Hi - I am quite a newbie to biking (as is my partner) but we love it and plan to shortly ride across from south west France (where we now live) via Pau, across the Pyrenees to Pamplona, then up to San Sebastian, then along the coast to Biarritz, on to Arcachon then back home via the Bordeaux area.

We would like to take the nicest, most bike-friendly roads across the Pyrenees - does anyone have any advice? Any tips on such a similar journey would be gratefully received!! Thanks!!

this is just a suggestion, I have ridden most of these. The main road from Jacca to Pamplona is mediocre to boring so I have routed you north through some spectacular scenery that keeps changing from Switzerland to Mexico every 10 minutes.

Itinéraire Pau Ansó ViaMichelin : Itinéraire routier Pau Ansó

then

Itinéraire Ansó Pamplona ViaMichelin : Calcul du meilleur Itinéraire Ansó Pamplona

then head north on the n 121a to Irun and pick up the French RN10 and head north and pick up the old RN10 at junction 10 now designated d10e somewhere along the way head west to Arachon, but you might prefer riding closer to the coast through the pine forests.

That's a nice route. Last year we stayed at Isaba and I heartily recommend the hostal Casa Lola there - we were camping* nearby but the food in the restaurant was superb!

Simon

* in all honesty I can't recommend the campsite - much better press on to Ochagavia!

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Blogging around Iberia

crossed these prob more than most, get a good map forget the sat nasv and seek out the high pass roads, i personaly think there is not a bad road crossing or traversing on the French or Spanish side. But Pau across through Andorra was not my fav but stll very nice.
Steve

Hi,

Just thought I would comment on Oldbmw and Steve's posts, and add that that the Michelin "Spain & Portugal" No. 734 Map is very general, and I spent two weeks just riding mostly the mounain passes from coast to coast along the Pyrenees.

I picked the AA Road Map of Spain and Portugal that just deals with the Pyrenees and Catalonia. It is at a scale of 1:400,000 versus the Michelin Map at 1:1,000,000. Thus, much more detail of a lot of the secondary, tertiery, and even some fourth class roads. With the tertiery and fourth class roads offering some of the best riding, as there was very little traffic, and some beatiful (twisty) riding.

Mind you, this map (the 1:400,000 one) stops just a little ways shy of showing Pamplona, but it does show all the roads from Pau to almost Pamplona, so you may need another one for the area around Pamplona. Perhaps the Costa Verde one? But you could easily get by with just reading the signs into Pamplona if that is your destination before heading back North again, if you didn't have the N734 Map.

As for Pau to Pamplona, if you can wind your way South and West and pick up any of the following: D918, NA137, NA172, N140, N178, and even the D933 going South from the pass area and then hopping over to the N172, would offer a good ride. The road from Ezcaroz to Aribe (N140) is especially nice

I also agree that you do not need your GPS as all riding in here. I never use one at all, finding it much more enjoyable getting lost a bit, asking people for directions., and often finding amazing roads I never would have taken by just stumbling upon them.

If you can get a hold of one of the detailed maps, they offer a pretty good idea of what you can expect, and half the fun is getting off course a bit

Have a great ride. There are so many brilliant rides along and over the Pyrenees, you cannot go wrong!

Cheers,

Ian