Santander - Plymouth. Planning advice

Jlewis3

Hello,

I have booked the ferry to Santander a will ride to Roscoff before hopping on the ferry back to Plymouth. I am looking at planning the route at moment and had a few questions;

1) I will ride with a Garmin 800 and use the GPS maps. I have used them before and get on fine. The only problem I have is when I plan a section of a route (say 100 miles) the route doesn't follow the road exactly and the line is slightly 'cruder' that the actual road. Is this normal and will is it likely to cause me any problems on my GPS or does the line pick up the road?

2) Has anyone got any experience of cycling the west coast of France along the cycle route? I have set a fairly ambitious target of getting back in 6 days and doing about 120 miles a day. I'd like to go on the cycle route by not sure of the terrain or if I am likely to annoy other recreational cyclists if it is busy?

Thanks
Josh

letap73

Jlewis3 wrote:

Hello,

I have booked the ferry to Santander a will ride to Roscoff before hopping on the ferry back to Plymouth. I am looking at planning the route at moment and had a few questions;

1) I will ride with a Garmin 800 and use the GPS maps. I have used them before and get on fine. The only problem I have is when I plan a section of a route (say 100 miles) the route doesn't follow the road exactly and the line is slightly 'cruder' that the actual road. Is this normal and will is it likely to cause me any problems on my GPS or does the line pick up the road?

2) Has anyone got any experience of cycling the west coast of France along the cycle route? I have set a fairly ambitious target of getting back in 6 days and doing about 120 miles a day. I'd like to go on the cycle route by not sure of the terrain or if I am likely to annoy other recreational cyclists if it is busy?

Thanks
Josh

I cycled to Roscoff - the cycle route suggested can sometimes be not be very direct and frankly irritating. I ended up using a map to find a more direct and quicker route - make sure you are armed with a decent map.

andymiller

Auto-routing often gives unexpected results.

If you want complete control then using tracks is the best option.

Alternatively, plan your route in shorter sections so you have greater control over what the auto-routing is doing - or at least see if it's leading you down a road you hadn't planned to take.

prb007

Have you tried gpsies.com? Have used it successfully for Jogle and E2E France and in Ireland last year on a trip to see the Giro...it gives car or bike options and some nice extras such as viewing the route with a Google Earth 'flyover'

bernithebiker

As a local for 11 years, I can help you with the Brittany part if you like.

From Vannes to Roscoff I know fairly well, it's quite a nice ride, allow 2 days for that bit alone.

I think 6 days looks ambitious!

ddraver

Jlewis3 wrote:

2) Has anyone got any experience of cycling the west coast of France along the cycle route? I have set a fairly ambitious target of getting back in 6 days and doing about 120 miles a day. I'd like to go on the cycle route by not sure of the terrain or if I am likely to annoy other recreational cyclists if it is busy?

My first real biking experience was riding from Perpignan to Roscoff after my Mapping Project so i can give you some ideas

I guess the bit from Santander into France will be rather hilly, then you'll hit the Gironde which is flat but soul crushingly boring if you go through the forest. I might try and add in a few stretches along the coast.

Over the river it gets a bit more pretty and there are lots of cows in the fields and the faint whiff of blue cheese everywhere It's not flat but it's gently rolling hills. Into Normandy and Brittany is when it starts to get really nice, but again, also starts to get hilly.

edit - hmmmm, OP was in 2021...