Packing list

• Ferry ticket (unnecessary in the end)
• Passport
• Credit card
• USB A male → mini A male (charges phone, battery pack & front light)
• USB A male → mini B male (for charging or connecting to Edge 800)
• USB mini A male → OTG A female (for Edge 800 uploads via phone)
• Waterproof pocket
• Sleeping mask for ferry (probably unnecessary)
• Battery pack

Not pictured:

• Castelli Gabba Windstopper short-sleeve jersey
• Castelli Velocissimo bib shorts
• Castelli Nanoflex arm warmers
• Castelli Squadra rain jacket
• Garmin Edge 800
• Phone
• Front light: Lezyne Macro Drive
• Rear lights: Knog Gekko (on bike), Knog Frog (on helmet)
• Inner tubes (X2), Lezyne multitool, tire levers, hand pump

Day 1: London → Newhaven

Tower Bridge.

Many attempt to go from Tower Bridge → Eiffel Tower (or Marble Arch → Arc de Triomphe) in less than 24 hours. This would have been quite easy if I had left a couple of hours later.

Fanny's Farm Shop, Merstham, Surrey.

Plumpton, East Sussex.

West Pier, Newhaven.

Leaving Newhaven on the 23h00 ferry.

Day 2: Dieppe → Paris

Beauvoir-en-Lyons, Haute-Normandie.

Sérifontaine, Picardie.

La tour Eiffel, Paris.

Champ de Mars, Paris.

Pont de Grenelle, Paris.

Day 3: Paris → Dieppe

Cormeilles-en-Vexin, Île-de-France.

Gisors, Haute-Normandie.

Paris-Brest, Gisors, Haute-Normandie.

Wikipedia: This pastry was created in 1910 to commemorate the Paris–Brest bicycle race begun in 1891. Its circular shape is representative of a wheel. It became popular with riders on the Paris–Brest cycle race, partly because of its energizing high caloric value, and is now found in pâtisseries all over France.

Gournay-en-Bray, Haute-Normandie.

Début de l'Avenue Verte, Forges-les-Eaux, Haute-Normandie.

Mesnières-en-Bray, Haute-Normandie.

Dieppe, Haute-Normandie.

«La Mancha».

Day 4: Peacehaven → London

Peacehaven, East Sussex.

Highbrook, West Sussex.

London weather.

Summary

Distance

588.17 km

Pedal turns

~105,795

My only non-obvious tips would be to buy a disposable blanket in the Newhaven Co-Op to help you sleep on the ferry. In addition, as the food on the ferry is good enough you only need to get to the terminal one hour before departure, avoiding time on your feet in unpicturesque Newhaven.

In terms of equipment, I would bring another light for the 4AM start on «L'Avenue Verte» if only as a backup and I would have checked I could arrive at my Parisian Airbnb earlier in the day - I had to hang around for five hours in the heat before I could have a shower, properly relax, etc.

I had been warned not to rely on being able to obtain enough water en route on Sunday but whilst most shops were indeed shut I saw a bustling tabac or boulangerie at least once every 20km so one would never be truly stuck.

Route-wise, the surburbs of London and Paris are both equally dismal and unmotivating and there is about 50km of rather uninspiring and exposed riding on the D915.

However, «L'Avenue Verte» is fantastic even in the pitch-black and the entire trip was worth it simply for the silent and beautiful Normandy sunrise. I will be back.