The Baie de Somme, regularly ranked among the world’s most beautiful bays, offers one of the most complete family cycling routes in the Hauts-de-France between Le Crotoy and Saint-Valery-sur-Somme: a former railway converted into a greenway, kilometres of mudflats where thousands of migratory birds gather, and two historic towns bookending the ride.
A route on the former railway line
From Le Crotoy, a seaside town facing the bay and known for its oyster market, the route follows the greenway built on the former Baie de Somme railway line, whose small heritage steam train still runs alongside it on some days in the warmer months. The route skirts the bay’s salt marshes and reed beds via Noyelles-sur-Mer, with plenty of viewpoints over the sandbanks where seals and birds gather at low tide.
The route then reaches Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, a historic fortified town from which William the Conqueror set sail for England in 1066, before heading back toward Le Crotoy along the same route or a coastal variant depending on time available. Expect around 28 km round trip for the whole ride.
How to approach the family ride
The near-total lack of relief (30 m of total elevation gain over the whole route) and the greenway, largely separated from traffic, make this an accessible ride from a very young age, in a trailer or bike seat for the littlest ones. Plenty of picnic spots and bird-watching points line the route, making it easy to break the ride up over the day.
Wind, common on this coastline exposed to the English Channel, is worth planning for with a light windbreaker layer, especially on the more open stretches near the bay.
When to go
The ideal window runs from April to October. Spring and autumn offer the best conditions for watching migratory birds, as the bay is a major stopover on the western European migration route, while summer allows combining cycling with swimming on Le Crotoy’s beaches.
Good to know
Both Le Crotoy and Saint-Valery-sur-Somme offer a good choice of accommodation and bike rental shops used to families. The Parc du Marquenterre, a bird reserve a few kilometres from Le Crotoy, nicely rounds out the trip for families interested in observing the bay’s wildlife.
