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Oh great hive mind of STW
We live near Portsmouth and I have a Saturday to Thursday window in August to take my boys (will be 12 and 15) on a cycling holiday.
I am thinking Normandy because that's where the ferries go from Portsmouth and a bit of history and it's generally just quite a nice bit of the world. Latest we can arrive home is Friday morning. We might choose out overnight via St Malo (lovely town) then back via Le Havre or Cherbourg if there's an afternoon crossing to make more of our last day.
We have a choice of
- Lightweight camping as a loop (need to buy tents but can probably scrape the rest together)
- A fixed base such as Eurocamp etc.
1 seems like a bigger "adventure" moving around each day but will need more planning and more riding fully loaded.
2 seems like we might have a pool/easier time and we can day trip out and take a day off if weather sucks/don't fancy it/ride light.
I think I'm leaning towards 2 but wondered if anyone knew / had toured that area before and had any tips/ must sees? I am sure I went as a teen but that's a long long time ago 😂
The left field alternative is Holland via Harwich and leave the car there and go up the North Dutch coast. Shorter trip but wall to wall cycle paths.
Riding gravel/road/audax type bikes.
We rode St Malo to Cherbourg last Septermber and it was lovely - though the outward ferry was saturday night, and the Thursday evening return ferry came back to Poole, so check the ferry timetables.
Getting as far as Le Havre in 4 or 5 days might be pushing it a little in terms of daily distance. The "official" route up the Velo Maritime is 350km
https://en.francevelotourisme.com/itineraire/planifier/85/921/935
but we went via Granville and made various other changes from the "official" - happy to share our route files if you want them but strava links are:
Cutting out the loop up to Cherbourg, the Velo Maritme from St Malo to Le Havre covers 500km
https://en.francevelotourisme.com/itineraire/planifier/85/921/935
https://en.francevelotourisme.com/itineraire/planifier/85/939/946
Our plan for this year might suit you though - Saturday outbound to Cherbourg, then an overnight ferry back from Le Havre on the Thursday, arriving 8am Friday. Wew've not planned our actual route yet but it's not likely to follow the Euro Velo route precisely
We used B&Bs / hotels to avoid the need to camp
Remember August is French holiday time so camp sites etc will be busy
Remember August is French holiday time so camp sites etc will be busy
And a lot of cafes and wonderful boulangeries etc will be closed for the holiday, so not always the reality you hoped for
Cancale and the coast on to St Malo is well worth a visit. Lovely town with a huge number of seafood restaurants on the seafront to eat well for little and people watch.
Plage du Verger and the others there are stunning little beaches like cornwall without the hordes
Sand yahting at Cherrueix is fun.
Dol de Bretagne a pretty town.
all the cycling is great on smooth roads and lanes with respectful drivers. I miss it.
The obvious is between the ferries at cherbourg and st Malo. But there are also ferries to the channel islands from Granville, midway down the peninsula. Which gives you a way back with a stop on on jersey.Â
We've done poole cherbourg ferr. Cycle to Granville. Granville jersey ferry. 2 nights and a lap of jersey. Jersey Poole ferry. In your time frame.
Thanks all. Will take a proper look over the weekend with a bigger screen and some maps. 🙂