Page 2 of 2

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 16 Apr 2013, 9:53pm
by folgesvenn
I'm at uni in Plymouth (well, not for much longer; my final third year exam is in less than a month!) and am planning this journey in August. I was planning on around 100km/day, but cutting inland around Biaritz to take in some of the Pyrenees before heading across the foothills to Santander. When I planned it out (roughly following the EV1, following roads where it was more appropriate) it came out at aroun 850 miles, including the Pyrenees diversion. When were you thinking of going?

Cheers!

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 18 Apr 2013, 4:00pm
by Morgham
I've changed the route now to do it the opposite way, and also persuaded the other half to let me have an extra 4 days! :D

I'm leaving on 16th June for Santander, then going to follow the quieter route suggested by bikepacker on the Santander to St Malo/Caen thread. After that work my way up the EV1 or roads where I think they will be more interesting or quicker.

folgesvenn you sound like you are in a similar position to me, final exam is 10th May and I start work on the 10th July so the trip has to be done in June realistically.

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 19 Apr 2013, 3:50am
by Geoff Dale
Hi, Planning a similar ride myself, When exactly do you intend to ride the rout, I'm about ready for a mid May start, maybe we could meet on rout and compare experiences !!

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 19 Apr 2013, 9:04am
by folgesvenn
Morgham wrote:I've changed the route now to do it the opposite way, and also persuaded the other half to let me have an extra 4 days! :D

I'm leaving on 16th June for Santander, then going to follow the quieter route suggested by bikepacker on the Santander to St Malo/Caen thread. After that work my way up the EV1 or roads where I think they will be more interesting or quicker.

folgesvenn you sound like you are in a similar position to me, final exam is 10th May and I start work on the 10th July so the trip has to be done in June realistically.


That's great about the extra days! My last exam is the 10th too! What do you study...? I start work on the 14th May but have 3 weeks off in August, so was planning to take around 17 days to do the trip, maybe more. It would be good to hear your experiences after your trip when you're back.

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 23 Apr 2013, 10:30am
by DaveGregory
I'm going to Santander this Sunday, riding back to Roscoff. Aiming to do the Spanish bit, which doesn't sound the most appealing!! Weather not looking great for the first week but what can you do? I'll post some details on return if anyone's interested? :D

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 23 Apr 2013, 11:46am
by BeeKeeper
DaveGregory wrote:I'll post some details on return if anyone's interested? :D

They most certainly are!

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 30 Apr 2013, 4:31pm
by Morgham
Dave I'd love to hear your experiences, I'm sure there is a lot I could learn before I have to learn the hard way. The Spanish bit looks ok if you aim for the coast road, longer and hillier, but much more enjoyable!

folgesvenn I'm studying mechanical engineering, which hopefully won't be called on to fix the bike at any point en route! I'm thinking of doing a small blog, more to record the trip for myself than anything else, and I'm also planning on using strava to record the route I take so it should be easier to explain for anyone else who wants to follow it.

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 5 May 2014, 9:50am
by xanabe
Hi,

I am hoping to do this route soon. I want to take my time, detour, sightsee, etc, so I have given myself 1 month (I guess I can always go on beyond Santander if I want). I wanted to build in rest days and bad weather days but maybe I've allotted too much time - I thought it was 900 miles too so will go and recalculate!

Are any forum members able to advise me about accommodation along the route? I'd prefer not to book accommodation in advance, for flexibility, but is this feasible? Also, are there any good campsites / monasteries / eco hostels / friendly farms / low cost châteaux, etc, that you'd recommend staying?

Dave, not sure whether you'll pick this up one year later, but any advice welcome, esp w/r/t the Spanish section...

Many thanks for any advice.

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 5 May 2014, 10:17am
by dodger
Plenty of campsites and B&Bs. Never had a problem on Roscoff to Bayonne.
Get a campsite list in advance or some maps show them. If not sure just get to the local tourism info point before they close - they are always helpful.
About 500 -550 miles to Bayonne, following parts of the Velodyssey route, which is slower and less direct than all roads, but don't know from there. Took me 2 weeks to reach Bayonne with a constant headwind and well loaded last year.

Re: Roscoff to Santander

Posted: 5 May 2014, 5:56pm
by xanabe
Thanks very much dodger.

Yes, I guess France has a SW prevailing wind too...

L