London to Paris DIY

[beermonster]

Hi, Great trip would recommend it, especially cycling in France which was a pleasure. Found French drivers to be extremely patient overtaking when safe and passing with lots of space. We stayed in 'premiere classe' motels in Calais, Amiens and Paris around 50euros for the room which sleeps 3. we cycled from big ben to gravesend on the a2,a207 and a226 stopping at friends for breakfast from there we took the a2 to faversham which wasnt to great as its so busy. We then turned off onto country roads. On selling road and winding down to dover. We had a support car so chucked bikes on there to board ferry sure its fairly simple to board with bikes only. hotel in Calais was close to ferry port when we got to the other side. I will look for the route from calais and post it later.

 

[beermonster]

......Day 2 - Calais D943 route de St.Omer - Right onto D942 just before St. Omer - D928 to Fruges - D104 to Frevent - D916 Frévent to Doullens - D23 & D11 to Amiens.
Day 3 - D935 to Montdidier and Cuvilly then onto D1017 to Senlis continuing until it becomes D317 which takes you into Paris. We cycled to hotel in Montreuil a couple miles out of centre and got up really early following morning to cycle to Eiffel tour and take pics and relax!!

 

[goody]

How many miles was it from Calais to Paris? I have a crazy idea of getting the ferry to Calais early Sat morning cycling all day to Paris getting there for Sat night then spending the Sunday (the last day of the tour) taking in the sights and atmosphere. Navigating is my biggest worry, did you use GPS? I have a detailed northern France map but the route doesn't seem straightforward.

 

[beermonster]

around 170/180 miles I reckon. Didn't have gps at the time though wish I did as we were constantly checking map to be sure we were on the right road! Doesn't seem to be an obvious route down but the D roads are good and usually quiet.