Pont de Normandie

[MartinM]

Does anyone know if it is possible to cycle over this bridge? I tried
last night and was confronted by a nice big _no cycling_ sign; having
eventually reached my hotel via a 40k detour over le Pont de
Tancardine I was informed by some other English D-Dayers that there is
a walk-cycleway from the Le Havre side to an observation post in the
middle, but not all the way; why?
BTW a bike was the only way to see anything at the weekend, all the
roads seemed to be closed to other than invited guests and
pedestrians/cyclists.

[Nathaniel Porter]

"MartinM" > wrote in message
om...
> Does anyone know if it is possible to cycle over this bridge? I tried
> last night and was confronted by a nice big _no cycling_ sign; having
> eventually reached my hotel via a 40k detour over le Pont de
> Tancardine I was informed by some other English D-Dayers that there is
> a walk-cycleway from the Le Havre side to an observation post in the
> middle, but not all the way; why?
> BTW a bike was the only way to see anything at the weekend, all the
> roads seemed to be closed to other than invited guests and
> pedestrians/cyclists.

According to http://www.lmars.co.uk/images/pages/pontnorm.html [1]

The road is a "road for motorvehicles", however, cyclists (and pedestrians)
appear to be able to use the hard strips (which effectively from mandatory
cycle lanes).

[1]It not an official site, merely a "roadgeek" site, so I wouldn't take it
as gospel.

[Simonb]

MartinM wrote:

> Does anyone know if it is possible to cycle over this bridge?

Judging by this pic:<url:
http://earlybirds.users.btopenworld.com/Pic2003-41.htm > it is possible, but
I don't know when it dates from. Last time I cycled there (1986 -- when I
was a teenager!) the Pont de Tancarville was the only bridge.

> I tried
> last night and was confronted by a nice big _no cycling_ sign; having
> eventually reached my hotel via a 40k detour over le Pont de
> Tancardine

Where are you staying? Honfleur? We stayed in Trouville -- ah, memories.

[MartinM]

"Simonb" > wrote in message >...
> MartinM wrote:
>
> > Does anyone know if it is possible to cycle over this bridge?
>
> Judging by this pic:<url:
> http://earlybirds.users.btopenworld.com/Pic2003-41.htm > it is possible, but
> I don't know when it dates from. Last time I cycled there (1986 -- when I
> was a teenager!) the Pont de Tancarville was the only bridge.
>
> > I tried
> > last night and was confronted by a nice big _no cycling_ sign; having
> > eventually reached my hotel via a 40k detour over le Pont de
> > Tancardine
>
> Where are you staying? Honfleur? We stayed in Trouville -- ah, memories.

No chance on D Day weekend, no chance anyway on my salary! I was in
the Le Havre Formule 1. The Tancarville is a fairly lumpy structure to
ride over, fun descent the other side especially whilst trying to
avoid going onto the autoroute!. Having done 480k from Dinard I
decided to abandon at Le Havre, but as there was no ferry for 6 hrs
and that would take 5 1/2 decided to ride back to Dieppe so I could
see the cliffs at Etretat. Ended up doing 595k, that's nearly half a
PBP ;-)

[Al C-F]

On 7 Jun 2004 15:04:54 -0700, (MartinM) wrote:

>Does anyone know if it is possible to cycle over this bridge? I tried
>last night and was confronted by a nice big _no cycling_ sign; having
>eventually reached my hotel via a 40k detour over le Pont de
>Tancardine I was informed by some other English D-Dayers that there is
>a walk-cycleway from the Le Havre side to an observation post in the
>middle, but not all the way; why?


According to the CTC, it is possible to cycle over the bridge (There's
a pdf of the route). You cycle through the docks to avoid the
autoroute approach. The route is a bit convoluted and unsigned. From
the south, the cycle route is clearly marked.
--

Cheers,

Al

[MartinM]

"Nathaniel Porter" > wrote in message news:<ca2pgs$bn0

> The road is a "road for motorvehicles", however, cyclists (and pedestrians)
> appear to be able to use the hard strips (which effectively from mandatory
> cycle lanes).
>
> [1]It not an official site, merely a "roadgeek" site, so I wouldn't take it
> as gospel.

Thanks for that; it clearly shows a bike/ped lane, but GOK where the
South end of this is; Oh well, will try from the Le Havre direction
next time (another weekend slowly takes shape!)