I thought it may be useful to do an afterthoughts post just to sum up the trip and hopefully provide some tips to anyone else who may be contemplating a cycle ride down the Avenue Verte. If you haven’t already seen the separate posts for each day of the journey they can be found in the list of posts in the blog, right before this one.
I’m not sure exactly what expected from the trip to Paris before we left. I was keen to have a go at some touring by bike and see how I got on with it. Paris seemed like the ideal destination as it’s overseas (which sound like you’ve gone further) without being too far away. It was certainly interesting that the less regular cyclists were able to achieve it fairly comfortable even with a minimum of training in some cases. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a 2/3/4 day cycle ride where the emphasis is on fun and keeping away from highly trafficated* roads for most of the trip.
*Copyright Mrs Fatsiclist 1999
The riding is pretty easy aside from a couple of long but steady hills on Day 2. It will vary of course what route you are taking through the UK to get to Newhaven. If your route includes going over rather than through the South Downs you’ll have more elevation to cope with. If you want to avoid elevation, it is well worth looking up the Donald Hirsch Avenue Verte route (which is easy to find online) and check out the detours to the classic route that miss some of the hills out.
Overall it’s a very pleasant way to spend three days on a bike, especially if you get the weather that we did. Whilst a large amount of the route is on paths rather than roads, you pass by the edge of a number of towns and villages where you could stock up on food and water although I would avoid the cafe in Neufchatel unless you have a lot of time to kill (see “Day 2”).
Whilst we stopped in Beauvais, if you’re planning to do the western option of the Avenue Verte route all the way into Paris (or even with the Donald Hirsch amendments at the Paris end) the half way point is around Gournay and that would seem like a sensible place to stay if you’re doing the French bit over 2 days. That will probably enable you to find a hotel that has more French charm to it than an Ibis!
We used Ibis hotels because 1) I’m lazy and 2) I get loyalty points and a 5% discount on Accor hotels. It meant I could make one phone call and book all seven of us in to three different hotels in one go. Trip organisers are allowed some perks. On that note, the Ibis Budget in Dieppe was perfectly OK, the Ibis Styles in Allonne, Beauvais was great if a little remote from the actual town and the Ibis Styles Cadet Lafayette in Paris was a lot more expensive but again perfectly adequate. You tend to know what you’re going to get with corporate hotels and these were no exception.
Eurostar to get home was dead easy but I do recommend booking the bikes onto Eurodespatch in advance unless you’re going to box them up. Whilst it cost extra cash, the fact that we didn’t get stuck in Paris being not able to take the bikes on our train made the cost worthwhile. I’ve heard varying stories about getting bikes on Eurostar so wouldn’t rely on getting lucky by just turning up and winging it.
The DFDS ferry to Dieppe was very easy and cost effective. I’m not sure the overnight crossing gives you enough sleep hours to make a cabin (instead of a hotel in Dieppe) worthwhile. I would advise not overdoing their cheap bubbly on the boat. It gives you a headache (See “Day 2”). If you do what we did and take the late afternoon ferry with a stay booked in Dieppe don’t forget lights for your bikes – you’ll need them to get to the hotel even though it’s only a mile or two into town.
As for bikes and kit, I covered my kit in the “Day -1” post in some detail with my personal verdict on it all. I found panniers were easy to use and carried plenty of stuff. Having said that, one of our party used a rucksack and packed light – he had no issues at all with that. Another used the Topeak fold out pannier option and that also seemed to work well. A friend of mine once managed London to Gibraltar with one of those pannier sets with great success.
In our party we had four road bikes, two hybrids and one mountain bike with road tyres. All of these dealt with the route admirably well (except for the mountain bike which left a trail of broken spokes across northern France). The Avenue Verte is suitable for almost all bikes so don’t be persuaded that you need something specialist and new, unless you want a new bike in which go for it (like I did)!
At times I chose to cycle without a helmet on some of the off road bits (and the odd back road). I always use a helmet at home but the heat persuaded me to remove it on Saturday, comfortable with the relatively low speed and lack of traffic and other hazards. However, I wouldn’t recommend it in Paris which is a typically busy and congested city. Each to their own and it’s entirely your choice although it may be worth checking the legal situation in France (I did this before I went but have since forgotten the details, sorry).
In summary, it’s a great trip and easy to do in 3 days even for relatively novice cyclists. Any advance training will of course help – your sit bones and other bits will no doubt thank you for some advance warning of the hours spent in the saddle. Chamois cream, Vaseline and the like can all help but that’s all personal preference stuff however I do think if you’re sharing it (and maybe even if you aren’t) then a ‘no-double-dipping’ rule should always apply.
If you’re thinking about doing the Avenue Verte my only advice is to do it. We had an absolute blast and I’m already planning the next trip.
If you have any questions at all then please ask away in the comments section – I’ll happily try and answer them for you.
Fatsiclist 
Chapeau.
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