Dunkirk to Santander Route ?

[Jockeycoach70]

Hi I’m planing to cycle from Dunkirk down through france to Santander in Spain .. would anyone have any advise the best route on good roads or maybe someone has even done this 🤔 Rod ?

 

[mjr]

How much time have you got and what do you like?

The obvious route to me is EV 4 west to Caen, V43 south to Angers, EV 6 west to the Atlantic, when EV 1 down the west coast, but it's far from the shortest route!

I've ridden parts of all three EV routes mentioned, but almost none of that route.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Hi I’m planing to cycle from Dunkirk down through france to Santander in Spain .. would anyone have any advise the best route on good roads or maybe someone has even done this 🤔 Rod ?

bonjour, hola and welcome.

First of all if you do a search in this forum you'll find a whole lot of previous discussions.
The most obvious route would be the Euro Velo Atlantic Coast Route (in France the VelOdyssey) but a lot of that is on dedicated cycle paths and it would be longer. It has the advantage of a whole lot of infrastructure and information.
Cycle. Travel suggests a route through central France, cutting to the coast later, after Bordeaux.

I don't mean to be rude but you've given zero information in a line and a half of a question.
No information on daily mileage, type of bike, camping or not, time (of year and for the journey), solo or not and nothing about the kind of cycling you enjoy and places you like to visit. You've got to give us something to work with I've a sneaking suspicion that my idea of a "good road" and yours might be a tad different

I've done the Veolodyssey route as part of a longer tour, camping. I loved it but some have found it boring. Horses for courses.
In any case, France is a real pleasure for cycling with good infrastructure and lots of quiet roads. Funny eating times, though, especially in the smaller, rural villages. There's lots and lots of people travelling through and around France every year so there's lots of info out there. Spain is a cycling paradise and I've been lucky enough to wander around that part of Northern Spain as well. Great roads, respectful traffic, fantastic food. CrazyGuyOnABike is a treasure trove of journals for information and inspiration.

Good luck!

 

[Jockeycoach70]

Great reply’s ! Sorry for my lack of information 🙄 I hope to do this at the end of may and probably on my own and try and use a tent for sleeping but occasionally use a hostel for a shower ! I’d like keep you roads if I could and do 100 miles + per day .. does this make more sense .. and thank you for any help ..

 

[Jockeycoach70]

How much time have you got and what do you like?

The obvious route to me is EV 4 west to Caen, V43 south to Angers, EV 6 west to the Atlantic, when EV 1 down the west coast, but it's far from the shortest route!

I've ridden parts of all three EV routes mentioned, but almost none of that route.

Hope to do it in end of may on my own on a road Bike will camp if needed but have only 2 weeks so can’t hang around ! In England you can cycle on all roads apart from the motorways I’d it the same in France ?

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Great reply’s ! Sorry for my lack of information 🙄 I hope to do this at the end of may and probably on my own and try and use a tent for sleeping but occasionally use a hostel for a shower ! I’d like keep you roads if I could and do 100 miles + per day .. does this make more sense .. and thank you for any help ..

Are you used to doing 100 miles + a day toting a tent and gear?

A quick look at Cycle Travel suggests a pretty direct route (not one that I'd personally do) of about 1500 km and about 9000 meters of climbing. Given 14 days riding that's just over 100 km per day. Every day. Taking 12 days of riding that's 125 km for every one of those days.
Take a more interesting route and that daily distance goes up.

It wouldn't be my thing and I wouldn't suggest it to anyone who didn't have some experience with those distances on a sustained basis.

I'll leave it to folks more experienced to chime in.

Good luck!

 

[Jockeycoach70]

Are you used to doing 100 miles + a day toting a tent and gear?

A quick look at Cycle Travel suggests a pretty direct route (not one that I'd personally do) of about 1500 km and about 9000 meters of climbing. Given 14 days riding that's just over 100 km per day. Every day. Taking 12 days of riding that's 125 km for every one of those days.
Take a more interesting route and that daily distance goes up.

It wouldn't be my thing and I wouldn't suggest it to anyone who didn't have some experience with those distances on a sustained basis.

I'll leave it to folks more experienced to chime in.

Good luck!

Good points , thanks very much , are the roads the same as England where bikes can go on any road apart from the motorway ? So you reckon 14 days would be too sharp 🤔

 

[mjr]

In England you can cycle on all roads apart from the motorways I’d it the same in France ?

No, in France, like most of Europe, bikes are banned from any road showing a car in a blue square as well as those with a bike in a red circle or a motorway symbol like in England, and they are used much more. For example, if you head south from Dunkerque port, you cannot ride on N316 or D300. Not that it would be much fun.