Hell On Wheels: Cycling The London-Paris Bike Path

Mistakes were made. Here are some tips for avoiding my errors, and some of the highlights.

Just to be clear, it was entirely my fault.

In August 2021, we had a crazy summer involving moving and shipping our eldest off to university in the U.S. As the summer wound down, we wanted to squeeze in a final getaway before the rentrée in early September. So at the last minute, I planned a 4-day bike trip along the London-Paris Bike Path, or Avenue Verde London-Paris, as it is called on our side of the Channel.

Never plan a bike trip at the last minute.

I tried to rapidly research the itinerary via the official website and various online forums for bike trips. Most of the information was rather general and no one could offer any specific guidance as to whether this route was suitable for two adults carrying packed saddlebags on their bikes and a teenager, all riding conventional bikes.

Spoiler alert: It was not.

At the time, it seemed doable considering our family had previously taken extended bike excursions in the Loire Valley and the Canal du Midi. Alas, there were several problems with the London-Paris route that were not obvious in advance.

First, I was naive about how long it would take to ride our bikes beyond the Paris metropolitan area. We had little desire to be stuck in an urban setting on bikes. Google Maps made it look like it would take an hour or so to reach the countryside. Nope. It took us 5+ hours before we were finally in something that resembled rural France. By then, any sense of fun had long since evaporated.

What would I have done differently? One can take the RER A to the furthest point west, Cergy le Haut. From there, it would have been about a 10-minute ride to the countryside. From roughly this point, it took us about 2 hours to ride the remaining 30km to our first B&B. This would have saved tremendous misery.

Second, there are two routes to take when leaving Paris. It was hard to get much information on what distinguishes one from the other. However, the Southern route is shorter, so I picked that one.

While the official site includes a guide to elevation along the routes, those numbers don’t quite capture the amount of climbing we would be doing regularly. Answer: A lot. Too much for two adults carrying overstuffed saddlebags. For most riders, this would be best done on e-bikes.

How did I screw this up so badly? Despite the charts, the severity and duration of these climbs were not clear until we were on the road. At which point, of course, we were already doomed.

This is Google Maps’ overall summary of our 4-day route:

Finally, the London-Paris Bike Path, at least on the French side, remains largely a dream, an idea for a bike path, but not one that exists in most places.

The project started more than a decade ago, but it would be generous to estimate that 15% of the path has been developed into a paved, dedicated bike path. The idea, as has been done elsewhere, is to take abandoned rail tracks and convert them to the bike path. The last 40km leading to Dieppe, the final stop on the French coast, is the longest stretch where this has been fully developed. There is also a 24.75km stretch from Chaussy to Gisors where a real path has been completed.

Otherwise, we were either riding on local roads with a decent amount of traffic or off-road into sometimes treacherous paths like this one:

But, Chris, did anything go right? Well, yes, thank you for asking.

While booking places to stay was a scramble, all four accommodations were delightful, and I would enthusiastically recommend all of them.

Here is an overview of our itinerary, with some of the actual highlights just to show that there were some amid the wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Note: All times include rest stops, breaks for meals, etc.)

Day 1: Saint-Germaine-en-Laye to Omerville

• 57.3 km

• 7h 44m (5+hours to escape the Paris Metro area)

Here we are at the start. The good vibrations did not last.

Vigny

Eglise Saint-Médard

Théméricourt

Église Notre-Dame in Théméricourt

Omerville

La Musardine En Vexin: €68.64

Located in the Vexin Regional Natural Park, the owner Antonella introduced us to the local Vexin beer and ordered us pizzas, for which we were grateful.

Day 2: Omerville to Gornay-en-Braye

• 57.6 km

• 7h 8m

There are 19km of a developed bike bath from Bray-et-Lu to Gisors, where the old railway has been converted. Then, lots of climbing on local roads.

Les Bordeaux de Saint-Clair

Gâre Château St Clair sur Epte

Gisours

Saint Gervais et Saint Protais de Gisors

Gornay-en-Braye

Maison d'hôtes Christiane Duvauchel: €122.40

Day 3: Gornay-en-Braye to Neufchâtel-en-Bray

• 44.4 km

• 4h 34m

This was perhaps the worst of the climbing. However, in the short sections where a path had actually been developed, we could catch glimpses of what the trail might look like one day when complete. We passed several old train stations like this one that had been redeveloped into restaurants, cafes, and cultural centers.

Manoir d'Aulage: €99.80 for 1 night

This felt decadent. We had a mansion to ourselves, right along the path.

Day 4: Neufchâtel-en-Bray to Dieppe

• 35.0 km

• 2h 53m

This is what we might call the fantasy section of the London-Paris Bike Path, at least for those like us who are traveling in this direction. It is entirely paved and downhill.

Mesnières-en-Bray

Château des Mesnières

La Petite Maison Dans La Prairie

Dieppe

This is the end of the road. For those going to London, this is where to catch the ferry to pick up the trail on the other side of the Channel.

As for us, we were just relieved to have survived.

Villa des Capucins: €100.00

This former convent is in a local neighborhood, but feels like it’s miles from the city once inside the gates.

Le Turbot: €111.40

Our day — and trip — ended with dinner at Le Turbot, a restaurant a short walk from the Villa that our host had recommended.

After a miserable 4 days on bikes, we ate and drank like kings and felt like we had earned every bite.

Chris O’Brien

Paris, France