Day 1: July 1st 2025 - Dieppe to Beauvais - 65 Miles

The Route Verte is a cycle route going from London to Paris. I didn’t cycle from London to the south coast at Newhaven, where I will take a ferry over to Dieppe. Mostly because London to Newhaven isn’t a great deal of fun, and mostly isn’t a Route Verte / Greenway, rather taking you through busy south London, across the M25, and through the concrete horrors of the Crawley / Gatwick area. It ticks up a bit after that to the south coast, but still isn’t great. Too much fighting traffic and a confusing route. So, I’ve missed out that bit, and yesterday (Monday 30th June) I took the train from Birmingham, through London, and on to Brighton, and then a nice ride along the coast to Newhaven to get the ferry. Monday was a very warm day, and I feared that true to form British railways would succumb to buckled rails in the heat, but except for a couple of speed restrictions things worked out smoothly and I made the 5 pm ferry from Newhaven. The ferry arrived in Dieppe at 10 pm and I had booked myself in to the Egg Hotel in Dieppe, a sort of Ibis Budget knockoff. It did the job. There is a very nice camp ground in Dieppe, but the thought of pitching a tent at 11 pm at night did not appeal.

Tuesday morning, I was off along the Route Verte out of Dieppe, on a repurposed old railway line going through the Normandy countryside, beautiful, green, lush, with lots of cows contentedly munching away. At Forge Les Eaux some 25 miles along, the rail way line runs out and it is back on to roads, but quiet and country. Then at Gournay le Bray the railway line starts up again, and it is all Route Verte / Greenway in to Beauvais. The weather today has been hot and close, but there was some shade along the route, and I took on lots of water.

I had wanted to camp tonight, but Beauvais only offers a camper van site, and doesn’t allow tents, so I’m in an F1 budget hotel on the outskirts, where I think the majority of my fellow guests are long term refugee types. They are probably hoping that they can get to the UK one day. Why I am never clear. I think I'd prefer to stay in France. UK or France ? The F1 suits my needs for the night after a day of cycling. Dinner was a salad which I bought from the Carrefour City store in Beauvais and ate in the cathedral square, where I got in to broken French conversation with a woman who comes every day with a plat prepare (acute accent on the last e) to give to a homeless guy, and she even brings food for his dog. She’s been doing it for six years, she told me. Same guy, every day a meal prepared and delivered for him, a bit of a chat, and off he and the dog go to their tent somewhere. She told me, as much as I could understand, that it is all she can do for him, but she’s happy to do it. I feel a bit humbled. I get annoyed by the beggar / homeless /druggie / alchy types I see in Birmingham. Maybe doing something simple and human and kind is the right way to respond. I’ll have a think about it.

Tomorrow I will continue along the Route Verte, but break away from it at Clermont and head east, joining EuroVelo route 3 for a while, making my way to the EuroVelo route 19 which follows the River Meuse / Maas through bits of France, Belgium and Holland, ending up in ten days or so at the Hook of Holland. It will be civilised cycling through countries that invest in cycling infrastructure and have a decent and respectful cycling culture. I was surprised today when people stopped for me at crossings and roundabouts. Back in England they usually try and run you down. Don’t get me started ! More to come.