Crossing the river Rance St Malo

[brianleach]

Does anyone know if it is possible to take a fully loaded bike on the river crossing from St Malo to Dinard in July by any chance? I'm not keen on the D168 road crossing as it is a bit of a race track so thought starting from Dinard after crossing the mouth of the estuary might be nice. If it means removing panniers etc then I might just take a deep breath and cross the bridge as fast as I can!! Thanks.

[freewheel7]

I have had friends take the boat crossing with touring bikes without issue in the past. Great idea if you are travelling West.

If your plan is to head South, then you might want to consider crossing the Rance using the D366. The bridge is much smaller and quieter traffic wise. I used this 2 years ago, coming out of St Malo on the D117, crossing the river on the D366 and heading south on the D12 to Dinan.

Hope this helps

[hamster]

Actually the D168 isn't too bad. There is a broad shoulder and drivers gave me plenty of room.

[brianleach]

Thanks for the responses. I'm going west and south for Stage 8 of the TdF so the D366 crossing adds several miles. I agree it is a better crossing however as I used it a couple of years back when heading for Dinan. I might try the ferry on the way back this time as I shall probably be coming along the coast and if it is not convenient I will brave the D168 again!!

[simonineaston]

The ferry has got to be more fun, though - there are limited opportunities for pretending to be a a pirate or salty sea dog while on the road over the barage!
I do recall various posts on that topic though, Brian and some have been less complimentary about the ferry than others... pop 'ferry' and 'Dinard' into the search feature to see what I mean.

[brianleach]

Thanks Simon, I see what you mean. I didn't realise there had been quite so many previous posts!!!

[jk49]

I used it to come the other way last July. Seemed fine to me.Tide was a long way out, but the sloping slipway still allowed us to load and unload without removing panniers. Just wheeled the bikes on,don't remember any lifting. Nice road out to Dinan and although I didn't get much of a look round Dinard, it looked really impressive with some wonderful Victorian? architecture.

[sedda]

When I used it a few years ago they seemed very used to loaded bikes. I wasn't the only one and it was very little hassle.

[brianleach]

Good to hear, thank you. May give it a go after all.

[simonineaston]

Dinard to St Malo ferry

Shall we assume its the vessel on the left?!

[brianleach]

I certainly wouldn't fancy trying to board the one on the right with my (always too heavily loaded) bike!! Although from what I read some of the ferries around the UK are often not much bigger.

[RichardPH]

I did the St Malo Rance crossing last week.

The roads leading to the barrage from the St Malo ring-road are dual carriageways separated by concrete blocks and carry heavy traffic. There is a footpath on the north side of the barrage, but this can only be reached from the westbound carriageway [the concrete blocks prevent crossing]. It's possible to access this carriageway from St Malo through a park reached by a short flight of steps just beyond the eastern end of the barrage, see

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@48.61893 ... e0!6m1!1e1

If approaching from the west you need to cross the dual carriageway just before the barrage and push the bike across the footpath, it's not far, then you can go through the park to the town.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@48.61709 ... uIQjvQ!2e0

Of course if you're confident there's always the ring road, but I'd rather not personally.

[brianleach]

Thanks, that is very helpful. Seems different to how I remember but I suppose it is nearly 6 years since I last crossed.

[winnersh cyclist]

I have done this there is no issues on the ferry you could take as much as you want

The voie verte too is .also a good quiet route a lot quicker than going by roads
Its finding the entrance thats harder took me ages asking around
When you get off ferry just follow the left pavement to find the small ferry boat past the
Big Uk bound ones about a few minutes away.
On the other side turn left and ride out along the bay looks like a dingy car park and you then turn right a few streets down up a steep climb
At the top turn left and theres a hotel look right thats the entrance
https://youtu.be/Z-uOt0kVjc8

[brianleach]

Thanks for the information.