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St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 25 Mar 2014, 6:52pm
by LukePedal
We are having our first cycling venture to northern France in May and would appreciate any advice on routes between St Malo and Caen ports. We will be doing this over 5 days and any advice would be great. We would preferably stay in hostels or any good low cost accommodation. Many Thanks Luke

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 26 Mar 2014, 4:38pm
by CJ
If you're planning to visit Mont St Michel en route, I recommend spending a night nearby (we stayed at Les Vieilles Digues which was nice and handy and not too expensive) and make either an early morning or an afternoon/evening visit to the Mont. We went for the latter and found that the crowds did abate somewhat. And then we we ate at a creperie 'La Sirene', above a gift shop, which is one of the few eating places on the Mont to get reasonable reviews on Tripadvisor.

You are supposed to leave bikes near the mainland car parks and take a shuttle bus out to the Mont. So it's an advantage to leave your luggage at nearby accommodation. We got away with ignoring the signs and rode out along the causeway (which is permitted outside the main visiting times), but that merely postpones the parking of the bikes. You still want good locks.

It's also worth visiting the German cemetery at Mont d'Huisnes, even if you're not particularly interested in WW2, because it's on a hilltop with a very fine view of the Mont. After our visit and meal I pedalled over there, snook in (because by then it was closed) and took this photo:

Image
A microlight overflies Mont St Michel at sunset by Chris Juden, on Flickr

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 27 Mar 2014, 10:29am
by Jonny Deezil
...

http://en.tourdemanche.com/

... it may be slightly off your route though :wink:

Victor

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 5 Apr 2014, 8:05pm
by Suehope
Hi, we are sailing into Caen from Portsmouth, back from St Malo, does anyone know a good route with suitable campsites.

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 6 Apr 2014, 7:18am
by tatanab
Suehope wrote:Hi, we are sailing into Caen from Portsmouth, back from St Malo, does anyone know a good route with suitable campsites.

You need to say when because campsites may be still closed. You also need to say how long you intend to be away and approximate daily distance. it would also be useful to know what time you arrive in Caen to be able to recommend the first night.

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 6 Apr 2014, 8:04am
by Suehope
tatanab wrote:
Suehope wrote:Hi, we are sailing into Caen from Portsmouth, back from St Malo, does anyone know a good route with suitable campsites.

You need to say when because campsites may be still closed. You also need to say how long you intend to be away and approximate daily distance. it would also be useful to know what time you arrive in Caen to be able to recommend the first night.


We are arriving early in the morning on Good Friday and will be catching the night ferry back on the following Tuesday. So 5 full days of cycling. We would love to see the Bayeux tapestry and get to the Normandy beaches so thought we might be able to take a train for some parts. We actually have nothing iced in stone other than our ferry bookings and can be flexible oh and the other thing is we are fairly new to this having only spent a week on the eurovelo 6 last year. Any advice, tips, suggested routes campsites or B & b's would be much appreciated.

In hindsight maybe we should have joined the CTC first but there doesn't seem to be one in Basingstoke.

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 6 Apr 2014, 8:16am
by tatanab
Many campsites will be closed. Even with recommendations from here I suggest you check their opening dates. Le Guide Officiel Camping Caravaning shows 10,000 campsites in France and may be found on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_ ... Caps%2C245 or https://www.vicarious-shop.com/Le-Guide ... 90316.html
A 5 day trip - is that intended to be a gently and direct route or a more adventurous loop of a ride?

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 6 Apr 2014, 8:57am
by Suehope
tatanab wrote:Many campsites will be closed. Even with recommendations from here I suggest you check their opening dates. Le Guide Officiel Camping Caravaning shows 10,000 campsites in France and may be found on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_ ... Caps%2C245 or https://www.vicarious-shop.com/Le-Guide ... 90316.html
A 5 day trip - is that intended to be a gently and direct route or a more adventurous loop of a ride?

Well to be honest it's all an adventure being quite new to this, however ideally something fairly gentle. We are expecting to be be able to cycle approx 40 miles a day depending on what we want to see and the terrain. The main thing is to get from Caen to St Malo in the time we have.

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 6 Apr 2014, 9:27am
by tatanab
I've looked up a couple of campsites that I might recommend, but none of them open until at least May. I suggest you get a copy of the book I pointed to and pore over that or do an internet search using likely stop off towns.

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 6 Apr 2014, 9:39am
by Suehope
tatanab wrote:I've looked up a couple of campsites that I might recommend, but none of them open until at least May. I suggest you get a copy of the book I pointed to and pore over that or do an internet search using likely stop off towns.

Thanks for the help. I have looked up the website and so far have found 3 possibles and still looking. If you think of any particular 'must see' places/things to do please let me know.

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 6 Apr 2014, 4:05pm
by raybo
I rode in the opposite direction (Caen to St. Malo) back in May, 2008. I did the ride in 3 days as part of a much longer tour in France. I wrote a detailed journal and here ismy journal entries for the ride starting in Caen.

I rode from Caen to Vire and spend the night in the municipal campground just outside of town. I was the only one there that night.

Here is a place you might check for campsites: http://www.campingfrance.com/UK

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 6 Apr 2014, 10:26pm
by Suehope
raybo wrote:I rode in the opposite direction (Caen to St. Malo) back in May, 2008. I did the ride in 3 days as part of a much longer tour in France. I wrote a detailed journal and here ismy journal entries for the ride starting in Caen.

I rode from Caen to Vire and spend the night in the municipal campground just outside of town. I was the only one there that night.

Here is a place you might check for campsites: http://www.campingfrance.com/UK

Thanks for the info Raybo, am enjoying your journal entries and now feel a little more confident.

Re: St Malo to Caen routes and places to stay

Posted: 3 Jun 2014, 11:50pm
by sail&fish
LukePedal wrote:We are having our first cycling venture to northern France in May and would appreciate any advice on routes between St Malo and Caen ports. We will be doing this over 5 days and any advice would be great. We would preferably stay in hostels or any good low cost accommodation. Many Thanks Luke


Luke

I am really keen to know how you got on as we have a similar plan. We are taking our 3 boys (17, 14 and 12) on their first ever tour in the Summer, this will be our first tour for just over 20 years. We are planning to travel from Portsmouth into/out of St Malo to/from Caen. We will stay in Hostels/B&B. Happy to phone you if it is easier.

John