After "missing the bus" yesterday, I was wondering how crossing the bridge would work out. No problem. I'll sum it up below, mainly for other cyclists. After the bridge a good ride in great weather, little wind, some climbing but much less than the days before. The views sometimes remind me of the Tour the France TV 🙂.
There are some scary reports of this bridge e.g.on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycletouring/comments/1ny01y9/pont_de_normandie_normandy_bridge_from_honfleur/. I also saw a YouTube calling it a "death trap". It is a good way to get noticed in the some algos (not my strong point), but it is highly exaggerated. Ok, the bike lane is narrow, but most tour cyclists are not novices. And yes, it is a 60m relatively steep ascent - you need to manage a stable pace while climbing. And the trailers pass relatively close, and that doesn't "feel nice". But basically it is safe. Two reservations: 1) try to stay away from rush hours, it is probably worse with a lot of traffic and 2) with a lot of wind, walk on the footpath instead.
They should have combined the footpath and the cycle lane in one track. There are really not many pedestrians, nor cyclists, so no conflicts. This would give you 2+ meters with a physical barrier to the traffic. The problem is that the drains are below the barrier between the footpath and the cycle lane, and they are like 10cm deep holes. Of course that could be solved, but they might need another 30 years to figure it out.
Below some pictures of the bridge passing.
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| The first views, approaching from the west |
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| The toll plaza. Cycling is free 🙂👍 |
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| At least other traffic is warned about our presence |
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| Ok, the cycling lane is narrow. But without much wind it is no problem |
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| Took time for a few pictures on the top |
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| The reward is great views |
After the bridge, I had a nice and easy ride in great weather. Took a short day, 74km, found a camping more or less on the beach. Nice camping, but as there are few tenters these days, you get a spot between the campers. Fair enough. And now I'm writing this with a beer on the beach. Cheers!
Today's 74 km that took me 6 hours (4:20 hours active cycling). Total distance 728 km
Ja, dat is een mooie brug, wij hebben er over heen gereden, maar dan per auto. Raar inderdaad dat er maar zo'n smalle fietsstrook is, dat zie je helaas wel meer in Frankrijk en dat voor het land van de Tour de France !
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