Preparations
It’s five years since I last cycled from London to Paris, back in September 2008. On that occasion, my first long distance cycle ride in many years, I was accompanied by Mark on a somewhat chaotic trip, in which we ended up having to catch a train for a short segment of the journey, due to getting lost as dusk descended on the country lanes of West Sussex.
That short train ride from Hassocks to Newhaven has always taken a little glory away from the achievement. So, although Mark has emigrated to Canada and started a family, here I am five years on, ready to repeat the journey. This time, I’ll be accompanied by Gareth. We’ve already cycled across Denmark together and around Malta. He has also cycled to Paris himself on a separate occasion, four years ago.
The route has evolved over the years. In a joint Franco-British initiative, the Avenue Verte branding, previously assigned only to a 40km stretch of dedicated cycleway through France, now refers to the entire route, signposted (in theory) along traffic-free paths or low-traffic lanes all the way from the London Eye to Notre Dame.
Although this newly-expanded Avenue Verte was inaugurated last year to coincide with the London Olympics, and is already promoted on both sides of the Channel, it is still very much an evolving project. Signposting cannot yet be fully relied upon, especially on the British side, though Sustrans have published an excellent Avenue Verte guidebook, detailing the entire route to Paris across 144 pages.
The official route is far from direct and we will therefore not be sticking to it over its full length. In particular, on the French side, the route splits shortly after the end of the original section of Avenue Verte, in Gournay-en-Bray. Both branches then take lengthy detours to the north and south, respectively, with the total French leg coming to 239km via Gisors or 303km via Beauvais.
As we are aiming to complete the trip in just two days, we will need a more direct path, and we’re going to rely on Donald Hirsch’s excellent Dieppe to Paris cycle guide from Gournay-en-Bray instead, as Mark and I did five years ago. This cuts the French leg down to 205km, making for a total distance of approximately 320km.
Booking
We booked our Transmanche ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe about a month ago, along with the Eurostar tickets to get us back from Paris. Our ferry is an overnight sailing, just like last time, which sails from Newhaven at 23:00 on Saturday and reaches Dieppe at 4:00 on Sunday.
It will be an incredibly short night, but we’ve spared no expense and, on this occasion, have booked ourselves a cabin. That will be our only accommodation en route to Paris, and we’ll be lucky to sleep for as much as three hours. The booking itself was somewhat problematic, as only one bike can be booked per cabin of up to four people. A call to the helpline was required in order to complete the process.
Route and bike prep
I’ve ordered the first edition of the Avenue Verte route guide, a conveniently-small spiral-bound book that includes practical tips and accommodation listings, as well as clear directions and colour maps spanning the entire route. This new publication is a must-buy for anyone planning to complete the ride.
I’ve also printed out the downloadable PDF that Donald Hirsch has put together for the French leg of the ride. This route has also evolved a little since 2008 and I’m pleased to discover that it is, as it should be, much higher up the Google search rankings this year.
Unfortunately, the bike I used for this journey five years ago is no longer rideable, having suffered a severe crack through the base of the frame last winter. I’ve recently replaced it with a Specialized TriCross, which I’ve not used for any touring yet.
Although the Specialized has a couple of eyelets to mount a rack on the back, there are no further attachments for a mudguard, neither at the front nor rear. Race Blades are the obvious solution to this, but I was keen to salvage parts from my old bike where possible and have improvised a solution using hinge plates from my local hardware store.
My physical ability presents another challenge as my commute to work is now much shorter than it was five years ago and, as a result, I feel it necessary to do some proper training ahead of this demanding ride. Luckily, Richmond Park is within 5km of my home, and I’ve completed many laps of the park over the last few weeks.
Now all that’s left is to pack my panniers and get a good night’s sleep. This is going to be epic.