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Photo credit: Tourisme St.Malo
Moto Normandy & Brittany
Early Summer Adventure 28th May - 3rd June 2024
6-day Tour of Northern France
Trip Outline
Crossing from Portsmouth to Ouistreham on the Baie de la Seine, our road trip in Normandy and Brittany will visit the D-Day Normandy Landing Beaches, the WW-II Nazi submarine base at Lorient in Brittany, and the amazing citadel town of St.Malo on the Côte d'Emeraude.
Nazi U-Boat pens at Lorient - now a museum
From home, we'll board the early morning Brittany Ferries service from Portsmouth to Ouistreham, arriving mid-afternoon.
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After clearing through French border control and immigration, we'll ride south-west through Normandy into Brittany, heading for our AirBnB accommodation in the seaside town of Dinard, across the estuary of the River Rance from the citadel town of St. Malo.
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This will be our base for a few days, so that from here, we can explore Brittany by bike without the hindrance of luggage strapped to the back.
Dinard
An 'event' at a recent Le Mans 24 Hours Race
This region of France is absent of mountains, but has craggy, Cornwall-like coastlines, charming coastal harbours, one or two stunning cathedral cities and plenty of other attractions to keep our interest.
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As is typical in France, we can expect roads to be well-surfaced and relatively traffic-free - recall the N85 Route Napoléon down south that we've previously experienced.
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En-route homewards a few days later, we'll be able to visit the 24 Heures du Mans Museum (and even to ride part of the circuit), as well as have some time to explore the historical remnants of the WW2 D-Day landings on the Normandy Beaches.
Mont St. Michel
Tour itinerary
Day 1: Tuesday 28th May: Home -> Ouistreham -> Dinard:
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From Portsmouth we take the 08:00 ferry to Ouistreham, arriving mid-afternoon.
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After clearing through French border control and immigration, we'll have the rest of the day riding south into Brittany to check in to our AirBnB (choose pref?: Option A, Option B, Option C ) in Dinard, booked for four nights, to serve as our base for touring;
(189km, 2h09).
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Day 2: Wednesday 29th: Lorient and The Morbihan:
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From north to south across Brittany, a morning's ride takes us to Lorient to visit the WW2 U-boat submarine pens and museum;
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Later, we'll take a short hop along the coast to Carnac for lunch, and to see the Morbihan (an almost land-locked, inland sea). We'll stop for an afternoon tea or coffee at Auray ahead of an early evening ride home to Dinard; (372km, 5h03).
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Day 3: Thursday 30th: Mont St.Michel , Côte d'Emeraude:
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For our third day we'll stay relatively local to the Dinard/St.Malo area with either a visit to Mont St.Michel, and on to Cancale for a moules-frites lunch; Or we could explore the Emerald Coast westwards with its numerous ports (such as St.Quay Portrieux) and coastal river inlets; or we could do both (300km, all day).
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Day 4: Friday 31st: St.Malo, River Rance, and Dinan:
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For day 4, we'll leave the bikes at home and take a cruise up the River Rance from St.Malo to the delightful medeival town of Dinan, with its characterful old-town and charming river port. This is a day off, so plenty of time for browsing souvenir shops and a leisurely lunch, and perhaps when we get home later, we'll go for a swim from the beach on our doorstep;
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Day 5: Saturday 1st June: Dinard -> le Mans -> Cabourg:
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After checking out from our AirBnB in Dinard, we'll strike eastwards, passing through the small cathedral city of Fougéres to arrive at le Mans at the end of a fast, morning's ride; (221km, 2h40);
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After lunch, there will be time to visit the le Mans 24-hour race museum, before striking further north to the Channel coast at Cabourg. We'll check in to our AirBnB (Option A beachside, or Option B cheaper, but has a pool) for the last two nights of our trip; (192km, 1h56);
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Day 6: Sunday 2nd: D-Day Normandy Beaches:
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The Normandy Beaches between Ouistreham in the east, almost to St.Vaast, not far from Cherbourg, were the site of the Allied Forces invasion of Europe to begin the ultimately successful defeat of the Nazis which finally ended the Second World War.
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With bags and kit remaining at our AirBnB, we'll ride out from, and back to Cabourg, to visit in as many of the sites, memorials and museums as we can to make this one of the highlights of our trip; (207km, all day).
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Day 7: Monday 3rd: Cabourg -> O'streham -> Portsmouth:
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For the final day of our trip in France we'll check out really early from our AirBnB in Cabourg to ride the short distance back to the ferryport at Ouistreham. After a very quick breakfast, we board the early morning ferry back to Portsmouth; (20km, 0h25).
The itinerary above is a suggestion. There are many other interesting sights and fascinating places throughout Brittany and Normandy so the itinerary can be easily modified as we prefer.
Check out France-Voyage Brittany, and France-Voyage Normandy to explore what's available.
