Author Topic: Le Havre & onwards  (Read 6208 times)

Le Havre & onwards
« on: 08 April, 2018, 10:42:05 am »
This years first camping trip will start at Le Havre in early May.  The plan is to follow the Seine up to Giverny and then head down to Chartres before looping back to the coast.


I'd lik to spend a day in Rouen as well, to look at the cathedral & musee beaux-arts.   This leads to the perennial problem of leaving a loaded bike in a busy city centre.  Is there any secure parking available ?  Perhaps at the station ?


All other advice & tips welcome, especially about the best way out of the Le Havre docklands, of which I do not have fond memories.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #1 on: 09 April, 2018, 12:45:54 pm »
Leaving Le havre - There's a likely looking road heading away from the docks upstream called Rue des Salines. Don't be fooled, it's a very rough and rocky track. Avoid.

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #2 on: 10 April, 2018, 11:43:52 am »
Rouen is well worth a visit.  We stayed there a couple of nights, so had no trouble with parking.

If you plan on crossing the Seine before Rouen research carefully.  My guide book mentioned a town that had a ferry.  Turns out there hasn't been a functioning ferry there since WWII.  I don't recall the name, but will look it up later.  Also, if you cross Pont du Normandie getting anywhere useful from the western end was a bit of a mess.  Please note this was nearly 10 years ago, so things may have changed.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #3 on: 10 April, 2018, 01:31:30 pm »
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #4 on: 10 April, 2018, 09:36:49 pm »
Quillebeuf?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnopAlfdXiA

That's where we ended up crossing on our way to Caudebec-en-Caux.  Can't find confirmation at the moment, but I think the non-existent ferry was supposed to be in Vieux Port.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #5 on: 10 April, 2018, 11:30:24 pm »
France has discovered bike cages. At Limoges there are some in a P&R parking which seems exceedingly futile and is probably why I have never seen one in use. I think you need your own padlock (cadena in french for those who don't know). Contacting the Office de Tourisme at Rouen might produce useful info on this.

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #6 on: 10 April, 2018, 11:42:40 pm »
We went this way. It wasn't great, but it maybe best way out. Be very aware of tram tracks when crossing the bridge just before 6km. A lot of lorries just hurtle past you and leave little room.  Le post de normandy is ok if your experienced and have a head for heights.

hosted for yacf by sg310, on Flickr

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #7 on: 11 April, 2018, 10:10:56 pm »
That looks suspiciously like the route we followed last  the other year. The camions were a bit terrifying tbh and one of the port bridges was out which added to the confusion.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #8 on: 11 April, 2018, 10:26:49 pm »
There's no nice way out of Le Havre.  Eventually you find a cycle path approach to the Pont du Normandie but you can't avoid the truck route for a large part of it.

Just put your head down and get it over with as quickly as possible. 

Also, use the pedestrian path on the Pont du Normandie rather than the cycle lane (which is white paint separating you from the lorries).  It's a steep and long climb so you'll be going very slowly right next to the lorries going very quickly.  3/4 the way down (on the right) you'll see an exit from the bridge ...take it.  It's a nice quite route to Honfleur...the jewel of Normandie.  If you descend the whole bridge you'll get stuck on main roads again.

Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #9 on: 11 April, 2018, 10:33:17 pm »
Also, use the pedestrian path on the Pont du Normandie rather than the cycle lane (which is white paint separating you from the lorries).  It's a steep and long climb so you'll be going very slowly right next to the lorries going very quickly.

Andrewc knows this already, but for future reference here's the photo, with a Wowbagger for scale:




Quote
3/4 the way down (on the right) you'll see an exit from the bridge ...take it.



It's finding that one from the other direction that's the clever bit.

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #10 on: 11 April, 2018, 11:24:30 pm »
There's no nice way out of Le Havre.


Sounds like Liverpool .....


There appears to be a cycleroute V33 along the northern bank, which will take me towards Rouen.   If I cross the Pont du Normandie it's likely to be on the last leg of the trip,  and I've done it before, though I recall finding the access road was not easy.


http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/49.4565/0.3419&layers=C
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #11 on: 30 April, 2018, 07:41:36 pm »
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #12 on: 30 April, 2018, 08:19:00 pm »
Warmer next week.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #13 on: 03 May, 2018, 09:44:51 pm »
I hope you are going to do your usual tour blog Andrew?
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #14 on: 05 May, 2018, 09:01:57 am »
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #15 on: 05 May, 2018, 10:00:15 pm »
A long day on trains, then the overnight ferry arriving in Le Havre on a sunny morning.  Followed the V33 route which had a couple of kms of busy road before a parallel cycle route appeared. Alternating between river or canal side or quietish roads. Going along one road with a wide ditch & marshlands to my right I saw something in the water, a large rodent. Best guess is a Coypu, google says there is a large local population.


Past Tancarville & more riverside, lots of expensive housing, also lots of painters trying to emulate Monet.


Camped at Caudebec-en-Caux, an extortionate 17€.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #16 on: 05 May, 2018, 10:10:14 pm »
Ouch.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #17 on: 06 May, 2018, 09:59:50 pm »
Very hot & sunny, I’ve got a blistered nose from forgetting sunscreen yesterday. Due to laziness & faffage I wasn’t on the road until 11:30. Under the Pont de Brotonne & down to le Trait. From there down to the lovely Jumieges & up to Duclair where I took a free ferry to the other bank.  I rode down to Anneville , but what I thought was a public campsite was in fact a naturist one  :facepalm:
Had to backtrack to jumieges for. €17 campsite & €6 beer.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #18 on: 06 May, 2018, 10:07:40 pm »
In this heat perhaps a bit of naturism might have been quite welcome.  No?

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #19 on: 07 May, 2018, 09:12:03 am »
But then without his sunscreen he might have more than a blistered nose to worry about!!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Miles cycled 2014 = 3551.5 (Target 7300 :()
Miles cycled 2013 = 6141.4
Miles cycled 2012 = 4038.1

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #20 on: 07 May, 2018, 09:14:09 am »
Very true! I’ve got leaking blisters on my head  :sick:
Don’t want them anywhere else!  Lady at the campsite confims they had snow last week..
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #21 on: 08 May, 2018, 07:30:31 am »
Another glorious hot sunny day.  Away by 10:30 this morning so slightly better. Quiet roads to the free ferry at le Mesnil then onto the other bank for quiet road to Barville & then a lovely lane through flowered meadows with chalk cliffs on one side & the Seine on the other. A quick picnic of bread, cheese & sausage.
I stop in la Bouille for a couple of cold beers then get another ferry.   The bank I’m on is fairly undeveloped but the other is heavy industrial & docklands, not very pretty.


Eventually get to Rouen & a €7.70 beer in the shadow of the cathedral. I paid in change....


It seems to be a Law that whenever I visit a cathedral it must be covered in scaffolding. Only the main spire this time. I’ll take a proper look in the morning.
Camping l’aubette a few km outside the city is the cheapest so far at €8 but you have to pay for a shower & there is only 1 proper toilet, the others are squats.


Rabbits on the campsite but no insects.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #22 on: 08 May, 2018, 08:22:15 am »
I rode down to Anneville , but what I thought was a public campsite was in fact a naturist one  :facepalm:

There's a certain logic in planning a cycling tour stopping only at naturist campsites - you don't need to carry any spare clothes to wear while your kit is drying each evening  :thumbsup:

(I should add that I haven't yet deployed this strategy myself as most of my touring has been done in cooler weather)
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #23 on: 08 May, 2018, 12:22:26 pm »
A bad choice for an “off the bike day” in Rouen. It’s VE Day & all the museums are closed.


Buying food for tonight might be awkward as well.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Le Havre & onwards
« Reply #24 on: 08 May, 2018, 09:13:24 pm »
A wander around the cathedral, a couple of other churches & the old town. All very pretty. I found an open supermarket which takes care of dinner & breakfast, but couldn’t find an open pharmacist. My right upper eyelid is swollen & I can’t see the tear duct, this could be my Blepheritis flaring up or a reaction to something else?  I’m not usually bothered by pollen & there is no scratchy feeling from debris.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark