I’ve mentioned in recent posts that I have a cycle trip planned for the summer of 2025. On August 11th I drive down to Somerset with Wanda (my Koga WorldTraveller bike) to meet up with Tim Sanders, friend from the Cycle Touring Festival, and the following day we take the ferry from Poole to Cherbourg. After a couple of days cycling along the Normandy coast we will arrive at Ouistreham and set off cycling south along La Vélo Francette in the direction of La Rochelle, camping as we go. Here’s the overview map:

651 km long, it was opened in 2015 and I was actually one of the first cyclists to cycle along its route, as I recount in my book Spain to Norway... I was about to leave La Rochelle and continue my way north in the direction of Scandinavia:

So, as you can see, I didn’t cycle the entire length of La Vélo Francette, just the bit as far as Saumur at which point I turned right to cycle along the Loire Valley in the direction of Paris. And to be fair, although I did find the signage, at times I didn’t and have memories of making up my own route along the way. Ten years later in 2025, I have high expectations that the signgage will be much more ubiquitous and most – if not all – of the route will be away from busy roads.

Here are some pictures from May 2015:

The picture of David Dimbleby on the TV is a reference to the time I was cycling; the UK General Election was held on May 7th 2015 and I had decided to book into a very nice boutique hotel for the night to watch events unfold back home.

I remember very well the canals around Coulon and them being very pretty. And the weather not being that great. I really should go back and read the relevant section of Spain to Norway… to be reminded of all the details. The blogs posts I wrote at the time can be read here (days 27 to 29).

My other encounter with La Vélo Francette was more fleeting in nature. I crossed its route in the Normandy town of Domfront through which both La Vélo Francette and La Véloscénie pass. I’m definitely looking forward to staying for a second time at the camping municipal in Domfront. It must surely rank as one of the best municipal sites in France, and one of the cheapest. In 2022 I paid just €4 for the pleasure of pitching my tent.

All that said, most of the route that we follow will be new to both Tim and me. It should be a fun couple of weeks!

La Vélo Francette website

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Le Grand Tour on a Bike Called Wanda, was published in May 2024 and recounts Andrew P. Sykes’ journey around France, into the Alps and down the Rhine in the summer of 2022. It is available as a paperback and as and eBook from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com (and other international Amazon sites). The paperback is also available from Waterstones or Foyles and the eBook from Apple iBooks.

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