Читать книгу Cycling London to Paris. The classic Dover/Calais route and the Avenue Verte онлайн

21 страница из 55

Once in France, a disused railway trackbed takes the route (Stages 4–5) from near Dieppe through the Bray (the French Weald) to Forges-les-Eaux then undulates over downland (Stage 6) before dropping into the Epte valley at Gisors. Another old railway (Stage 7) and a climb onto the Vexin plateau bring the route to the new town of Cergy-Pontoise on the edge of the Paris basin. Stage 8 crosses St Germain forest then follows river and canalside towpaths and city streets into Paris. The final leg (Stage 9) uses more canal towpaths and city streets to reach Notre Dame cathedral in the heart of the city.

Much of the route across the Vexin plateau is on gravel cycle tracks (Avenue Verte, Stage 7)

Natural environment

Physical geography

Prior to the last ice age, south-east England and Northern France were part of the same landmass and as a result share the same geological structure. After the ice age, sea levels rose cutting England off from continental Europe but leaving a series of chalk and limestone anticlinal ridges and clay and gravel filled synclinal depressions that cross both countries from west to east. These are a result of compression caused approximately 30 million years ago when the African and European tectonic plates collided and pushed up the Alps. Where erosion has removed the upper layers between ridges this has revealed sandstone bedrock (Mid-Wealden ridge in England) and created fertile agricultural land known as the Weald in England and the Bray in France. At the northern and southern ends of the route, both London and Paris sit in artesian basins bounded by chalk downland or limestone plateaux.