in planning » Trip to northern France

Currently planning a trip to France for June later this year. What better use of the current stormy weather and short dull days to plan such a trip. My current thinking is:

Ferry to St Malo - the overnight ferry is a good way of travelling by boat, save the daylight hours as much as possible for riding.
Off the ferry at 8am and then a day down to Saumur via Angers, overnight probably Saumur (or maybe Tours), then up the Loire the next day to Blois taking in a few chateaux, on to Alencon.
Next day a loop from Alencon south to Le Mans (24h museum) and back up north (Alpes Mancelles...?), staying in Alencon again probably, then final day north from Alencon, to Bayeux then along the Normandy beaches to take in a few musees and sights/sites of D-Day, before overnighting somewhere near Caen or on the coast for a ferry home the next morning.

Got a few hotels in the relevant areas scoped.

Welcome any thoughts and local knowledge, particularly any great roads between St Malo and Angers, and Alencon and the normandy coast.

Thanks some good advice there, was planning to go week after half term which would mean being on the Normandy coast on or around D-day anniversary! thanks for pointing that out, will look to push it back a couple of weeks! Real face palm moment that was.

Prices look pretty much the same all weekends Portsmoth-St Malo in June and return via Caen. I guess anyone going to Germany for the Euros would be a bit off their heads go via St Malo. Will look at later in June or late April, ferries a bit cheaper then.

Did a trip to Brittany late April 22, weather was perfect for the time of year, not a drop of rain, even the runs to and from Portsmouth were dry. It’s a toss up between late April and mid to late June. June a bit more expensive but more likely to be dry, expect can be quite warm in the Loire that time of year.

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #4

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Zitat von Becksy im Beitrag #3

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Thanks some good advice there, was planning to go week after half term which would mean being on the Normandy coast on or around D-day anniversary! thanks for pointing that out, will look to push it back a couple of weeks! Real face palm moment that was.

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I started to look at a trip to Bavaria in that same early June period. Get it done before the Football Euros starts in Germany on 16 June. I started to look at ferry prices from Portsmouth as it is my closest port. Fewer miles in the UK, especially as it avoids the SE, with more in France is attractive. Diagonal towards Strasbourg sort of thing to get to Black Forest then Bavaria. That was soon dismissed as BF have ramped up their fares in early June. If we go, it will be the tunnel and hoof it into Belgium ASAP and go south via Luxembourg.

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Here's my planned 4 day trip to France.

Day 1 - head south from St Malo to Angers then start up the Loire with an overnight in Saumur.
Day 2 - carry on up the Loire to Blois then north to Alencon
Day 3 - a loop from Alencon, south to Le Mans, then north to Suisse-Normandie and back to Alencon
Day 4 - north from Alencon to Bayeux and then a run along the D-Day beaches before staying near Ouistrehan for the ferry home the next morning.

All daily mileages are around 200 miles. Based a lot of the routes on Ride magazine guide to France, and also used Biker's Europe by Simon Weir. Trip planned for late April.

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