Hi Mate
Take the ferry from newhaven to dieppe with Tbreaks.com. I did this recently and went down to Honfleur, Deauville etc. Superb, nice asy bimble, possibly not far enough on a GS. But lovely. Heres a write up I did on another forum.
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Well, we went! Caught the 08:30 ferry from Newhaven, which meant leaving at some un Godly hour, but hey ho.
Ferry was nice. very friendly and despite its external looks, was nice, clean and comfy. Food did look good and my mate told me both breakfast and lunch were good, the greedy git!
First order of the day at Dieppe was fuel. So into an Intermarche for some of that. Then we picked up the D965 to Fecamp.
As you enter Fecamp you drop down into the town. Here you see the estuary come into the land. We crossed the bridge and then ran down the road which kept the river on out right. As the road starts to bend left we stopped and pulled over. There is a little square there with several bar/restaurants surrounding it. We necked a few well earned Pelforths there.
We then headed back out onto the D965. We followed this through to Honfleur. This involved crossing the impressive Pont De Normandie (big feck off and very impressive bridge). This is free for bikes too. Vive Le France!
Dunno if it was holiday weekend, but it was hell trying to get a Hotel in Honfleur. Finally managed to though, albeit a fair way out (hotel Ascar, left at McDonalds).
That evening we had a couple of miles stroll into Honfleur. Honfleur is a very pretty little town. Its best part is the bars and restaurants all situated round the Harbour. We sampled many a beer (5 euros for a bottle of bud! ) Local stuff (pelforth) was cheap and good enough though.
Of all the restaurants we could have picked, we picked a crap one. Packed full of people and normally I rely on this for a good clue. But they were all packed and it was a bad move. Dried up tiny moules. Ok-ish steak. Crap veggies and cheese board though. Rough and expensive wine at 17 euros a bottle.
Anyway, back on the lash in a few bars around the harbour until the last one closed at 02:00. No clubs to be found in Honfleur, so a cab home for & euros.
Next morning we had a lovely ride through some gorgeous villages on route to Deauville and Treuville. We arrived in Treuville to find it packed and not a hotel with vacancies in sight. We approached the tourist info people for help and they said forget it. Everywhere will be full. More by luck than anything else, we found a best western tucked behind the main drag. Superb clean hotel, but not cheap at 155 euros a night for a double room. As there were 3 of us this meant 310 euros between us, which was too much. So they agreed to wheel in a spare bed for 16 euros a night. Job done.
We then went out for a buzz round town to see what was what and where was where etc. The whole town was buzzing! So a walk round, stopping for refreshments was called for. Then back to the Hotel to get ready for the night out.
Saturday night in both Deauville and Treuville is absolutely brilliant. The place is alive and the streets full. Sadly so where the restaurants. Anyway, we did mange to get into what is probably the best one. We had to wait for about half an hour and dodge speeding waitresses and waiters, but it was well worth the err wait!
Moules, followed by a huge Dover Sole, washed down with more than reasonable house wine. If I remember I'll add the name of the restaurant to the thread later, in case you ever find yourself in treuville. This restaurant needs to be eaten in. It is superb. Both the building, the staff and of course the food. However, if you like romantic quiet little places, steer clear. This is not like that. It’s a very busy seafront restaurant selling superb food. Stand in the way and you'll get knocked over by waiting staff. Personally I hate quiet little places. I much prefer the buzz and vibe of a good busy restaurant. This fits that bill!
After we'd been fed and watered we sloped off over the other side of the river to Deauville, as we were assured there were Clubs there. We found one 2 story place with a dance floor on the lower floor. Not much of a club, but whatever! Good atmosphere and friendly Frenchies. It closed at 02:00 But we were assuredd that the Casino had a club downstairs. We went there and it did. Be warned if you're heading there and want import beer. Its 10 euros a pop!!!. We drunk way too much of it for my wallets liking! I don’t know what time we got home, but we missed the 05:00 early morning call. Which needless to say was academic anyway, as my mate who was supposed to be leaving at that time was still swinging his pants on the casinos dance floor!
We finally emerged after some encouragement from the Hotel at about 13:00. We saddled up (yee hah!) and headed for Dieppe and our 20:00 ferry.
We stopped at Fecamp again and managed a parting beer. Finally made Dieppe at about 17:00. Dieppe was buzzing with Bikers and people just out enjoying the place on a sunny evening. Someone aid Dieppe was nice, yet I hadn't expected it to be so. It was though. We headed into a restaurant after a quick walk round the harbour area and scoffed a salad and a steak au poivre, washed down with...err..water and coffee. Lightweights!
Ferry arrived as it should do and off we went. Disembarked at 23:45 and proceeded to take 3 hours to travel the 85 miles home. It was soooooooooo bloody cold!!! We stopped at the M25 services for an hour to thaw out and drink coffee, before hypothermia sent us into a deathly slumber at 50mph.
Finally got home and was pleased to see my warm and inviting bed. Only to be mugged a few hours later by my kids who were pleased about my safe return. All in all a damn fine weekend. Very easy journey to Honfleur etc. Possibly not far enough away for seasoned tourers. But for this trio, of which 2 were on scooters, twas good enough. 10/10 for that weekend.
