Published by Andrew on 24 November 2016
Richard Peace, author of the Sustrans guidebook to the Avenue Verte London to Paris bike route, reviews the Hotel Le Saint Aubin in Gournay-en-Bray – just five minutes from the route.
Hotel Le Saint-Aubin
550 Chemin Vert, 76220 Gournay-en-Bray (Seine-Maritime, Normandy)
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Hotel Le Saint Aubin is located on the edge of Gournay-en-Bray, an attractive market town that is a popular first night's stop for cyclists arriving into France and onto the Avenue Verte via the ferry port at Dieppe. (It's a 51-mile/81-kilometre ride from the port).
5 things we liked
1. Huge bike storage. The Hotel Le Saint Aubin has easily the most impressive bike storage I have seen along the Avenue Verte. You know that a hotel takes bikes seriously when they have a beautifully clean, incredibly spacious bike storage room that will easily swallow dozens of bikes, and when the hotel staff find inner tubes and repair tools at a moment's notice.
2. Huge capacity. Le Saint Aubin is a very pleasant motel-style building around five minutes' ride from the centre of Gournay and the Avenue Verte, just back from the main D915 road that leads all the way to Dieppe. Its 60 rooms have a 120-bed capacity and the very helpful Sabrina, who showed me around, explained they have previously catered for groups of upto around 100 cyclists.
3. Super and super early breakfast. With a rare window weather in the early morning, I was up at 6.30 (apparently St Aubin can do earlier on demand...) to sample a great self-service spread with hot coffee, fresh bread, confectionery, compots, yoghurts and fruit juice on tap. Dinner is also available six days a week and by request on Sundays.
4. No frills but very comfortable and spacious rooms. While my room didn't have super trendy decor, it was spacious, smart and clean, as was the ensuite. It had a strong and warm shower, controllable heating and a good wifi connection.
5. The staff were super helpful. They helped me plan my day's ride to Beauvais and gave me background info about Beauvais, including public transport details.
In summary, if you are looking for a solid-value option in Gournay that can cater for everyone form single cyclists to very large groups, look no further.
Hotel Le Saint-Aubin
550 Chemin Vert, 76220 Gournay-en-Bray
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