Our spring club tour this year is to Normandy over the last weekend in April. Departing Andover on the afternoon of Friday 25th April to catch the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. Saturday and Sunday will be spent touring the Normandy countryside and coast before catching another overnight ferry back.
The ferry crossings are:
- Portsmouth to Caen - Friday 25th April departing Portsmouth at 23:00 (arriving in Caen at 06:45 Saturday 26th April)
- Caen to Portsmouth - Sunday 28th April departing Caen at 23:30 (arriving in Portsmouth at 06:15 Monday 28th April)
The route for Saturday is:
and the route for Sunday is:
Highlights of the tour will be quiet rural roads, frequent coffee stops, quant small towns and villages, lots of history (crossing Pegasus bridge, Norman castles, Bayeux, D-day beaches), and beautiful countryside.
Saturday night will be spent in Falaise at the Ibis Hotel.
Falaise is a picturesque town with a mix of both medieval and modern history to it, so it should make for a good base:
Logistics mean that all the riding will involve carrying luggage. This, combined with the distance of Saturday and Sunday's rides, means that the average speed of rides will be a lot lower than the normal Wheeler weekend rides. As a guide when we did the Exeter tour we rode at around 22.5kph (14mph), although the routes were hillier, so we may be able to go a bit quicker this time round (15mph!). In any case this will be tailored to suit the riders who sign up for the tour, it's possible we may run multiple groups to increase flexibility.
The route down to the ferry. The plan is to stop for an evening meal on the way before making our way to the ferry terminal for about 9pm:
And the route home from the ferry:
Contact Simon at simon.andoverwheelerswelfare@gmail.com to register interest and to be kept up to date with further details.