You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I'm cycling down to La Rochelle/Île de Ré from London at the end of the month (just one way, flying back). I'm going with some friends who are flying down but I fancy riding down, why not...
Rough plan is leave work a bit early on Friday (east London), cycle down to the coast (Portsmouth?), get an overnight ferry (to Caen?), and then spend 2ish days cycling to La Rochelle (camping somewhere along the way).
I'm not crazy fit, but I did the Dunwich Dynamo and back last year (230miles overnight) without struggling toooo much, so I don't think the above sounds too crazy.
Questions:
1 Does the plan sound OK?
2 Is there another ferry route that makes more sense? Don't want to spend too much (planning to just use roll mat in seating area), and a decent length journey to allow me to get a decent sleep would be good
3 I'm really unsure of my route. Google maps cycle route from Caen to La Rochelle is 400km. However, there is the "La Vélo Francette", a cycle route between both, which I assume will be a much nicer cycle (and signposted), but that is 630km - longer than I want to cycle. Does anyone have any suggestions?
4 What is best for navigation. I have an Android phone, so what apps are best? Or I can borrow my brother's Garmin (think it's an E-Trex?)?
5 I'm not planning to book any accomadation along the way as I really don't know how far I will get each day. Plan is to take a bivvy bag (and mat and sleeping bag), and just find a campsite or quiet field when I want to stop. Any better ideas?
6 Any particular areas along the route to try and see, or avoid?
Any thoughts would be great (inparticular on route choice!)
Thanks,
Duane.
I did this about 6 or 7 years ago.. although we got the euro and set off from paris. Once out of paris we basically followed la loire, you hit a major town/city every 50 miles so we didnt really use sat nav once we got going. Just know where youre heading next and follow your nose and the road signs.
My mate was on a fixie 🙈
Thats not much help though i know sorry.
If i was doing what youre doing id just be using google maps. Youll probably not need it that often..
Get the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo rather than Caen - takes longer so you’ll get more sleep. Caen ferry is only about 6hrs from memory, St Malo is nearer 11hrs.
346km from St Malo to La Rochelle according to Google Maps with cycle option chosen
We've a house in the Vendee an hour from La Rochelle, we've cycled from Caen and Roscoff, the Caen trip was brilliant, loads of D day stuff in Caen/Ouistreham to see too.
The Mayenne river is brilliant to cycle down , we were doing 60 to 70 miles a day and stopping at the nearest bar when we'd finished and chatting with the bar to find lovely amazing chambre d'hotes and small hotels.
The Roscoff trip was down the Nantes to Brest canal, another great trip a lot longer because that was what we wanted. Lovely days in the saddle amazing views great food, were 2 overweight 50 plus years old people who had great experiences and are planning to do it again next year.
In case anyone is interested:
Ended up getting train from London to Haslemere (didn't have time to ride full distance before ferry), then cycled 65km to Portsmouth.
Over night ferry to Caen, slept on a sofa surrounded by screaming teenagers which was fun
Did about 180km first day, fairly hot. Found a campsite to sleep.
Did about 160km second day, very hot. Tough going with the heat. Found a campsite
Did about 100km on final day to Il-de-Re, it rained for a fair bit of it which was a bit miserable but way better than the heat of the previous day.
Main issue was I have a terrible saddle that my butt just didn't agree with, I was having to raise myself up off it every few minutes, and stop for a break every 20-30minutes, which really hampered progress!
I just used Google maps on car mode, but avoiding highways. I'm sure there were better routes, but this was an easy way to sort navigation.
That's some serious riding especially given the heat. Impressive!
Yeah whenever I get the overnight ferry I've found it impossible to sleep either as there are drunken revellers or screaming kids, so I normally book a bed.