Official Avenue Verte route

There's a long term project to extend the Avenue Verte from London to Paris. At present the actual cycleway is just 30 miles long, south of Dieppe. For the 2012 Olympics, a full provisional London-Paris route was signed, and you will see some of these yellow signs at various points crisscrossing and sometimes directly along my route.

When this is complete, it will provide two main alternatives to mine on the Dieppe-Paris section. The following is from information from someone who rode it in June 2012:

- From St Germer to Vigny (Miles 55 to 90), the official route heads further west, through the Epte Valley, rather than going over the Vexin plateau. The valley is very scenic, with a long traffic-free stretch, though it adds about 10 miles to the total distance.

- From Boisemont to Paris (Mile 95 onwards), the official route follows the meanders of the Seine into Paris, while my route passes through the forest. Both are very scenic.  A significant difference is that mine comes out at the Eiffel Tower rather than Notre Dame, and there are a couple of busy stretches on the last bit of the official one. Again, the official one is about ten miles longer, though with fewer hills.

The main drawback of the current version of the official route is that it uses some paths that are in extremely poor condition - unmade beaten earth and grass in places. Sounds like it would be okay on a mountain bike, if you dont mind a few extra miles.

Not all the signing is complete, and there are places where it's easy to get lost. However, Sustrans has now produced a detailed guide to it, which is published here

The official route does seem to be getting more popular over time, and I'm sure it is improving. However, some parts of it remain more hectic than you will find on my route, as shown by these videos in 2014.