Tour de Manche

[honesty]

Thinking of doing this next year. Anyone had experience? How well sign posted is it? Is camping along the route likely/regular?

[geocycle]

Very nice route, I have done the French half. Much of it is easy to flow as there are a lot of sections along rivers and old railway lines. I didn't have a problem with these surfaces. I downloaded the gpx route from the TdM web site. There are a few threads on here, see also those on the Dinard ferry.

[honesty]

Yeh. I m thinking of the French side as I've cycled most of the English side anyway. Will look up abou the ferry. Looking on the official maps there seems to be a shortage of camping in some areas. Did you have a problem?

[ossie]

I've done a fair chunk of the Cherbourg to St Malo part . Not very inspiring really as its mainly old rail line with heavy tree cover on both sides and overhead. Quite easy cycling but very dusty when dry and a little gloopy when wet. You do make decent progress however.

No issues camping using Archies. Signs are fine and you will struggle to go wrong but I preload the route onto my Garmin in advance. I intend to do the Western part from St Malo and drop down to the Brest / Nantes canal at some point, perhaps next year.

[honesty]

I'll have a look at Archies, not seen it before so thanks for the tip. How much climbing is done on this route? How's it compare to other named UK routes?

[geocycle]

I'll have a look at Archies, not seen it before so thanks for the tip. How much climbing is done on this route? How's it compare to other named UK routes?

It's pretty flat, I don't recall anything very difficult at all. Here are some images http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php ... 9#msg66859

There are some long rail sections which do take you through avenues of trees and can be a bit tedious unless you take detours to villages. I really liked the Brittany coast and the riverside paths.

[honesty]

So given I averaged 55mpd on the Pennine cycle way I should be able to do between 60 and 70mpd on this route then. Thanks. Looks like I should be able to do the French side in 6 days then.

[geocycle]

So given I averaged 55mpd on the Pennine cycle way I should be able to do between 60 and 70mpd on this route then. Thanks. Looks like I should be able to do the French side in 6 days then.

It is nowhere near the difficulty of the PCW. I had two panniers and bar bag but wasn't camping. The main thing is to work around the ferry options and time for any sightseeing. I went Poole to Cherbourg then Roscoff back to Plymouth.

After arriving afternoon in Cherbourg I did Carentan (78km), Vire (192km), Pontorson/MSM (292km), St Cast le Guido (387km), Portrieux (480km), Lannion (592km), Roscoff (670km). Notes suggest the only bit I got lost on was the way pout of Cherbourg.

[honesty]

I was looking to do it the other way but a short route plan gives me pretty much exactly the same stopping points as you, which is good (I wrote down Matignon and Plouha but basically the same locations).