Calais to Chiasso

The proposed route through Northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, France's Alsace-Lorraine regions and Switzerland.

29.06.2009

This has taken a looong time to do! It's split into separate sections because that's how we decided to do it, and it's easier to edit. We've mostly used RouteYou for any unsigned areas as we can upload the routes to GPSs later, and for ease of viewing. For some sections however they are so well signposted by national routes I've only linked the appropriate web page. Rivers and disused railways were the preferred methods of getting around as they can (usually) guarantee level terrain, but we know from experience that roads rarely stick to the water level so we usually end up having to meander up and down valleys anyway!

1) Calais - St.Omer: This follows the Canal de Calais from our start point at Calais to the village of St.Omer 50k away.
2) St.Omer - Lille: From St.Omer to the cities of Lille-Roubaix on the Belgian border.
3) Lille - Mons: The original overview map we bought from EuroVelo suggested going to Belgium via Rhonse, but after mapping the route it seemed unnecessarily long, very hilly and would mean having to go through Brussels. After following another cyclist's suggestion, we've opted for taking the towpath which adjoins the Escaut river and bypasses the capitol all together in favour of Mons.
4) Mons - Namur: Runs to the East through Southern Belgium (Wallonia) to link with Namur. Ther're rumours about a disused railway line which would save a lot of time having to go through Charleroi, although we can't even be sure it exists! I've put the most likely location on the map so we can look out for it when cycling.
5) Namur - Martelange: This route doesn't even exist yet...the EuroVelo map suggested following a Belgian cycle Route known as RAVeL 2, even though this finishes 80km short of the Luxembourg border. After searching around we were able to find a proposed route for future development called RAVeL 6. After mapping the villages on the way we (think) this should be ok, if hilly.
6) Martelange - Schengen: This follows the excellent existing Luxembourg cycle routes. We will follow paths 18, 17, 1, 11, 7, and 3, as well as some time off them.
7) Schengen-Strasbourg, via Saint-Nicolas-de-Port: This is huge, and probably the section of the trip we're least confident about. Most people take the train to Strasbourg after cycling to Metz, but we've instead decided to cycle to Nancy following the Mosell river, then to Strasbourg from the Canal de la Marne au Rhin.
8) Strasbourg-Basel: This follows the Rhine from Strasbourg to Basel, at the Swiss border. This section of the trip should be clearly signposted.
9) Basel-Chiasso: Through Switzerland on Route 3 to our end point at Chiasso, on the Swiss-Italian border.