1,500 km Along France’s Coast by E-bike | Cycling La Vélomaritime

Join me as I take on the full La Vélomaritime – a breathtaking 1,500 km cycling route from Roscoff in Brittany to Bray-Dunes at the Belgian border.

This adventure follows France’s stunning northern coastline, offering spectacular scenery, charming towns, and unforgettable experiences.
For the first two weeks, I’m riding with my Irish partner, the next two on my own. I will be testing my brand-new Idworx oPinion eT. Will an e-bike make the journey more fun, or will I miss the raw challenge of traditional touring?

If you’re curious about long-distance cycling in France, e-bike touring, or planning your own ride on La Vélomaritime, this video is for you!

⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – Introduction to La Vélomaritime – 1,500 km coastal route
00:35 – Riding with my Idworx oPinion eT e-bike
01:40 – Celtic heritage of Brittany: legends, megaliths, Breton place names
02:14 – Six days in: arriving at St. Malo
02:40 – Leaving St. Malo for Mont Saint-Michel (Liberation Day) | flat marshlands
03:26 – Oyster town Cancale
04:44 – Mont Saint-Michel: visiting the abbey in the (quiet) evening
06:31 – My experience with the e-bike so far
07:10 – Leaving the sea, going inlands (Normandy)
07:55 – Mortain Waterfalls
09:19 – Cycling along the river Vire (including Saint-Lô)
11:01 – Campsite: time for cleaning the bikes and clothes
12:26 – Reflections on e-bike touring
14:08 – In the next video….

BICYCLE GEAR
Bike: idworx oPinion eT
https://www.idworx-bikes.de/product/opinion-et-2
Bike Panniers: Ortlieb Back-Roller Design Sierra
Back-Roller Design
Handlebar Bag: Ortlieb Ultimate Free
Ultimate Free

CAMERA GEAR
Camera: Sony A7IV
Lens: Sony FE 24-105mm F/4.0 G
Extra lens: Sony FE 20mm F/1.8 G
Microphone: Røde VideoMic PRO+
Another microphone: Røde Lavalier GO
Stand: Joby GorillaPod 5K
Extra camera: iPhone 14 Pro

La Vélomaritime is a cycling road that stretches 1,500 kilometers from Roscoff in Brittany all the way to Bray-Dunes, near the Belgian border, mostly following the stunning French coast. I’ll be riding the entire route the first two weeks with my Irish partner,
Fergal, and the last two on my own. I haven’t been on such a long trip in years, and I’m excited. I’ve just picked up my new idworx oPinion eT. and I’m curious: how will it change the ride? Will it still be challenging riding with an e-bike? Or will I miss the raw cycling experience? Along the way, I share the highs,
the surprises and incredible scenery. Coming into this trip after a period of recovery is not just about the miles, it’s about
rediscovering freedom on two wheels. Hey, for who doesn’t know me,
I’m the Fietsvlogger, which is Dutch for bicycle vlogger and for the next
four weeks I’ll be cycling La Vélomaritime. That’s a route in France from Roscoff in Brittany the whole way to the border with Belgium. Mainly following the sea. I have the sea. Our journey begins in Brittany, a land steeped in Celtic legends. In the early Middle Ages, Brythonic-speaking migrants from Britain settled here to escape the Anglo-Saxon invasions, bringing their
language and culture with them. You can still see this Celtic heritage today, in the Breton place names, in ancient megaliths, and in the vibrant tradition of myth and storytelling. After six days of quiet roads and challenging climbs, we reached the stunning city of St. Malo. Wow, this morning I had to do some work and I felt so tired – you know the way when you’ve cycled and then you have a rest day. Yeah, so I’m on e-bike and I am tired. Because it’s not an easy route. We’re leaving St. Malo today. It’s actually liberation day so that’s pretty cool, because France was liberated from over here, from the seaside. They got some help from
the British and Americans. St. Malo was totally bombed in the Second World War, but it’s been all rebuilt. And now we’re on our way to Mont Saint-Michel. And it’s very sunny. That’s nice. And it’s Fergals birthday. Happy birthday! We ride on through the marshes – blissfully flat for a while. Because we have the e-bikes, we decide to add an extra loop to our route, heading to Cancale. France’s famous oyster town. We just made it to Cancale. If you pronounce it like that, hopefully. And it’s very busy today, because it’s Liberation Day in France, so everyone is here having oysters. There’s all these oyster fields and I,
of course, just bought some oysters. Here they are. So here you can see them all working on the fields. I tried to kind of interview the oysterman, but they were so busy. It was like – interview the oysters? The oysterman. I wanted to interview the oyster man,
but he was really busy. We’ve been cycling in the cold wind for a week. First days, it was blowing our faces. Now it’s nice. So these are really fleshy, you know? Some oysters can be really watery but these have A lot of body. And after this, we go to St. Michel. See you later. That’s the official parking there.
We just arrived at Mont-Saint-Michel. But the parking spot is unavailable. The tide is in. Here we are.
A lot of stairs. And as you can see, it’s pretty quiet. We’re actually invited for a special celebration here. So it’s a special evening opening. And this is kind of the way it used to be, I guess. In the time the monks lived here. Really quiet. And in the background you can hear the choir. Fergal is helping some
people fixing a bike. We arrived at Mont-Saint-Michel. Last night actually, which was cool,because during the day, it gets pretty busy,
especially now, because it’s a bank holiday, but.. last evening,
there was a special opening during Liberation Day, and it was so quiet, really really great. So I advise you, if you go here, go in the evening or in the morning, because then you get the real atmosphere. And the bike? It’s been going great. I mean, I can still feel I’ve worked. We did some very long days. The day before yesterday, 83 kilometers. Yeah, so I definitely can feel cycling. I will never say again that it’s easy to cycle on an e-bike, but you just can do
so much more, you know? We were doing a little photo session
for the magazines and the papers. Like here, it’s nice and quiet. But look at my tires. Oh, my God. Oh, dirty. Unfortunately, we’re going to leave the sea now a little bit sad about that, but we’re going inlands to go to Cherbourg I think it’s around five days to get there. Along the river, I’m sure it will be nice
as well, but I just… I love the sea. There are the waterfalls of Mortain
and this bridge here… Le Pont du Diable (Devil’s Bridge) There’s some great legends about this bridge and actually about his whole area. The devil here was always fighting St. Michael. When his bridge was destroyed,
I think by a thunder storm, the devil was said to the villagers:
I will build a new bridge for you, but only if
the first person to cross will become my hostage, but the
villagers were smart and they did a little trick, so they actually
got a black cat to cross the bridge. And then the black cat was
the hostage of the devil. Beautiful place. So these are the small waterfalls, and
now we’re going to the big waterfalls. I’m blown away by the power of nature. It’s so captivating. I could stay here for hours, but
we still have many kilometers to ride today. An e-bike gives a bit more more
freedom to make longer stops like this. But even so we can’t stay forever. We have arrived in Normandy First week we were cycling in Bretagne (Brittany) and now we’re in Normandy At the start we were following a greenway over an old railway track and now we’re at the river the Vire. Soon we will be on a greenway again I think it’s over an old towpath
so that they used for the horses to pull the ships and that will be really flat. So it’s all pretty easy at the moment. Well, apart from those hills we just had, but yeah, a lot of greenways, different experience. And very quiet. We just found this beautiful picnic spot, so we had a picnic here, and now we’re going to hit the road again. After following the river for miles, we roll into Saint-Lô, a city rebuilt from the
ashes of World War II. And then back to the river… It’s great to have so many cycling lanes like a red carpet rolled out ahead of us. I’m cleaning up the
Mont-Saint-Michel clay. It’s pretty filthy. All clean again. So all ready for the next two weeks, mostly staying in hotels,
but tonight we’re staying at a campsite. Perfect place to clean the bike, do the laundry… Tomorrow Cherbourg, and then
I’m kind of halfway the trip. And then after that, I’ll be traveling on my own for two weeks. I haven’t done it in a while, so… Ooh. Bye. See you soon. I’m tired. Ugh. So I’m kind of halfway the trip now. I just left Cherbourg. That’s where I said goodbye to Fergal and yeah,
that means I’ve done around 700 – 800 kilometers. So yeah, I’m actually I’m actually quite tired. On an electric bike, but that’s because
it’s a very hard route. It’s been going up and down a lot and steep hills., and on a normal bike, it would have
been torture for me I think. Especially because I’m not as fit as usual, people who have been watching my
channel might know I’ve been recovering from a burnout, so I can still feel it in my body, but next to
that, it’s a very hard route. If I would’ve been on a normal bike,
I definitely would’ve done shorter distances. Like a year ago, I cycled in Ireland with my normal bike. I was in so much pain after two weeks, and I was
doing distances of maybe 40 km. So that’s a big difference, of course And the bike feels very natural You know, sometimes with e-bikes, it feels like
you’re getting a push, but it doesn’t feel like that. I know you know, of course, you’re getting support, but you’re cycling really naturally. Also, you don’t hear it actually. So it’s just like you’re cycling on a normal
bike, but then when you go up the hills you get some nice support. And there were a lot of hills where I thought:
with my normal bike and with all the gear I have I definitely would have had to get off and walk and be out of breath and nothing like that this on trip. So the next weeks are on my own. I’m just thinking how would
it be here with Fergal… Do you know what feeling
when you’re cyling on your own? I don’t know. But this is the sea. I think I found myself a pretty good picnic spot.