Cycling route to link London and Paris

Local authorities in both France and Britain have been working on a new cycling route between the capital cities of Paris and London. The planned route which is still being worked out, is expected to be completed in 2012.

The London to Paris route will provide a symbolic “link” between two major attractions in both cities: the Tower of London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. More practically, the route will offer an alternative – not to mention greener – means of on-ground transportation between the two cities.

Head of France’s Seine-Maritime department, Didier Marie, has said that the cycling route will provide an option to the existing car links between the cities, and added that the route will aim to traverse landscapes of great quality.

The ‘Green Avenue’ – or ‘Avenue Verte’ as it will be known in French – is expected to extend over 350 kilometres, and will draw on several cycling routes in South England. The route will use extended stretches of decommissioned railway lines, and exclusive cycle-only lanes will be provided on stretches along regular roads.

Cyclists pedaling from London to Paris will pass through counties like Sussex and Surrey, before boarding a ferry at Newhaven. The ferry will transport them across the channel to Dieppe. Cyclists will then get back on their bicycles to pedal their way through Normandy, crossing some beautiful French countryside to eventually arrive in Paris.