Reader Q&A: Le Havre to Rouen bike route suggestions

Published by Andrew on 11 January 2018

We received the following question via email asking for bike route suggestions for a circular ride from St Malo to Rouen.

Quite road into Le Havre

Photo: Richard Peace

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Question: Four of us are planning a small challenge this year. My wife and her friend are not great cyclists, so we want something that feels like a challenge over a weekend but not too strenuous. We live in Portsmouth and so plan to get the ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre then cycle to Rouen, stay overnight and then cycle back. So anything you can help with route wise and accommodation would be greatly received

Lyn's advice: I have a lovely Epte Valley ride on the site here that connects Le Havre to Rouen (in fact it goes nearly all the way to Paris).

You could actually make this into a one-way ride by taking the train from Le Havre (or London) to Paris (or even to Versailles if you don't want to ride out of Paris itself) and ride all the way back to Le Havre. You just follow the start of the Avenue Verte London-Paris until it hooks up with the Epte Valley route.

Otherwise you could ride the Epte Valley route one way to Rouen and formulate a circular route for the return journey to Le Havre using local IGN or Michelin maps. For example, you could go from Rouen to the coast and then go back west on the EuroVelo 4.

It would be great to hear how you get on and what you decide.