2 weeks in Northwest France

[Bowner]

Hi all, first time poster here after a long service on Bikeradar having stubbornly not made the leap across back in the day! (I was/am Heavymental on there)

A friend and I are planning a trip to France in June but flipflopping between various options. One of the limiting factors is my friends electric bike (due to a back problem) meaning we are limited to ferries and only some trains. Our original plan was going to be a jaunt down the west coast and to come back on the ferry from Bilbao but the cost of that ferry back even as a humble bicycle traveler is prohibitive and the distance is a bit much for the time we have. We then realised that maybe we'd been a bit too keen to go South and in fact we could have a nice time only going as far as La Rochelle. The latest thinking is a ferry to Roscoff and explore the North West coast and maybe loop back up to get the ferry home or we might have to hop on a train for some part of our return North.

Any thoughts or recommendations appreciated. I can see there are lots of nice places and routes up around that way and I'm looking forward to a return to Carnac where I spent a childhood holiday

As an aside, ferries are expensive aren't they! I always thought it was a fairly cheap option to get a crossing with a bike 

[yoav]

Apart from Britanny Ferries who recently had a mindfuck and decided to charge stupid amounts for bicycles, most other ferry companies, DFDS, P&O, Calmac, Condor either charge very reasonably or free for bikes.
Anyway, the route you are thinking of is the Velodyssée, a flat, mostly off road route from Roscoff to Hendaye (near Biarritz) via Nantes, La Rochelle, and Carnac.
See https://www.cycling-lavelodyssee.com/

[Bowner]

Thanks Yoav, yes that's what we'd been looking at but I was hoping someone might have explored the area and be able to recommend various sections. We've just found this website https://www.freewheelingfrance.com/where-to-go/cycling-brittanys-green-ways.html which shows the routes away from the coast that head back up towards St Malo. I think we may now get the ferry over to St Malo and do a loop with an added section down to La Rochelle and Ile de Oberon or Rey. Currently looking at the GPX files of these routes found here https://www.francevelotourisme.com/itineraire

[Phil Hears A Who]

Can't speak about anything from St Malo, but I rode the velodyssee from Roscoff to about Bordeaux a few years ago. My memory of it was that the first section was a bit dull but got much more interesting once hitting the coast. Might have had something do to with the weather greatly improving once we got to the beaches though.

If I was doing it again, I'd probably use those routes from freewheelingfrance, V7 to Concarneau (which has a lovely walled medieval town in the middle of the harbour), then V5 along the coast towards La Rochelle, as far as you want to go. On your way to Carnac, you'd go through Lorient which has some old WW2 submarine pens. Gulf of Morbihan also very pretty, Vannes is a nice town. If you're a fan of moules frites you'll be spoilt. Breton cider also very tasty.

[FifeingEejit]

Apart from Britanny Ferries who recently had a mindfuck and decided to charge stupid amounts for bicycles, most other ferry companies, DFDS, P&O, Calmac, Condor either charge very reasonably or free for bikes.
Anyway, the route you are thinking of is the Velodyssée, a flat, mostly off road route from Roscoff to Hendaye (near Biarritz) via Nantes, La Rochelle, and Carnac.
See https://www.cycling-lavelodyssee.com/

The Adventure Syndicate's answer to that was to carry the bikes on as luggage in bags.
It seems rather than being treated as a foot passenger who embarks by the car ramp and straps a bike on the bike is treated like other vehicles in the demand responsive calculations as some sailings were priced considerably differently, even being cheaper than foot passengers on one of the sailings I tried looking at

[Bowner]

Can't speak about anything from St Malo, but I rode the velodyssee from Roscoff to about Bordeaux a few years ago. My memory of it was that the first section was a bit dull but got much more interesting once hitting the coast. Might have had something do to with the weather greatly improving once we got to the beaches though.

If I was doing it again, I'd probably use those routes from freewheelingfrance, V7 to Concarneau (which has a lovely walled medieval town in the middle of the harbour), then V5 along the coast towards La Rochelle, as far as you want to go. On your way to Carnac, you'd go through Lorient which has some old WW2 submarine pens. Gulf of Morbihan also very pretty, Vannes is a nice town. If you're a fan of moules frites you'll be spoilt. Breton cider also very tasty.

I'd thought we'd stick to the coast around to Concarneau. My mate was thinking that the little Crozon peninsula looked nice but you'd head more direct down to Concarneau? Although route number 5 isn't completed yet so I've just filled in the gaps on the GPX file to roughly hug the coast as per the illustration for route 5 given on the map.

[Bowner]

Apart from Britanny Ferries who recently had a mindfuck and decided to charge stupid amounts for bicycles, most other ferry companies, DFDS, P&O, Calmac, Condor either charge very reasonably or free for bikes.
Anyway, the route you are thinking of is the Velodyssée, a flat, mostly off road route from Roscoff to Hendaye (near Biarritz) via Nantes, La Rochelle, and Carnac.
See https://www.cycling-lavelodyssee.com/

The Adventure Syndicate's answer to that was to carry the bikes on as luggage in bags.
It seems rather than being treated as a foot passenger who embarks by the car ramp and straps a bike on the bike is treated like other vehicles in the demand responsive calculations as some sailings were priced considerably differently, even being cheaper than foot passengers on one of the sailings I tried looking at

Hmm interesting but the trouble is with bagging up loaded touring bicycles.

[Phil Hears A Who]

Can't speak about anything from St Malo, but I rode the velodyssee from Roscoff to about Bordeaux a few years ago. My memory of it was that the first section was a bit dull but got much more interesting once hitting the coast. Might have had something do to with the weather greatly improving once we got to the beaches though.

If I was doing it again, I'd probably use those routes from freewheelingfrance, V7 to Concarneau (which has a lovely walled medieval town in the middle of the harbour), then V5 along the coast towards La Rochelle, as far as you want to go. On your way to Carnac, you'd go through Lorient which has some old WW2 submarine pens. Gulf of Morbihan also very pretty, Vannes is a nice town. If you're a fan of moules frites you'll be spoilt. Breton cider also very tasty.

I'd thought we'd stick to the coast around to Concarneau. My mate was thinking that the little Crozon peninsula looked nice but you'd head more direct down to Concarneau? Although route number 5 isn't completed yet so I've just filled in the gaps on the GPX file to roughly hug the coast as per the illustration for route 5 given on the map.

We were heading south with a touch of urgency (booked onward travel etc.), hence a slightly more direct route, but that sounds like it would be nice too. Get off the ferry and keep the sea on the right. Can't go wrong!

[Bowner]

Can't speak about anything from St Malo, but I rode the velodyssee from Roscoff to about Bordeaux a few years ago. My memory of it was that the first section was a bit dull but got much more interesting once hitting the coast. Might have had something do to with the weather greatly improving once we got to the beaches though.

If I was doing it again, I'd probably use those routes from freewheelingfrance, V7 to Concarneau (which has a lovely walled medieval town in the middle of the harbour), then V5 along the coast towards La Rochelle, as far as you want to go. On your way to Carnac, you'd go through Lorient which has some old WW2 submarine pens. Gulf of Morbihan also very pretty, Vannes is a nice town. If you're a fan of moules frites you'll be spoilt. Breton cider also very tasty.

I'd thought we'd stick to the coast around to Concarneau. My mate was thinking that the little Crozon peninsula looked nice but you'd head more direct down to Concarneau? Although route number 5 isn't completed yet so I've just filled in the gaps on the GPX file to roughly hug the coast as per the illustration for route 5 given on the map.

We were heading south with a touch of urgency (booked onward travel etc.), hence a slightly more direct route, but that sounds like it would be nice too. Get off the ferry and keep the sea on the right. Can't go wrong!

Ha yeh my kind of navigation! I will raise a glass of Breton cider to you all! 

[Bowner]

Just to report back on this. We had a lovely trip! Followed the route around the coast with some diversions here and there. The cycling routes were great but for some sections we just used the 'Take me to....' feature on my Wahoo which took us on some interesting routes including some fairly obscure bridleway type tracks which was quite good fun. 98% of the time it was a good route but sometimes it would throw us a curveball but it was good to use when we didn't have a route programmed in already. We went Roscoff - Plouguerneau - Brest - Le Roz - Crozon - Douarnenez - Concarneau - Lorient - Carnac Then caught a train from Auray back to Rosporden where we joined Route 7 up to Carhaix and then back to Roscoff.

As usual I was reminded that in France you can rock up at most towns and cities and find them to be very nice places to spend a bit of time. The cycle paths are fantastic. The ones in towns and cities to help you get around safely and the converted railway tracks that take you great distances through the countryside are all excellent facilities.

We weren't very hardcore and only camped on a couple of occasions. Mostly we lugged the tent between airbnb and cheap hotels!

[sparklyfish]

Thanks for all the good advice on this thread and others. I'm planning a similar jaunt for me and my family this summer - five of us: me, husband, three teens. Last year was our first tour all on solo bikes rather than tandems, and it went so well that we'd like to do more of that - which opens up getting trains and ferries to France...

But, living in East Anglia and having mainly used the super convenient Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry, I had no idea there were so many options for ferries to France! We've done Dover-Dunkirk before. Other than that, does anyone have any guidance about which ferry routes are better than any others?

(Where better means: easier to get bikes on and off, minimal sickness-inducing ferry, easier port negotiation(s), relatively convenient UK train. Cost important but happy to pay a bit more if it means less terror bike infrastructure - the advantage of tandems was less stress about hair-raising infrastructure)

[Tomsk]

Newhaven - Dieppe is a realtively short crossing, so the overnighter spits you out at audax o'clock, but then you can pick up the Avenue Vert or the Cidre Route through Normandie and look for your breakfast café. Not a bad route across London from Liverpool Street to London Bridge station for the Brighton train.

Portsmouth - Ouistreham being longer is worth booking cabins and then there's a pleasant start to the ride down the canal to Caen - via Pegasus Bridge, British/ Canadian/US cemeteries, D-Day heritage everywhere of course.

I can't comment on the day crossings for either, having only done the night boats. All those ports are reasonably train/bike friendly in my opinion - there's a pleasant cycle route along the coast from Brighton to Newhaven that I've always used in preference to going directly to Newhaven on the train via Lewes.

[Lightning Phil]

If you get a train to Stevenage then you can get direct 12 carriage  Thameslink trains to Brighton from there. You don’t even need to change platforms.  Horizontal bike storage carriages are 3 and 10.  Three bikes together (with panniers removed)  certainly wouldn’t be an issue. You don’t need to book.  Then you have a choice of two of you at other end of train or simply put other bikes in space in next door space. The ends of the trains are often not that full at all.

[sparklyfish]

Yes, the Thameslink train straight through from Cambridge to Brighton is a real winner for us, and is some of the reason we're now thinking about touring in France - now that we don't have to cycle from King's Cross or Liverpool Street (King's Cross to Euston even on the back streets is hairy enough for me with kids, and last time me and the younger two did that some local club cyclists shepherded us across junctions!). Thanks both, most helpful.

Wow, Brittany ferries really are a special class of their own for bikes, aren't they? So today's findings is that their boat called "Contentin" (a joke?) won't take bikes at all; lots of others have their bike spaces all filled up. I've left this all a bit later than usual, but wasn't expecting that!

[sparklyfish]

Before I decide that Newhaven-Dieppe is basically the only option because bikes+trains... Does anyone have any grand advice on getting to Portsmouth/Poole from London/East Croydon/Brighton where we can take bikes on trains easily?

Cambridge to East Croydon/Brighton is easy - the Thameslink trains are huge and fine for all five bikes. Finding out how many bikes can go on Southern trains is a pain - had to phone up to find out that East Croydon to Portsmouth is 2 bikes only, and didn't think to ask about other routes. Travelling on two separate trains is fine, but three seems a bit much. Are there any train routes I'm missing that make getting to Portsmouth or Poole more friendly for the five of us?

(We could put the wheels and frame of the smallest bike in two ikea bags and claim it to be luggage, but I've not yet tested this theory and would rather not!)

Edit to add: while the above info would be helpful, I've just realised that on Brittany ferries website you can only book 4 bikes max. Waaaaah. So to use Portsmouth/Poole on the way out (returning Dieppe-Newhaven for ease of trains home) we'd need to go in two trips anyway...

[perpetual dan]

Is that 4 bike spaces on the boat, or 4 bikes on a booking (but a will take multiple bookings on one sailing)?

Along the coast from Brighton I don't think you can book bikes, and they won't be popular / allowed at peak times. (My experience is all solo, and early on a weekend.) I'd expect 2 bikes in each of 1 or 2 areas in the train, hoping no-one with a wheelchair or pram wants the space. But you can probably get away with one or two in the door spaces, as long as you're not blocking the way.

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

[robgul]

Before I decide that Newhaven-Dieppe is basically the only option because bikes+trains... Does anyone have any grand advice on getting to Portsmouth/Poole from London/East Croydon/Brighton where we can take bikes on trains easily?

Cambridge to East Croydon/Brighton is easy - the Thameslink trains are huge and fine for all five bikes. Finding out how many bikes can go on Southern trains is a pain - had to phone up to find out that East Croydon to Portsmouth is 2 bikes only, and didn't think to ask about other routes. Travelling on two separate trains is fine, but three seems a bit much. Are there any train routes I'm missing that make getting to Portsmouth or Poole more friendly for the five of us?

(We could put the wheels and frame of the smallest bike in two ikea bags and claim it to be luggage, but I've not yet tested this theory and would rather not!)

Edit to add: while the above info would be helpful, I've just realised that on Brittany ferries website you can only book 4 bikes max. Waaaaah. So to use Portsmouth/Poole on the way out (returning Dieppe-Newhaven for ease of trains home) we'd need to go in two trips anyway...

From experience

- provided you're not in peak times getting multiple bikes on Southern trains isn't an issue

- booking more than 4 bikes on Brittany Ferries is simple - make 2 bookings in any combination (an adult has to be the lead passenger on each) - I've just done exactly that for 7 of us as a 4 and 3, aen - Portsmouth in June (we're going out Dover-Calaid.   In the past we've been 12 or 14 and made a group booking on the phone with BF.

[sparklyfish]

Before I decide that Newhaven-Dieppe is basically the only option because bikes+trains... Does anyone have any grand advice on getting to Portsmouth/Poole from London/East Croydon/Brighton where we can take bikes on trains easily?

Edit to add: while the above info would be helpful, I've just realised that on Brittany ferries website you can only book 4 bikes max. Waaaaah. So to use Portsmouth/Poole on the way out (returning Dieppe-Newhaven for ease of trains home) we'd need to go in two trips anyway...

From experience

- provided you're not in peak times getting multiple bikes on Southern trains isn't an issue

- booking more than 4 bikes on Brittany Ferries is simple - make 2 bookings in any combination (an adult has to be the lead passenger on each) - I've just done exactly that for 7 of us as a 4 and 3, aen - Portsmouth in June (we're going out Dover-Calaid.   In the past we've been 12 or 14 and made a group booking on the phone with BF.

Brill, thanks Rob. Thank goodness, I was thinking that it was mad if it was only 4 bikes total on Brittany ferries. I phoned up to ask about this - the guy I spoke to didn't even suggest two bookings as an option! Looks like we'd need two rooms anyway for an overnight crossing, so can do a 3 and a 2. I couldn't see how I'd find out if that was the case, if even the person on the bookings line didn't suggest it...

I've just been looking at your thread from last year about bikes on French trains, Rob, as I'm now wondering if the easiest thing is to actually go: train Cambridge-Brighton, cycle to Newhaven as suggested by Tomsk, ferry to Dieppe, train in France to [somewhere else along Velo Maritime], cycle back to Dieppe/Dunkirk. Mainly because the Cambridge-Brighton train is so easy for us, and it means we get to avoid moving around in London completely.

[robgul]

Before I decide that Newhaven-Dieppe is basically the only option because bikes+trains... Does anyone have any grand advice on getting to Portsmouth/Poole from London/East Croydon/Brighton where we can take bikes on trains easily?

Edit to add: while the above info would be helpful, I've just realised that on Brittany ferries website you can only book 4 bikes max. Waaaaah. So to use Portsmouth/Poole on the way out (returning Dieppe-Newhaven for ease of trains home) we'd need to go in two trips anyway...

From experience

- provided you're not in peak times getting multiple bikes on Southern trains isn't an issue

- booking more than 4 bikes on Brittany Ferries is simple - make 2 bookings in any combination (an adult has to be the lead passenger on each) - I've just done exactly that for 7 of us as a 4 and 3, aen - Portsmouth in June (we're going out Dover-Calaid.   In the past we've been 12 or 14 and made a group booking on the phone with BF.

Brill, thanks Rob. Thank goodness, I was thinking that it was mad if it was only 4 bikes total on Brittany ferries. I phoned up to ask about this - the guy I spoke to didn't even suggest two bookings as an option! Looks like we'd need two rooms anyway for an overnight crossing, so can do a 3 and a 2. I couldn't see how I'd find out if that was the case, if even the person on the bookings line didn't suggest it...

I've just been looking at your thread from last year about bikes on French trains, Rob, as I'm now wondering if the easiest thing is to actually go: train Cambridge-Brighton, cycle to Newhaven as suggested by Tomsk, ferry to Dieppe, train in France to [somewhere else along Velo Maritime], cycle back to Dieppe/Dunkirk. Mainly because the Cambridge-Brighton train is so easy for us, and it means we get to avoid moving around in London completely.

You'll find there might be upwards of 30 or 40 bikes on a BF crossing ! - depending which shp and the numbers they either go in a room off the car deck (lashed to rails on the walls and together with ropes) or lashed to rails at the side of one of the car decks (IIRC it's at the pointed end of the ship) - make sure you walk the bike from the ramp and on the deck . .. it's steel and greasy.

. . . this year's French tour uses the train to get 7 of us from Calais to Paris  - pretty much rule of thumb is that the TER trains (i.e. the local ones, not TGV or OUI) almost all just have walk-on bike travel.   The SNCF websites are a bit of nightmare - you need to look at the local sub-sites - e.g. https://www.ter.sncf.com/hauts-de-france   (it's the ter.sncf.com level to find the other regions)

[chrisbainbridge]

I was going to say that every Brittany ferry ship has always had hundreds of bikes on it.  I like st Malo or Ouistreham. Both are lovely to land in. St Malo is a lovely small town and easy passage out. The canal at ouistreham is great for getting used to the wrong side etc. my last tour was 5 days from st Malo to Caen.  Mixture of wild camping, campsite and a luxury shower night.

Mixture of green ways, quiet roads and coastal roads past the defences, brilliant food and you can go past the president butter factory at Isigny sur mer

[sparklyfish]

Mixture of green ways, quiet roads and coastal roads past the defences, brilliant food and you can go past the president butter factory at Isigny sur mer

What's that you say? A butter factory? I think we have a winner.   

[robgul]

I was going to say that every Brittany ferry ship has always had hundreds of bikes on it.  I like st Malo or Ouistreham. Both are lovely to land in. St Malo is a lovely small town and easy passage out. The canal at ouistreham is great for getting used to the wrong side etc. my last tour was 5 days from st Malo to Caen.  Mixture of wild camping, campsite and a luxury shower night.

Mixture of green ways, quiet roads and coastal roads past the defences, brilliant food and you can go past the president butter factory at Isigny sur mer

I believe that they make cheese and ice cream at that plant too - I've ridden the route you describe a couple of times - excellent.

[chrisbainbridge]

The village is lovely and has cow statues at every entry to the village.

[morbihan]

Hi Sparklyfish,
we use the ferry fairly regularly, both the overnight from Poole to St Malo and Cannes (though with car and bikes in the back) St Malo is going to get you further South.
We have done a fair bit of riding in the South of the Department, based out of La Roche Bernard. Lots of really nice bike trails and cycling infrastructure.
Plus one for the Nantes Brest canal. Things get lumpy as you head inland.
Happy to answer any generalised q's for the Southern portion.