best route from st.malo to alicante

[aqaleigh]

Hi all

So i have booked my ferry for the 24th July from Portsmouth to St. Malo and have around 16 days to reach Alicante in Spain.
Has anyone done a similar ride as I am seeking advice on the best route. I will need a happy medium between most scenic / least miles / least hills in order to make it there on time.

Also as I am travelling solo is there any portion of this journey that has an escape plan (i.e. train ) for part of it, should I get delayed due to unforseen issues?

Advice please

Thankyou

 

[stewie griffin]

I'm going to be doing nearly the same route the beginning of May, St Malo to Malaga.
Still planning the route at the moment, though I'm looking at as straight a line on the map as possible!!
Google maps seems to do quite a good route for me when "walking", that's once I've dragged the route out of the sea west of France!

 

[aqaleigh]

yeah cheers stewie

I've looked at the google routes via walking and by car minus toll and highway roads but both of these differ from my tom tom cycle route, so i was hoping someone may have done a similar route

let me know how u get on & if you find a great route please let me know

just 1 more thing - which way are you going through the pyrenees?

 

[stewie griffin]

Aqaleigh, I'm not too bothered about having a route "set in stone" when I set off, as long as I've a rough idea, then see how I get on day to day. I'm planning on mainly camping with hotels or B&Bs thrown in if convenient, so that makes for a route that can be changed easily.

At the moment I'm planning on crossing the Pyrenees close to the Atlantic coast, that makes for the shortest route for me, with your destination you have more options.

Are you camping or hoteling it?

 

[jay clock]

i have done the east coast of the Pyrenees - see here http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3Tzut&doc_id=1447&v=2M.

In terms of route planning, once you have a rough route then viamichelin.com does bike routes now, but a max of 200km. So you can do it in a few chunks

 

[aqaleigh]

Aqaleigh, I'm not too bothered about having a route "set in stone" when I set off, as long as I've a rough idea, then see how I get on day to day. I'm planning on mainly camping with hotels or B&Bs thrown in if convenient, so that makes for a route that can be changed easily.

At the moment I'm planning on crossing the Pyrenees close to the Atlantic coast, that makes for the shortest route for me, with your destination you have more options.

Are you camping or hoteling it?

thanks for the post

i am camping and agree that normally it is best to plan day 2 day, however on this occasion i have to reach my destination by a certain date and was looking for a sort of escape route should i get behind schedule

 

[aqaleigh]

i have done the east coast of the Pyrenees - see here http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3Tzut&doc_id=1447&v=2M.

In terms of route planning, once you have a rough route then viamichelin.com does bike routes now, but a max of 200km. So you can do it in a few chunks

very helpfull - cheers

 

[smith4188]

I'm going to be doing nearly the same route the beginning of May, St Malo to Malaga.
Still planning the route at the moment, though I'm looking at as straight a line on the map as possible!!
Google maps seems to do quite a good route for me when "walking", that's once I've dragged the route out of the sea west of France!

I'm doing Isle of Man to Nerja (about an hour's drive east of Malaga) through UK, France and Spain, crossing Portsmouth to St Malo right at the end of April. Might see you on the way down.

I haven't planned a route as such. I've just marked as many campsites as possible on the maps (waste of time in France really as nearly every town and village seems to have one). I don't intend to go farther east than Limoges or farther west than the coast. I'll be crossing the Pyrenees at Roncevalles - going further east seemed to be cheating a bit, and I wasn't sure how much snow there'd be in the higher passes farther west.

I don't know about escape routes. Can you take bikes on trains in France? By the way, why Malaga and, agaleigh, why Alicante? Is it just for the flight home?

I can't wait.

 

[stewie griffin]

I'm doing Isle of Man to Nerja (about an hour's drive east of Malaga) through UK, France and Spain, crossing Portsmouth to St Malo right at the end of April. Might see you on the way down.

I haven't planned a route as such. I've just marked as many campsites as possible on the maps (waste of time in France really as nearly every town and village seems to have one). I don't intend to go farther east than Limoges or farther west than the coast. I'll be crossing the Pyrenees at Roncevalles - going further east seemed to be cheating a bit, and I wasn't sure how much snow there'd be in the higher passes farther west.

I don't know about escape routes. Can you take bikes on trains in France? By the way, why Malaga and, agaleigh, why Alicante? Is it just for the flight home?

I can't wait.

I'm planning on crossing early May, probably 1st-4th, your a bit earlier than me but we might meet on the way down as I'll be doing 300KMs a day.

At the moment I'm looking at sticking close to the coast, if you look at this- http://www.voiesvertes.com/ it looks as though its possible to do most of the way on cycle paths.

I crossed the Pyrenees last August on a motorbike by the route you have in mind from the French side, passed loads of Roadies cycling up, fabulous scenery.

Don't know about a bail out plan, cross that bride if & when it happens.

Why Malaga? I'll be cycling home

I've PMd you.

 

[velo4u]

Good luck, might see you on the way down. I am on the overnight boat the following day and cycling solo down to Bordeaux. I have just started plannign the route and have just posted a query on here about getting out of St Malo. I am aiming for the left side of Rennes, then around Nantes (right side), La Rochelle, Blaye, Bordeaux. Going to stick to the D Roads as i have to do it in 3.5 days as famlily flying over to meet in Bordeaux on the 4th day !
Enjoy !!!

 

[psmiffy]

Need to keep away from the coast between LR and Rochefort - minor roads run out - use the transporter bridge to cross charente at Rochefort

Use the passenger ferry from centre of Lorient to Port Louise

 

[stewie griffin]

Good luck, might see you on the way down. I am on the overnight boat the following day

Hi Velo4u, the day following what? I'm booked to cross on the 2nd/3rd.

Need to keep away from the coast between LR and Rochefort - minor roads run out - use the transporter bridge to cross charente at Rochefort

Use the passenger ferry from centre of Lorient to Port Louise

Psmiffy, thanks for the info in this & other threads, have you cycled down the coast? How far & what route?

 

[psmiffy]

Only from Bodo to Malaga - not really much to say – Stayed pretty much on the coast most of the time (I live in the middle of England so I don’t get to see the sea much) - Brittany coast is all very interesting - south of Nante less so apart from LR and Bdx – South of Bdx it is best to stay slightly inland out of the trees - the cycle paths are about 1m wide and occasionally populated by cycling nudists – at the Pyrenean pinch point it starts getting interesting again, Biarritz, St J de L

 

[popeycymru]

I'm doing London to Barcelona in July.. Aiming for around 12days.... Not an experienced cyclist although a pretty fit rugby player. What are the best routes to take? Heard the first leg London to Portsmouth is one of the hardest. Where is the best place to cross the Pyrenees??