirsch route (following it more closely on the ride back) and the bits of that I have used in the pass are very good.
Good luck whatever you choose to do for a route.0 -
I've done two organised L2P charity rides, both for charity - one for Action Medical Research and the other for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Of the two the LLR one was by far and away the better organised of the two and offered rolling road closures for cyclists in France. The organisers of that ride now run the Cure Leukaemia L2P http://www.cureleukaemia.co.uk/page/view/58/london-2-paris . I'm considering signing up again :-)Ciao Marco0
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Unless you really want to see London or Paris, then I would suggest that there are far nicer routes to ride....
I did London to Paris and found a stretch of about 40 miles genuinely enjoyable due to the landscape/scenery. The other 230-odd miles I just wanted over and done with.0 -
Unless you really want to see London or Paris, then I would suggest that there are far nicer routes to ride....
I did London to Paris and found a stretch of about 40 miles genuinely enjoyable due to the landscape/scenery. The other 230-odd miles I just wanted over and done with.
Me too. A2 was just pants.
All in the route I think. The redchilli or whatever rolling road route does look great though.Insert bike here:0 -
Unless you really want to see London or Paris, then I would suggest that there are far nicer routes to ride....
I did London to Paris and found a stretch of about 40 miles genuinely enjoyable due to the landscape/scenery. The other 230-odd miles I just wanted over and done with.
Me too. A2 was just pants.
All in the route I think. The redchilli or whatever rolling road route does look great though.
I think this is where you're going wrong. The roads down to Dover are diabolical in general. Rochester and all that stuff is not good cycling really.
Newhaven (whilst an utter shithole itself) has the advantage of a decent route down to it (follow the original London-Brighton route and spear off towards Lewes).
I don't know the countryside on the Calais-Paris bit, but the countryside Dieppe-Paris is pretty nice all in all.0 -
Thanks for the comments - the CureLeukaemia link looks good.
Although, taking on board the comments about the ride not being that great - what would you suggest for a 4-5 day trip?0 -
Thanks for the comments - the CureLeukaemia link looks good.
Although, taking on board the comments about the ride not being that great - what would you suggest for a 4-5 day trip?
I don't really see the attraction of NE France. Often gloomy and dreary weather, with flat and featureless landscape which is mostly huge farms.
How about this as an alternative?
Get out of UK as directly as possible - to Portsmouth or Plymouth. Jump on Brittany Ferries and try and get a cabin (very nice). Eat a very tasty dinner. Arrive in St. Malo or Roscoff and you're in Brittany.
Head West into Finistere for some of the best cycling in France. Lots of short sharp hills, excellent, empty roads, varied scenery, and the Atlantic with it\s surf beaches and coves as a bonus.
And I happen know some great places to stay too......www.frenchberry.com...!0 -
L2P is what got me into road-cycling at 46!
previously I last rode a road-bike (they were called "racing bikes"!), 31 years prior.
I bought my new bike in March 2013 specifically to start training-for, then participate in a London to Paris cycle in Sept that year. racked-up 1,400 miles training before the event. First month, it was a major struggle to get from 10 to 15, then to 20 miles and I genuinely wondered how on earth I'd be able to manage 80+ per day over 4 days. Route was Blackheath-Dover/Calais, then Arras, then Compiegne then Paris. Loved it. The camraderie amongst the [organised-event] group was great, still in touch with a load of people I met over those 4 days. Sure, there may be "nicer" lond distance rides, but a City to City event like that, making new friends and fundraising along the way made it all special for me. That route, first 2 days were the hardest, so psychologically by the end of day 2 you already knew you'd be in Paris.
A week before setting-off on that first go in 2013, my son (21 at the time), asked if I'd do it again as he wanted to. this was a bit out of the blue - a typical young lad, he passed his test at 17 and bought a car so a bike became "peasant's transport" to him! He'd never ridden a road bike (grew-up on MTBS like most kids his age), so it was a real difference. Took to it like a natural though and so in Sept '14 we joined 118 others and did the same event, again fundraising. We didn't spend the whole 4 days cycling together, in fact I actively encouraged him to go and ride with others - he made loads of new friends.
Seeing how he enjoyed it so much in Sept 14, I thought lets do it yet again, although this time with a different organiser and a different route - Calais to Amiens, Amiens to Creil, Creil to Paris. Day 2 was 107 miles - mine, my son's and many others on the group first century. Much bigger group this one (198), as we arrived in Paris in time to see the final day of the Tour! Awesome, and yet more new friendships forged.
Going to have a crack at the 24 hr event next year, but before then I'm signed up for Death Valley in November.
And all this from simply buying the bike in 2013 with the specific goal to ride the L2P that year, to fundraise for Parkinson's UK after my kid-brother was diagnosed with early-onset PD a month after his 40th in June '12.
Cant recommend it enough.0 -
Really heartwarming story. What it's all about!0
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Nice one davidb67 ... it's talk like this that makes me think that i must do it at least once to see for myself!0
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Hi. Sorry if I'm placing this in the wrong place, but I'm new to this forum shizzle and am not sure how to start a new thread/post.
I'm starting to plan a route from London-Dover-Amiens-Paris for June 2016 and am looking for anyone that has done this route or similar for route advice.
Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance.0 -
tigersnapper wrote:I would agree with Berni. I rode from just outside London (where I live) to Paris earlier this year. It was a great ride until you hit the suburbs of Paris. The forest tracks in Paris were good, the rest hard work. If you do go for a non-organised trip we followed the route on donaldhirsch.com
Hello,
I see you followed Donald Hirsh route.
Which route did you follow from London to Newhaven though ?0 -
I live in Normandy, France, and there are really better roads than Paris to cycle. Brittany is really beautiful, if I was living in London, I'd rather go for London to Portsmouth - Ouistreham to Brest following the coast, and stop a morning at Mont Saint Michel !0
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Definately Newhaven to Dieppe is the better way to go. Ufortunately, for some strange reason, all the organised charity rides to Dover-Calais, which involves a really naff ride to Dover.
I did the following:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2759607
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2760691
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2760710
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2760713
Awesome scenery, really loved it.
Word of advice if you dont know though - nothing opens on a Sunday so make sure you are well stocked with food etc before you set off if travelling then.0 -
goldie136 wrote:Hi. Sorry if I'm placing this in the wrong place, but I'm new to this forum shizzle and am not sure how to start a new thread/post.
I'm starting to plan a route from London-Dover-Amiens-Paris for June 2016 and am looking for anyone that has done this route or similar for route advice.
Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance.
Don't know if you ever finalised your plans for this but remember there is a bit of a footie tournament going on in France in June so the Dover-Calais boats may be a bit full on certain days.0 -
mitten wrote:tigersnapper wrote:I would agree with Berni. I rode from just outside London (where I live) to Paris earlier this year. It was a great ride until you hit the suburbs of Paris. The forest tracks in Paris were good, the rest hard work. If you do go for a non-organised trip we followed the route on donaldhirsch.com
Hello,
I see you followed Donald Hirsh route.
Which route did you follow from London to Newhaven though ?
It was a bit of a mish mash. We went from Rochester (where we live) to Royal Tunbridge Wells and from there picked up National Cycle Route 21 to Polegate - a lot of this follows a route called the Cuckoo Trail which is a tarmacked over railway line I think, no traffic though. At Polegate we picked up National Cycle Route 2 into Newhaven.0 -
I plan to ride from the east coast of Scotland to Contalmaison in June for a Battle of the Somme ceremony and in planning the route from London to Newhaven I found the London-Brighton sportive route helpful.
From Dieppe onwards I will be using part of the London Paris route utilised by the Big battlefield ride.
If you are looking for a starting point I suggest googling these rides who are quite helpful with their route files.
A search of strava also helped me locate some GPX files which I can store as back up if I get off route.0
