Hi all.

Been riding for years and done a few trips in different countries but time has come to plan my first solo trip riding from my home town. Going to keep my first trip short and not to far to break myself in slowley so thought a trip to pyrenees would be good. So after advise as to when to go and any tips on roads to ride and places to visit, going to camp so if anyone knows any good scenic places to stay??. Hoping to keep the trip to about a week long so good to hear if thats enough time as well. Will be leaving from brighton

Thanks

Darren

Hi Darren,
If you plan to take a week why not get the ferry to spain, that would cut out the long ride through France and give you more time in the pyrenees.

Dave.

good idea, does anyone know of any good camp sites?

Hi Darren,
I did a solo trip from the UK to Barcelona in September, & rode over the pyrenees at Andorra. I also thought about whether or not I should get the ferry straight to Spain. In the end I decided to ride the whole length of France, & I'm glad I did.
It was 2 long days of riding to get down France (I avoided toll roads), but I loved every minute of it - the French countryside / scenery was amazing.

I also camped most nights, but occassionally stayed in an 'F1' hotel - these are very cheap / no-frills hotels (but very comfortable) in France & the cost is often not much different to the cost of camping for the night (I spent approx 30 euros for 1 night) - see hotelf1.com: 260 budget hotels throughout France

For camping, if you have a satnav, download the 'Archies camping' POI for it (free). I use this a lot when I'm riding in Europe; whenever I get tired of riding I just tell it to take me to the nearest campsite.

I took the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre (LD Lines), only £35 for me & the bike. Arrived about 7am in Le Havre. Highly recommended.

I stayed in Poitiers first night. On the second night, I was intending to stay in Toulouse, but I just kept riding & managed to get to Andorra before sunset. Stayed at Valira campsite, which is a good location, close to the centre of Andorra la Vella.

Sorry don't know anything about the pyrenees apart from Andorra.
Have fun!

John

thankyou john

anyone recomend some good roads to ride?

Another option is ferry (or tunnel) to France then ride to St Nazaire and get overnight ferry to Gijon then head east to the Pyrenees or just stay in the Picos de Europa which is a brilliant area to ride, hardly any tourists, spectacular roads and very friendly area. We did this in August this year, had 8 days of great riding no rushing and will definately be going back again.

Last month I rode from Barcelona to Saint Sebastion following the Pyrennees and then down the coast to catch the ferry to Portsmouth from Santander.

The route I used basically came from the Spanish Bikers (who posts here on the HUBB) website thespanishbiker.wordpress.com. The core of the route was the N260 - this was a simply superb road, winding over hills and switchbacks and then diving through gorges. I did it on a KLR650 but you could do it on anything and enjoy it. I free camped 3 nights whilst doing this route with no problems - but if that isn't your style I'm pretty sure accommodation wouldn't be a problem.

If you strictly have a week available I think catching the ferry both ways is the only way to go if you want to enjoy Spain - but if you can stretch it to 9 - 10 days go down through France to the eastern end of the Pyrennees, then through the mountains before catching the ferry home.

By the way I loved Barcelona and its worth a couple of days if you can fit it in.

Hope this helps.

__________________
Martin

finally back on the road again


http://awayonmybike.blogspot.com/

Been to the Pyrenees a few times. Twice on the HUMM, the 2nd time with a couple of additional days riding off road along the pyrenees on the way, plus another trip to the western Pyrenees and Navarra desert area. Lots of good off road riding if that's what you're hoping for. Depending where you are going, you probably need to look at June onwards.

Happy to discuss routes / look at maps etc at the Cornwall mini-meet in February if you're up for it.

Thanks guys, my idea was to ride down through france, spend some time in the pyrenees then get the ferry back to the uk, looks like i might have to try increase my number of days riding, think i should be able to do 8-10

also, anyone recomend a cheapish sat nav for europe? not going to be using it very much so cant afford to splash out sadly.

thanks again

I've been to the Pyrenees a couple of times but I think you've got enough info on that so far.
I use a Tomtom Europe (the car model), and it's worked great. It's has taking me around Europe for the last 5 years. I adapted the mounting bracket to suit the bike and in heavy rain I put a clear plastic bag over it.
You can get one on ebay for about £40.
My brother has a Tomtom Rider fitted to his bike and it lets him down most years (water getting into the charging system).
I got a bargin on a Tomtom XXL IQ Europe from Tesco(£70).So I'll be useing that for my next trip from Athens.
Hope this helps
Rory

With regards to a GPS. I have used a TomTom car GPS for the past 20,000 miles on my bike. Do not let anyone kid you that you need a motorbike specific GPS. You don`t. Unless you intend to do a lot of off road riding.

Bike specific GPS are very expensive but are great for absorbing off road shock and are waterproof. If it rains I use a rubber band to fasten a clear plastic bag over the GPS, it works a treat. You can get a TomTom on e bay for very little money and the attachment to fasten it to the bikes handlebar is about £5 from e bay and are rock solid.

We have been all over europe with ours and it never fails. It did take us down some interesting back alleys in Caen though, but thats life.

You can see the TomTom next to the rev counter. Denmark to Italy and back last year.



Steve

Hi Darren, here's a link to a little trip I done to the Pyreenes in August with some mates. Hope its helpful to you..The campsite Colgats is great. Simon a friend lives there and he's got some great routes that may be of use..

Cheers JIm

A weekend in the Pyrenees !

Hey we've done a few Pyrenees trips, renting bikes in Barcelona from IMT and heading up to Andorra, via the amazing town Montserrat. We stayed in places like La Seu d'Urgell and then drove the N261 and all it's tributaries going back and forth to France. The roads are fantastic, we really liked Ainsa and we also stayed in Bielsa. The roads into France are legendary as part of the Tour de France, such as the Col de Tourmalet etc. Fantastic switchbacks and scenic route through to Luz St. Sauveur and other routes over to Pau.....there are virtually no bad roads although the Spanish roads tend to have better camber in the turns...the French build their roads flatter with less banking on the bends. We ended up our trip by getting into St. Jean-de-Luz and San Sebastien....the true Basque country and home of the best tapas in the world...don't miss San Sebastien as maybe your starting point into Spain....if you come through Bilbao you can get over there very easily.

+1
I could have writen that...
John933

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To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.