[Closed] If you were to cycle from Alicante to Edinburgh - which route would you take?

Alicante to the airport & fly to Edinburgh airport, cycle to your final destination.

HTH.

How long you got?

1645 miles according to RAC route planner. & thats on motorways.

I'd rather cycle there and fly back

How long you got?

Three weeks or so, maybe longer if needed.

Cycle touring in Alicante in the middle of August sounds like hell!

So It's 1645 miles from Alicante to Edinburgh, on motorways. Thats 78 miles a day If you did it on motorways, which obviously you can't. So add a bit on for that inconvenience, say another 150 miles & your'e up to about 85 miles a day, solid.
Take plenty of water & the best of luck.

Alicante + August = Too hot to do anything that doesn't involve the pool or sea

Whichever way you go theres some seriously big mountain ranges to get over.

You could travel up the coast to avoid most of them or just go for it and go north to Zaragoza then San Sebastian and onto France.

Have a look at the Crazy Guy on a Bike website - I'm sure you'll get a few tips on route choice.

Personally I'd end up in Amsterdam and get the ferry to Newcastle - I think northern Europe will have better cycling than southern England.

Ride to Santander, spend a day on ferry, ride to Edinburgh from wherever ferry ends up (Portsmouth?)

As posted up there ^^^ ride to to Santander & get the boat to Plymouth or Portsmouth.Northern Spain's a nice area to cycle through,not sure about further south in August though! 😯

Any further route ideas?

North through Spain, into France, continue northwards until you reach the channel, use a boat for somewhere between 25 and 80 miles depending on your route, on reaching land continue north until you get to the M62, from there correct your course and aim for Edinburgh.

HTH

I wouldn't go through Calais at the moment.

I'd fly to Alicante

Plotaroute worked it out, shortly before exploding, but it seemed to find some interesting highways and byways, especially if set for a walking route. It came up with 1420 miles, but most of the 28000 feet of climb is in the first 400 miles, so after that, it's just 1000 miles of cruising.

Wanmankylung- have a chat with Al Young, he did a trip similar to this (though his aim was, I think, Portugal) around 8 years ago. He'll have some good tips for the route he took through France and so on.

Munrobiker - I have done just that. I like his suggestions, but am just wondering what else folk have done.

I drove from Edinburgh to Murcia once. The bit through France was nice, we swung right at Zeebrugge and went along the coast.

The Pyrenees - all good. Then when we got to Spain thought we would follow the coast road. OMG WHAT A TOILET. Horrible horrible concrete tourist ghettos.

My advice would be not to stray too far from a railway line - flattish terrain and if you have a bad day or need to make up some distance through a boring bit is easy.

Also - France and Spain have proper motorway infrastructure, there is normally a service road at the side of the bit E roads you can cycle on.

I'd cycle to Barcelona (close to the coast as possible), then cross the Pyrenees taking in all the classic climbs. Then ferry from Santander to Portsmouth. Then Bristol, follow as closely as possible the Offa Dyke path towards Chester, then Lakes, Kilder forest (a lap of Innerleithen), then back home.

Never done it, but would love to traverse the Pyrenees one day.

Nick

I'd cycle round the Med to the Rhone. Then up the Rhone valley, north to Burgundy then East to Alsace. Then I'd go down the Rhine to the Netherlands, cut across to Amsterdam and get the Ferry to Newcastle.

Piece of Piss 🙂