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Getting to Northern Spain by car/trailer Getting to Northern Spain by car/trailer
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Photo by Alessio Corradini, on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, of two locals

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Alessio Corradini,
on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia,
of two locals



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  #1  
Old 29 Oct 2017
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Getting to Northern Spain by car/trailer
In the UK i trailer my bike out of London to find good off road trails (often in Wales) so was planning to do the same next year (via the tunnel and France) to get down to northern Spain, park at a hotel after a VERY long days drive then hit the trails the next day...with almost no boring road work!

But a few post on here seem to suggest a ferry from the UK....that seems to take a whole day PLUS the ride to and from the port...and it's expensive.

Is there a reason why just driving down through France with the bike on a trailer isnt better?

Lewis
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  #2  
Old 29 Oct 2017
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When you do the math and include a percentage of servicing costs, tyres, depreciation plus hotels, motorway tolls, fuel, it becomes clearer.
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Old 30 Oct 2017
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Depends a bit on which part of northern Spain. The best trail riding IMHO, is over east around the nearly independent state of Catalunya, and I believe the best way to get there is to motor through France. Coming from the midlands, I ferry overnight from Portsmouth to Le Havre which lands at 8 am and it's a steady 10-12 hour drive to Berga/Oliana(Hotel Cal Petit recomm, v. motorcycle friendly)/Ripol. If you ferry to Santander/Bilbao, it's then still a tough slog across country for a day, after the longer and more expensive ferry journey. Various online route planners are quite handy for calculating/comparing route times, distances and expected tolls.
Ride safe,
Simon.
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Old 31 Oct 2017
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If I took the ferry into Bilbao I'd ride the Vibraction RB5 - so probably not getting even close to Andora before turning around and heading back.

If I took the trailer I'd drive to Andora and do a loop starting and finishing there (again, Vibraction have RB for it)
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Old 31 Oct 2017
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You can easily calculate the costs of toll and petrol and compare that to the ferry. I think I would just take the ferry even if it was a little more expensive.

Just sit on a boat with a instead of driving boring French tollroads with a trailer.
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  #6  
Old 2 Nov 2017
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Have done both options in the past and most recently had to ride back thru France from Spain as ferries cancelled due to bad weather (last month) .The ferry may be more expensive unless u get a deal but the cost of the tolls and the price of fuel in France (1.66 euro ) makes it close .Its also Boring.
At least on the ferry u can have a kip , get lost trying to find ur cabin and buxxshxt ur fellow bikers with tales of ur exploits lol , def the ferry every time
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