Hi folks. Sorry about the delay in the updated spreadsheets. I have met a problem on Day 4. This makes use of a greenway which we would be on from St Martin-de-Sanzay to Parthenay. This is 91 km according to the af3v website and our total for that day comes out at 116 km, the longest day up to that point (I thought initially it was going to be one of our shortest). I have been checking all the distances along the way, using Autoroute Express and, unless the route is extremely tortuous, this package didn't make it anything like this. I sent an email to Luc at af3v and, using Google Maps, he made it about 20 km less (in line with what I thought at first). But he also referred my question to Julien who knows the route well. Julien has just come back to say that the distances given on the website are spot-on and moreover the route is very hilly! Whoops - maybe we won't go on that one after all!
Any thoughts anyone? Any means of checking once again? BTW, Julien has referred me to the website for this greenway. The link is http://www.valleeduthouet.fr/cote-tourisme/le-thouet-a-velo/le-guide-decouverte/ I'd like to hear from anyone who can prove that our route is 20 km shorter than my latest figure! I haven't begun to study these pdf file maps yet myself.
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The valleeduthouet website offers 6 sections of this vv in pdf map format. Adding the 6 section distances together gives 90.6km. There is not likely to be significant distance error in the other 27kms so we can assume 118km is about right. If this vv is an old railway where are the hills? If they are only in the first 27kms we can manage that.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't a vv.My mistake. Its a veloroute which presumably means some minor roads. The 6 sections are classified as easy (2) and medium (4)so presumably there are hills. Looking in more detail at the sections, the route does wind somewhat. The more usual direct route along the D938 seems to be less than 50km, according to my Michelin map. Interestingly, the average speed seems to be the same for either category. The total suggested time is a little over 6 hours riding. All the other days are about the same distance so there is no benefit in moving stopovers. We did this sort of distance on at least two days in Wales and they were definitely hilly so I suggest we go for it.
ReplyDeleteI agree! It was a little disappointing to find that the distance was more than I had imagined at first but, as Pierre says, it is unlikely that the terrain in this valley would be like the steeper hills we encountered in Wales. The word that Julien used by the way was valloné (= undulating, hilly)
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