Day 4: Angers to Thouars

On a de la chance, mes amis! (We are in luck.) We are booked into the Hotel de la Gare, Thouars: 3 twin rooms for a total of 160 euros (60 + 2 x 50). He says that they 'adhere to the Thouarsais cyclists' welcome charter', whatever that is.) I know I still haven't released the final draft of the route but I make Day 4 come to 108 km. Day 5 would consist of following this GW southwards to Parthenay and then turning more or less due E to Poitiers - 121 km - although, if the going got tough, we could simply strike out roughly SE (at almost any point along the GW) to Poitiers, cutting off the corner and getting there quicker (if that makes sense.)

Hotels at Laval - 2nd night 19th May

Details of two possible hotels at Laval: One hotel is located in Bonchamp-les-Laval, which is, as far as I can tell is near the Greenway that passes on the east side of Laval (Greenways are not shown on my map, but looks to be close - can you confirm Clyde). It is a ETAP hotel and the rate is £36.40 per room and it reckons to sleep upto 3 adults per room, although cheap enough to have 3 rooms - see pic. "If we decide to go for this I bag the top bunk"!! The address is 2, Rue Bernard Palissy, Bonchamp-les-Laval.

The other hotel that is in the area is a Formule 1- Boulevard de Buffon, Laval (one that Clyde mentioned as a possible - not sure if it is closer to our route or not). It has the same rooms as the ETAP i.e upto 3 in a room and a bit cheaper £27.73 per room.

There are a few other cheap hotels in the area but the reviews were not good.

Your comments please

Maldwyn

Return Journey - Bike-Bus

With regard to Keith's info on the Bike-Bus. The cost £129 for the return journey does seem high, but the Flight and Train from Bristol would be almost as much (assuming Rynair continues not to fly to East Mids). With the convenience of the Bus (once your bike is loaded you can forget it until you arrive at Trowell) this would seem a good option.

I checked the schedule on the Bike-Express web site and apart from the 27th there is one on the 26th May, and that's until the 8 June, so I guess we would have to book fairly quickly if we decide to use this service - I am thinking the Bus could get booked up quite a bit in advance (given the fairly irregular service).

What do you think?

Maldwyn

Day two: Villaines to Laval

Between Mayenne and Laval there are actually two greenways. Firstly, there is the Voie Verte du Chemin de Halage de Mayenne, which we can take as far as Daon, on Day 3 (85 km). Un chemin de halage is a towpath, and don't forget that the Mayenne is a river, as well as a town, so thIS GW should be pretty flat! Then there is also the Voie Verte de La Chapelle-Anthenaise à Ambrières-les-Vallées which starts to the north of Mayenne and runs southwards towards Laval, stopping a few km short of that town. It seems that for much of its length it runs parallel to a 'velorail', where you pedal yourself along in a special truck on the original railway track. Would this be an amusing diversion from our other pedallings?
So many ex-railways. Was there a Monsieur Beauchamp who wielded his hache back in the 'Sixties?

The first day

I have booked rooms at the Hotel Oasis for the night 18/19 May: 3 twin rooms for a total of 180 euros. I make the distance for the first day now 126 km - pah, not even 80 miles! I will be sending out the spreadsheet with corrections in due course, but briefly the route on the first day will be the same as originally planned as far as Javron, and then we take the N12 eastwards for just 3 km (I hope that's not too scary) to La Gare (so called because the old station is there), marking the start of the greenway (which used to be a railway line). Thus we take this greenway on our first day - as far as the outskirts of Villaines. Leaving the GW after 8 km, the D119 takes us in about 2.5 km straight to the hamlet La Sourderie, where our hotel is. You can see all this on the IGN map above. The GW is the dark red line. The hotel offers either a 'full continental breakfast' or a 'full English breakfast' for 7 euros.
Martin, there is some advice on the AF3V website on how to get to this GW from various SNCF stations. It mentions Briouze, trains to which from Paris-Montparnasse carry bikes, and which we pass through - so we could meet you en route.

Good meeting

Conventus bonus heri vespero habuimus! Vectiones gratae in viis viridibus velocipedibus nostris Maio prospicio!

Plans for Thursdays Meeting

Hi all

Is everyone prepared for Thursdays meeting?
What time are we meeting at The Flowerpot .. 7.30pm?
I will bring my newly traced Michelin route map as will others no doubt!