France End to End (Also Italy/Spain/Others?)

mroli

Is there such a thing?

With my research, I have found that there is a manche to the med ride (quite a few of them), but there doesn't seem to be an established JOGLE like route.

The most Northerly point in France is Bray Dunes, the most southerly is Puig De Comenegra which is a Pyrenean mountain and is only walkable (I think), but is there an alternative "end" point?

I think it would be around 850/900 miles so would be a perfect challenge next year after a 1000 mile JOGLE this year.

Has anyone done this? Or a Spanish/Italian end to end?

Thanks very much

M

andymiller

Yes, but wouldn't a diagonal route, sea-to sea, be longer?

mroli

Yeah - I could find the "longest" route across France, but I guess that doesn't fit into the idea (having done a JOGLE) of Northernmost to Southernmost point.

Cycling from Brest (easternmost point) to Monaco (Westernmost point on med seacoast) doesn't have the same "ring"?

However if there is a "classic" route - ie Manche to Med, I would be swayed by it - but finding it hard to find detail anywhere - hence request for tips!

andymiller

Hmm. Nul points for research (Brest the westernmost point in France??? Monaco in France??????).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_du_Raz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_de_Corsen

And of course, Finistere is Latin for Land's End (or the other way round?).

gabriel959

In Spain it doesn't exist.

harrywolper

Calais to Nice in October 2007. About 720miles in 9 days. I went for as flat and as straight as I could. Will do it again this year in summer weather (when I get spare week) but will do Telegraph & Galbier as a "treat". I used ViaMichellin to plan route although google maps seems to have a very nice "walk" feature. Regards, Harry.

mroli

andymiller - I didn't research it because i didn't see the point, because as noted in my previous post it doesn't match the JOGLE that I've done. I looked at a map of France and discounted it immediately - and Monaco/Brest were the only places named on the scale map that I looked at. Thanks for the helpful suggestions though.

gabriel959 - thanks for that - is that because Spanish riders don't do this sort of thing (is it a particularly British (or given the American RAAM, English speaking) obsession)?

harrywolper - thanks for the tips - I was thinking that the mileage would be about the same - I want to try and do a couple of cols (because they do look beautiful). Odd that there is no "well trod" route though. I will do more research as the JOGLE that I did had the higlights of Glen Coe, Kirkstone and Long Mynd and they were real highlights for me.

djmc

There is a range of routes in France known as diagonales.

Ville départ Ville arrivée
Brest Menton
Brest Strasbourg
Dunkerque Hendaye
Strasbourg Hendaye
Brest Perpignan
Perpignan Dunkerque
Hendaye Menton
Dunkerque Menton
Strasbourg Perpignan
Hendaye Dunkerque
Dunkerque Perpignan
Menton Dunkerque

There are established routes and just as LA JOG one can get certificates. The FFCT website will give details.

gabriel959

mroli wrote:

andymiller - I didn't research it because i didn't see the point, because as noted in my previous post it doesn't match the JOGLE that I've done. I looked at a map of France and discounted it immediately - and Monaco/Brest were the only places named on the scale map that I looked at. Thanks for the helpful suggestions though.

gabriel959 - thanks for that - is that because Spanish riders don't do this sort of thing (is it a particularly British (or given the American RAAM, English speaking) obsession)?

harrywolper - thanks for the tips - I was thinking that the mileage would be about the same - I want to try and do a couple of cols (because they do look beautiful). Odd that there is no "well trod" route though. I will do more research as the JOGLE that I did had the higlights of Glen Coe, Kirkstone and Long Mynd and they were real highlights for me.

I should have said in my knowledge, as I am not 100% sure. I can have a look for you as I can't see why people won't do it.

One thing which is popular in Spain for Touring is doing the Vias Verdes routes which are reconditioned railway tracks for cyclists. Some of them are quite long (up to 60 miles) and wouldn't be surprised if you could link a lot of those routes from lets say Girona to Huelva or Cabo Finisterre to Cabo de Gata in Almeria.

Website is the following: http://www.viasverdes.com/

This website does a lot of classic spanish routes

http://www.rutaspangea.com/viajes/2/grandes-rutas

Hope its of help...

mroli

djmc - you are a star, that diagonales information is exactly what i'm after - I even found another helpful website - http://diagonales.homelinux.net/adf/?page=416&menu=4 and it looks as though Dunkirk Perpignan is the sort of thing I am after. Dusting off my rusty french to read the sites too is fun.

Gabriel - thanks very much for the links too - I'm going to need to enlist the missus for Spain as here is much better than mine, but those look really helpful too!

Anyone with any experience of other countries, feel free to input! Looks like France next year on a diagonales though....

FJS

mroli wrote:

gabriel959 - thanks for that - is that because Spanish riders don't do this sort of thing (is it a particularly British (or given the American RAAM, English speaking) obsession)?

My guess is that it's a British thing because of the geography of the country: an island with clear 'ends' on all sides, and the long shape, creating a long north-south route and shorter coast-to-coast east-west routes.
As an established challenge like JOGLE I haven't heard about it in any other European country; it definitely does not exist as such in The Netherlands or Belgium. Plenty of long distance routes there. In the Netherlands there is a walking challenge from north to south, the 'Pieterpad', but that's no more than 485km, and probably much less on (bike)roads, and not really established as a cycling route.

If there's one point to start from or finsh in France though that is the Westernmost point of Brittany - Finisterre, 'end of the earth'.
And, Spain has it's own Fisterra in Galicia, with the Camino to Santiago a possible equivalent?

djmc

The French normally think of their country as a hexagon, indeed they often refer to it as such. The routes I detailed above form a sort of star shape covering the country. The routes are well established, quite frequently done, need documentation and give certificates badges, etc. In France the diagonales have much of the mystique of such rides as PBP and to a large extent are done by the same people. There is a book published by l'Amicale des diagonalistes de France by Paul Fabre called 'Diagonalement votre' which describes them.

mroli

Great, thanks guys. Interesting that it is the geographical shape of the UK that has made the end to end so popular. I do remember in Portugal that the most south/westerly point was marked clearly and was a "tourist" point as much as say LE or JOG. I'm not that fussed about "official" certification (although I note there is no such a thing in the UK - perhaps a good idea for various pubs etc!), but if there is a classic route, I'd like to consider it - they are normally classics for a very good reason.

I was thinking that I could save the "smaller" countries (ie Holland/Belgium) to when I was older..! God knows about doing China end to end tho! :P

gabriel959

Camino de Santiago is very very popular. More so than JOGLE/LEJOG in the UK as absolutely everyone knows about it. There are other not so known routes but neither of them are end-to-end like here.

I can't see why it won't be possible, as someone else said, there is Cabo Finisterre in Coruna and Cabo de Gata in Almeria which are almost a diagonal point to point and both places are beautiful