On your bike!

MANY Britons who land on the Alabaster Coast arrive via the ferry from Newhaven. Some of them make use of the Transmanche Ferries offer to transport their bicycles free. Just announce you are bringing a bike with you when you buy your ticket. The price of passenger (with or without bike) was about £30 for a five-day return in spring 2011.

If you don’t have a bike, you can hire one and also get minor repairs at the train station: 1€ for an hour, 3€50 for half a day, 5€50 for a day and 15€ for a week. Same price but bigger deposit for an electrically boosted bike. For bike repairs and purchases, there is a shop in Rouxmenil-Bouteilles on the southern edge of Dieppe.

From Dieppe, you can ride six kilometres south to Arques-la-Bataille and join the Avenue Verte which provides a 40-kilometre motor traffic-free route to Forges-les-Eaux. It is planned eventually to extend the route to Paris.

Information on other cycle routes in Normandy can be obtained from the Dieppe Tourist Office (0232144060 and www.dieppetourisme.com).

The French are generally respectful towards cyclists: car and lorry drivers give them a wide berth when overtaking them on the road. Cyclists become national heroes when they star in the annual Tour de France.