MY CYCLE FROM LONDON TO PARIS
Some of you know me, I cycle to church on a bike with a wicker basket, and my mother, Margaret Dines, who used to live next to the vicarage in St Ippolyts before she moved to the centre of Hitchin. I usually live and work in London but since the pandemic have spent a lot of time working remotely at my mother’s so haven’t been doing my usual city cycle commute. But when a friend said she wanted to cycle to Paris and knew someone who had done it before, following the route called the Avenue Verte and would act as our leader I agreed to join her. I then had to do some rapid training cycling round the Wymondleys and out to Whitwell and Offley to make up for several years of inactivity!
Four of us started near our homes in Islington on Wednesday 26th April and were wondering why one of the group hadn’t appeared, only to find that she had had a puncture cycling to our meeting place! Puncture fixed we negotiated London and made our way south, heartened to see Avenue Verte signs appearing. We had a picnic lunch on Farthing Downs in Coulsdon, crossed the M25 and could finally enjoy the countryside, apart from several hills, until we arrived in Lewes at about 7.45pm. The next morning, we had a short ride to Newhaven for the 11am ferry and found at least a dozen other cyclists on the boat. Four hours later we arrived in Dieppe and cycled through the town to a wonderful flat, tarmacked cycle route on a disused railway line. It was a delight to ride along and we had a quick stop to look through the gates at the chateau at Mesnieres-en-Bray. But then a light drizzle started to get heavier and we spent the last two hours of our four hour cycle getting soaked so we arrived at our hotel in Forge les Eaux feeling utterly miserable! However, they were still serving food and agreed to tumble dry our clothes which was a great help.
The next morning was still damp but we set off and had lunch outside the old abbey at Saint-Germer-de-Fly in the sunshine! We continued through undulating countryside on quiet lanes, through equally quiet villages and just to prove it was spring heard a cuckoo. We had afternoon tea in Gisors before finally arriving at about 6pm in the tiny village of Omerville where we were staying with a French couple who rented out rooms in their pretty cottage. After drinks in the garden we had a delicious supper but as the church clock chimed hourly my companions had a slightly disturbed night (using earplugs I was fine!). The next morning, after breakfast of bread with homemade jams and yogurt we set off for Paris. It was exciting to cross the Seine at Triel-sur-Seine, even though we were still miles from our destination. We had lunch at Villennes-sur-Seine, cycled through the Bois de Boulogne, and finally got to view the Eiffel Tower from the Palais de Chaillot at about 6pm - we felt such a sense of achievement and relief that nothing had gone wrong! We had averaged about 55 miles a day and weren’t too exhausted or saddle sore. It then took us over an hour to get through the centre of Paris to our hostel near Gard du Nord. There is some good cycle infrastructure and loads of cyclists using it but having never been to Paris on a bike before I found all the traffic pretty overwhelming and was very pleased to just follow our leader. The following day was wonderfully warm and sunny and we were having a rest day in the city so cycled along one side of the Seine and then had a picnic lunch on the other side, went to the Jardin des Plantes and ended with supper in a restaurant by the Canal Saint-Martin. We had an early start on Monday 1st May taking the train to Rouen as we were unable to get one directly to Dieppe. But on arrival at Rouen it was grey, breezy and damp and we had another puncture so instead of cycling to Dieppe with the anxiety of the ferry deadline, once the puncture was fixed we decided to take the train instead. And what a great move that was as we could have a leisurely time before getting the boat back to Newhaven and then the train to Finsbury Park.
It was such a fun experience and France is a great place to cycle in – I would love to do the trip again but would take my bike on the train to the ferry and do about 35 miles a day with more stops at places of interest as our leader had certainly kept us moving!
Alison Dines
