Using the examples of the cycle route sections in the département of Calvados (Normandy, France), this paper analyses to what extent they can be considered as tourist routes. Public planners, like the Conseil départemental, point out that the tourist status of these sections results from their belonging to a broader cycle network with itineraries deployed on hundreds of kilometers: the Vélomaritime and the Vélo Francette. Some sections reuse abandoned railways, farm tracks or towpaths, whereas others have been newly planned to compensate for missing parts and form new itineraries. Route signs are installed to guide only long cycle travelers, although few touring cyclists use them compared to more local day trippers. From this context, what can be the characteristics of these cycle routes which allow us to consider them as tourist spaces? A mixed methodology is used to investigate this question, both with observations and participant observations, and interviews: with public planners and with users on-site (40). The interviews with users aim to know both their spatial practices and their relationships to the surrounding heritage and landscape along their walks, bicycle trip, and/or uses on a spot. Beyond the knowledge of their in-situ perceptions, we aim to know what their representation of the whole itinerary is. In parallel to the long tourist cycle trips, we identify in these cycle routes three complementary tourist dimensions which involve many more users. Firstly, they are tourist routes thanks to their proximity to tourist places: tourist use the route from their holiday homes (Omaha Beach) or a heritage place of visit (Pegasus Bridge, pointe du Hoc) as an extension even though their walk on it does not lead them to another particular destination; tourists can also take the cycle route as the only mean of access to a small heritage highlighted thanks to its place close to the route. This dimension is common to most of the cycle routes in the département. Secondly, the tourist dimension results from an out-of-the-ordinary experience even for people coming from a close territory. Indeed, a number of cycle routes is so located in spaces apart from everyday space that they are a real discovery and reveal otherness for a lot of users, unlike regular walkers and riders who could not be considered as tourists. This dimension implies a distinctive landscape and cannot be found in every cycle route. Thirdly, tourist ambiences have been established, according to sufficient levels of use, in some places along the cycle routes, in particular thanks to picturesque heritage: ancient railways bridges have become interesting points for outstanding views, or former stations are reused in cafés. This dimension is restricted to places in sections containing particular heritage, and results in encounters between different kinds of ‘tourist’ users. Therefore, to liven up with a touristic character new cycle routes which cannot take advantage of a rooted heritage is for the moment a great challenge.

Using the examples of the cycle route sections in the département of Calvados (Normandy, France), this paper analyses to what extent they can be considered as tourist routes. Public planners, like the Conseil départemental, point out that the tourist status of these sections results from their belonging to a broader cycle network with itineraries deployed on hundreds of kilometers: the Vélomaritime and the Vélo Francette. Some sections reuse abandoned railways, farm tracks or towpaths, whereas others have been newly planned to compensate for missing parts and form new itineraries. Route signs are installed to guide only long cycle travelers, although few touring cyclists use them compared to more local day trippers. From this context, what can be the characteristics of these cycle routes which allow us to consider them as tourist spaces? A mixed methodology is used to investigate this question, both with observations and participant observations, and interviews: with public planners and with users on-site (40). The interviews with users aim to know both their spatial practices and their relationships to the surrounding heritage and landscape along their walks, bicycle trip, and/or uses on a spot. Beyond the knowledge of their in-situ perceptions, we aim to know what their representation of the whole itinerary is. In parallel to the long tourist cycle trips, we identify in these cycle routes three complementary tourist dimensions which involve many more users. Firstly, they are tourist routes thanks to their proximity to tourist places: tourist use the route from their holiday homes (Omaha Beach) or a heritage place of visit (Pegasus Bridge, pointe du Hoc) as an extension even though their walk on it does not lead them to another particular destination; tourists can also take the cycle route as the only mean of access to a small heritage highlighted thanks to its place close to the route. This dimension is common to most of the cycle routes in the département. Secondly, the tourist dimension results from an out-of-the-ordinary experience even for people coming from a close territory. Indeed, a number of cycle routes is so located in spaces apart from everyday space that they are a real discovery and reveal otherness for a lot of users, unlike regular walkers and riders who could not be considered as tourists. This dimension implies a distinctive landscape and cannot be found in every cycle route. Thirdly, tourist ambiences have been established, according to sufficient levels of use, in some places along the cycle routes, in particular thanks to picturesque heritage: ancient railways bridges have become interesting points for outstanding views, or former stations are reused in cafés. This dimension is restricted to places in sections containing particular heritage, and results in encounters between different kinds of ‘tourist’ users. Therefore, to liven up with a touristic character new cycle routes which cannot take advantage of a rooted heritage is for the moment a great challenge.