Blog :: Dieppe seen by Peter Avis

On your bike now! | 27/02/2010

Piste-velo Winter is receding and spring is in the air. Or, in Dieppe, it seems like that, as breezy March knocks freezing February off the pedestal. So, time to think of getting into the open air. And why not on a bike ?

Many Britons who land on this Alabaster Coast arrive via the ferry from Newhaven. Some of them make use of the Transmanche Ferries offer to transport their bicycles free. You just have to announce you are bringing a bike with you at the time of buying your ticket. The price of passenger (with or without bike) is at present about £25 for a five-day return.

If you don’t have a bike to bring, but want to hire one locally, the people running the vélo-hiring bus that used to stand by the lifting bridge in Dieppe have recently transferred their service to new premises next to the railway station. The future of the service is uncertain, but a green lobby is campaigning to save it.

The French are sensibly tolerant towards bikes and bike riders. Think how they get excited over the exploits of competitors in the annual Tour de France race. And notice how car and lorry drivers give cyclists a wide berth when they overtake them on the road.

In Dieppe, you can ride just six kilometres south to Arques-la-Bataille and join the Avenue Verte which now offers a 40-kilometre motor traffic-free route to Forges-les-Eaux. It is planned to extend the route to Paris, but that won’t be tomorrow.

Brighton cyclists have discovered the Avenue Verte: on the weekend of 23-25 April, Joyce Edmond-Smith and a score of leisurely peddlers from the town’s Clarion Cycling Club will be sauntering along it. There’s space on the tranquil route for others to join them. You are guaranteed an outing with no choking fumes.

Information on other biking routes in Normandy can be obtained from the Dieppe Tourist Office (0232 144060 and dieppetourisme.com). The office is temporarily housed at 50 Quai Duquesne, Dieppe (opposite the fishing port).

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