Paris/Tours route
Now waymarked throughout. See route details pages for Paris-Tours and Tours-Ostabat sections, which also contain links to the detailed mapping on this site.
Links from Channel ports
The routes overview map and the details on the route pages show the existing waymarked routes. Some of these are from Channel ports; the other ports can also be connected using GRs. Both Brittany and Normandy have strong historic links with Britain of course, the Bretons with the original British population, the Normans through the Norman Conquest. Calais too was in English hands for 200 years (1347-1558). Here are the ports, from the W:
- Roscoff
take coast path GR34 south to St-Pol-de-Léon (founded by a C6 Welshman, Paul Aurelian) where a spur links with the Locquirec Breton route - St Malo (where was the shrine of another C6 Welsh saint, Maclou/Maclovius)
2 possibilities: follow the coast path GR34 via Dol-de-Bretagne (founded by yet another C6 Welsh saint, Samson) to Mt-St-Michel (see below), or cross to Dinard and use the GR34C/37 to link with the Locquirec/Beauport Abbey route at Josselin - Cherbourg
waymarked route to Mt-St-Michel (sometimes called the Voie aux Anglais). Two routes run S from here: via Rennes to the Breton route at Nantes; and via Angers to the GR655 at Aulnay - Ouistreham
waymarked route via Caen and Le Mans to Tours - Le Havre (C16 replacement for Honfleur/Harfleur)
can be linked with Dieppe route at Rouen using the Seine path GR2 - Dieppe
waymarked route via Rouen and Evreux to Chartres (Dieppe-Rouen uses the existing GR) - Boulogne (shrine of Notre-Dame)/Calais
the Via Francigena Canterbury-Rome runs from Wissant midway between Boulogne and Calais (again, connected via coast path) to the south of St Quentin, where it meets the northern section of the GR655 linking St Quentin with Noyon, Compiègne, Senlis and Paris. The Pas-de-Calais section of the VF should now be waymarked and a guide is available. The map cards published by the VF Association are no longer available.