Cyclo-touring in Normandy - Must see things

[Manchester Black Cat]

Me and my buddy are doing a cyclo-tour of Normandy this summer. 5 days cycle starting in Cherbourg and ending in Le Havre.

So far on my list to see/do is :

St Mere Eglise
Picauville
Carentan
grainges
Isigney-sur Mer
La Cambe
Point du Hoc
Colleville
Bayeux
Aromanches
Cann
Ranville
Pegasus Bridge
Merville Battery
Liseux

At the moment it is mostly D-Day related but I am planning to mix it up a little

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=...3,2.117615&z=9

This is my planned route as well as all my current points of interest. Starting to plan possible B&Bs, if anybody has any recommendations for places to stay that would be great.

The current plan is

Day 1 - Cherbourg - St Mere Eglise
Day 2 - St Mere Eglise - Bayeux
Day 3 - Bayeux - Caen
Day 4 - Caen - Liseux
Day 5 - Liseux - Le Havre

[youmademerealise]

I guess Mont St Michel is too much of a detour?

I can't imagine going to that part of the world and not going there. Off to Brittany in summer, but I have a day trip planned

[Manchester Black Cat]

Originally Posted by youmademerealise

I guess Mont St Michel is too much of a detour?

I can't imagine going to that part of the world and not going there. Off to Brittany in summer, but I have a day trip planned

I wanted to but it's way too far for us to get to and back within our time window. Basically stuck to the N.Normandy coast line and can probably go about 20 - 30 miles inland tops.

[chinamackem]

Personally, I'd get out from the beaches, beyond Bayeaux and have a gander at Villiers Bocage!
One of the greatest tank battles of the period took place there.

[knarfw]

If you're into Band of Brothers then you should visit Brecourt Manor.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...26tbs%3Disch:1

[youmademerealise]

Originally Posted by knarfw

If you're into Band of Brothers then you should visit Brecourt Manor.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...26tbs%3Disch:1

Or just any field in Lincolnshire

Is that it?

[Madmarx]

Originally Posted by chinamackem

Personally, I'd get out from the beaches, beyond Bayeaux and have a gander at Villiers Bocage!
One of the greatest tank battles of the period took place there.

Tilley sur seulles is not far from there...its on the Durhams colours as a battle honour, nice little local museum there. Me dad was there and it was just about flattened..the Durhams picked up a lot of criticism before Tilley for being cautious ( because they were all old hands by then and knew how easy it was to die) after it they never looked back until the Rhine

[---Nemo---]

Caen has a cracking cathedral.

[Al]

It's a long time since I did this kind of thing, but even with such a specifically planned route as this my instinct would be not to book any accommodation and just find it as you go along. You will probably have time to search around a bit, and you might find it's better not to be restricted by a strictly pre-planned itinerary. Don't know how much you want to pay but an alternative to B&Bs could be "Logis De France" hotels - this is a classification scheme a bit like AA star ratings, but we once did a tour in France using the lowest classification Logis hotels - there used to be one in most small towns & tended to be family-run & particularly wonderful food, although this made it a bit of an expensive holiday. Sometimes a useful strategy is to find a local tourist office towards the end of the day and get them to sort something out for you - they can phone around and book for you. Camping is cheaper and makes it much easier to find somewhere to stay.

FYI: I always found the Michelin maps with the yellow covers (1:150,000 scale) were the best for cycling in France, as they have just enough detail to be able to follow smaller roads. There are some excellent more detailed maps which you might want if you are interested in the detailed history of the places you are going, but they tend to be too unwieldy for general cycling needs.

I get the impression that you intend to take a mostly coastal route? Maybe you shouldn't rule out heading inland for more of the way. One of the great things about cycling in France is there are loads of smaller roads through great countryside with practically no traffic on them. I have never ridden around that bit of coast but in my experience coastal routes can often be frustrating - lots of detours in & out around inlets, lots of short sharp hills, more windy, often more traffic. Anyway, just follow your nose. I once cycled south from Cherbourg more or less down the middle of the peninsular and it was great.

[Manchester Black Cat]

Villiers Bocage!
One of the greatest tank battles of the period took place there.

Yeah I would quite fancy going to see that.

If you're into Band of Brothers then you should visit Brecourt Manor.

BOB is sort of a major inspiration for doing this. I visited Normandy when i was about 10/11 and saw it all then but now i'm more grown up and can really appreciate it.

Caen has a cracking cathedral.

Yeah that's definitely going on the list. Whilst the trip is a lot about seeing the D-day stuff general Normandy culture is a priority too. Quite fancy visiting a few of the cider places as well.

It's a long time since I did this kind of thing, but even with such a specifically planned route as this my instinct would be not to book any accommodation and just find it as you go along. You will probably have time to search around a bit, and you might find it's better not to be restricted by a strictly pre-planned itinerary. Don't know how much you want to pay but an alternative to B&Bs could be "Logis De France" hotels - this is a classification scheme a bit like AA star ratings, but we once did a tour in France using the lowest classification Logis hotels - there used to be one in most small towns & tended to be family-run & particularly wonderful food, although this made it a bit of an expensive holiday. Sometimes a useful strategy is to find a local tourist office towards the end of the day and get them to sort something out for you - they can phone around and book for you. Camping is cheaper and makes it much easier to find somewhere to stay.

This is also my thoughts, to maybe just wing it and see what we find, but i'd like to have ideas of places in case it's 8pm and we still not got somewhere sort of thing.

I've thought about camping, but it means lugging a tent, sleeping bag etc around with us. Want to sort of keep it as light as possible, more credit card touring then anything else.

FYI: I always found the Michelin maps with the yellow covers (1:150,000 scale) were the best for cycling in France, as they have just enough detail to be able to follow smaller roads. There are some excellent more detailed maps which you might want if you are interested in the detailed history of the places you are going, but they tend to be too unwieldy for general cycling needs.

I've bought a 1:180,00 map which i think will do. It's pretty detailed it's a michelin one.

I get the impression that you intend to take a mostly coastal route? Maybe you shouldn't rule out heading inland for more of the way. One of the great things about cycling in France is there are loads of smaller roads through great countryside with practically no traffic on them. I have never ridden around that bit of coast but in my experience coastal routes can often be frustrating - lots of detours in & out around inlets, lots of short sharp hills, more windy, often more traffic. Anyway, just follow your nose. I once cycled south from Cherbourg more or less down the middle of the peninsular and it was great.

At the moment the plan is to sort of hug the coast as this seemed the most logical thing to do to see all the coastal sites. We will be coming inland to do SME, Caen, Bayeux, Grainges etc. But i wont rule out doing larger stretches.

The point of this thread was to get advice etc from you guys to make my plans work so thanks very much! Keep it coming :D