I was most impressed with the Paris Indigo campsite, excellent washroom facilities, probably because of the glamping accommodation. The gypsy caravans you can hire look good and they are modern versions of the traditional design. Got away before 7:00 again (6:55 seems to be the sweet spot!). Had the route sorted – turn right out of the campsite then take a right over the first bridge over the Seine. Unfortunately the road I was on went straight under the road to the bridge with no option to get up to it! I’d earmarked two potential routes out of the city, my initial plan was to get on the Velo Tourism route. This is on the Paris – London cycle route and while it took a circuitous route along the rivers towards the northwest, it should have been well signed. The second route is the “official” route for records (or something), heading out west and joining the Velo Tourism route later. Anyway, I was now nearest the second route and decided to follow it. It crossed the river on a pedestrian bridge, that I’m sure I have seen in films, towards St Cloud. It is much hillier on this side of town. I immediately took a wrong turn and headed quite along way downhill before I realised. Luckily there was an escalator to take me back up the hill and back on the correct route.

It was clear that the official route was going to be tortuous, so I just jumped on the D907 and took it all the way towards the A12 when it picked up the trail. Luckily I glanced behind me at St Cloud and grabbed a photo, as I’m sure this was the view intended for the Eiffel Tower.

I had a quick coffee and croissant at a service station (no porridge today as my lighter wouldn’t work). The route improved significantly with really good runs through some forests, starting with Foret du Marly de Roi, these routes were exceptionally rural and really unexpected so close to Paris. It’s definitely much posher on this side of Paris in comparison to the route in yesterday. In Medan, I even got cut up by a Tesla – it takes all sorts, and I suspect he thinks he’s already done his bit for the evironment! Then over the Seine, sharing with the D1, the cycle lane was full of rubbish and grit, so not too nice.

The village of Triel-sur-Seine was next, and it is twinned with Leatherhead near where I work. The route was up the D2 towards the observatory and before I’d even gone 50 metres along the road, two drivers sat in a queue the other way, offered advice – in french – and I don’t think they were saying it was going to be easy. It was a real killer hill, and it had warmed up nicely, but eventually I made it all the way up with a few drink stops. It got me thinking about this route, it was clearly a London to Paris route and suspect it had been chosen on that basis (rather than Paris – London) as it would have been a nice descent. Altough maybe not, as I did have a superb however 2km downhill section in the forest, which would have been a hard climb. The two routes met up at Saillancourt, and I generally stayed on the Voie Verte unless I was trying to avoid bumpy tracks and there was an viable road alternative. Some times the tracks were the only obvious straight line option.

At Themericourt the routes diverged, it was much easier to follow the signs so I stuck with the official one, but there were plenty of hills and bumpy tracks. At Maudetour-du-Vexin there seemed to be a lot of tracks ahead, so I diverted off to the roads. They weren’t as smooth as I would have hoped for and with a long section being resurfaced. At the road works they let me go down the side that had been recently surfaced while the other was in progress. My tyres picked up so much bitumen and stones I had to stop to pull the worst bits off by hand. They vibrated terribly and it took many miles for them to feel anything like normal.

The D86 took me to Bray-en-Lu, which met the Verte route, and was a fully surfaced railway line all the way to Gisors. I had had one eye on the clock, because I felt there was a chance to catch the midnight Dieppe ferry, the paved route gave me hope. I’d set a 6pm deadline to be within 60 km. At Gisors I stocked up with food (at Lidl), including a hot and cold dinner to give me options depending on what might happen. They didn’t have lighters so I was keeping eyes peeled for a tabac in any of the tiny villages. After Gisors, the route was back on small roads and up hill, down dale, and it was clear at 6pm there was still 80km to go. Which would cut it too fine, risking a night in Dieppe ferry port! My focus turned to camping, and there is a real lack of campsites in this area, which is strange as it’s about half distance between Dieppe and Paris. I had known this, but was hoping to see a camping sign on a farm gate or something. I was nearing Gournay-en-Bray, so did a quick Booking.com for a cheap hotel with secure cycle storage. The hotel was right in the town centre, which was closed off (for what looked like kids playing bongo drums). It turned out to be a Music and Dance Festival, with the main stage right out side my window. It was still going strong with a rock band at 11:00, but I’m pretty tired so sure I’ll sleep through it.

The big question is, if I get breakfast at 7:15 can I catch the midday ferry?