Which Route? - 41 Days to Go

So which route to take...I have been considering two main routes. The obvious one to me was London to Dover, cross the channel to Calais and then on to Paris for a total of around 260 miles. With 75 miles to Dover it seems possible to get to Calais on the Sunday evening ready for an early start on Monday morning and do the cycling over the two following days. That would mean about 90 miles on each of those two days. A bit ambitious perhaps but I would allow a third day in case of poor weather, breakdown, or just plain tiredness. I have told myself you're not on holiday, get the work done and get back home. My plan is to return to London by train on the Eurostar

I began to explore a second route after I had already decided (or rather assumed) the first route was the only way. Then, a friend said, 'well, of course you will be going through Brighton'. Birghton? I took a look at an online map and found out that it is only about 54 miles to the ferry in New Haven. The terrain is more of a downhill slope and a much more friendly than the route to Dover. It is a four hour crossing to Dieppe, and then just 112 miles to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Total distance is around 167 miles. Sounds simple, I know, but there will still be a good number of hills.

I have to remember that my objective is Paris not the route itself. Of course it makes so much sense to take the shortest route. Who wouldn't? But having planned with the first route for so long, it has been hard to just give it up. So now after a few days of consideration of the routes I have decided that I will take the London to Brighton/Dieppe to Paris route. I have even gone so far as to book the ferry crossing and the hotels for each night. So the route is now definite.

Click Here to link to a map of my London to Brighton route.

Click Here to link to a map of my Dieppe to Paris route.

The maps are interactive and you can change/resize the scale. You can also move around the route by clicking and dragging on the map. The left panel also allows you to see the elevation at each mile along the route.