Caen to Santander segments

Four of us from WRC are doing this tour 23 may to 2 june. I have provisionally planned 6 days of riding. I'm not too sure about the daily distance across the North of Spain though . It seems high for that sort of road. Any comments or suggestions please?

Seems to me that the 3 days of French rides 'getting there' will be fairly comfortable. I'm not so sure about the 3 Spanish rides though. Those roads are twisty so we might have to split crossing spain into 4 rides.

Anyway, I have included maps for the 6 rides so what do you think? Where hotels are mentioned it's just because I was trawling around the area for possible places to stay. I am not going to prebook any accommodation.

So:

First leg off the boat. Caen to Blois - 178 Miles. The distance we cover that first day depends on how we feel. I personally reckon we could nail 2x the miles I have suggested.




Second leg Blois to La Canourgue - 286 miles. The latter is a good starting point for the Gorges du Tarn rideout. This leg should be really easy and maybe we can include the Tarn ride on this day as well?





Third leg : Tarn valleys, Millau and on to Perpignon - 184 miles.





Fourth Leg: Starting into Northern Spain - 202 miles. I'm not sure that we should do 200+ per day on these roads..





Fifth Leg: Through Pyrenees and towards Picos - 220 miles,




Last leg: Picos and run down to Santander - 215 miles.

[Luckypants]

The second day is just a thrash down the autoroute. I would shift east and head to Nevers - Moulin - Vichy (good place to stop) - Le Puy-en-Valey etc. Will take longer but a more interesting ride. Did that run (in reverse) up from Millau in about 8 hours actual riding time, was a 10 hour day though.


Approaching Millau down the Tarn is a good plan.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

The second day is just a thrash down the autoroute. I would shift east and head to Nevers - Moulin - Vichy (good place to stop) - Le Puy-en-Valey etc. Will take longer but a more interesting ride. Did that run (in reverse) up from Millau in about 8 hours actual riding time, was a 10 hour day though.


Approaching Millau down the Tarn is a good plan.

Thanks for reply,

If we can nail some more miles on the first day then we will detour of the motorway. I really wanted to kill the distance on that second day though. I'm not sure that two of our party could ride 8 hours in a day. That's what concerns me about the Spanish legs. We want to take a couple of days out in the Perp area, probably doing the Coastal run down to Tossa.

That's the trouble when there are so many good roads to ride and sights to see.. I've got half a mind to persuade the party to miss out the Picos this time and do an all spain tour next year..

[STRAMASHER]

If I was to head for Millau again I would do it North to south. We rode it the opposite direction and was a bit dissapointed, as you basically ride round a bend and you are right on it. N-South and you can see the spectacular bridge from miles away.

Ejohnh, if you want treat/reward for your last night, stay at the parador in StDomingo De La Calzada. Gorgeous. http://www.parador.es/english/

Soria and through the Sierra De La Demanda is empty country and with amazing roads and scenery, if you get bored heading for Pamplona then west. An alternative.

Miles? Everybody is different to what is do-able comfortably in a day. (Especially if you are in a group.) I don't mind blasting motorway if I get more time on the good stuff (N260 in Pyrenees)

[Luckypants]

Kind of agree with that, although actually riding on the bridge is a bit 'ordinary' so might be a disappointment. What with the wind deflectors on sides and wide road, you get very little impression of the height from the road deck. Approaching down the Tarn you get glimpses of the bridge until you arrive at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie, then there she is stretching accross the valley. Get yourself on the little roads around the base of the bridge and she is awesome.

BTW Millau is a nice town if you need to stop.

[STRAMASHER]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Kind of agree with that, although actually riding on the bridge is a bit 'ordinary' so might be a disappointment. What with the wind deflectors on sides and wide road, you get very little impression of the height from the road deck. Approaching down the Tarn you get glimpses of the bridge until you arrive at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie, then there she is stretching accross the valley. Get yourself on the little roads around the base of the bridge and she is awesome.

BTW Millau is a nice town if you need to stop.

It was a fleeting visit for us , coupla uninspiring photies and then off. We were going from Agay to Clement-Freud so it was a long day. Hankering to go back that way after seeing photies of the bridge from the "wee roads" I remember looking off the m/way to the east Gorge Du Tarn? and thinking thats where I wanna be!



For Spain, I take 2 weeks to go from Bilbao/Santander - Barcelona and back

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by STRAMASHER

Hankering to go back that way after seeing photies of the bridge from the "wee roads"

Like these?:-





Yes east of the bridge is the Gorges Du Tarn, seen in the background of second picture.

Sorry for the thread hi-jack!

No prob with thread hihack. I want to find out what you guys know about it.

We will detour to st Enimie to start the run thru the Tarn Gorges. Then we'll rejoin the AR at junction 40 (I believe) to head back North South over the bridge. I was thinking about following the Tarn west to Albi and including Carcassonne in the ride SW to Perpignon. That would mean bypassing the Picos going to Santander though. Dunno if I will be back that Millau way so I would like to nail it. We can always do the Picos next year..

Thanks for advice about the Hotel - we could very possibly do that..

[STRAMASHER]

There a view or two.

Originally Posted by STRAMASHER

Soria and through the Sierra De La Demanda is empty country and with amazing roads and scenery, if you get bored heading for Pamplona then west. An alternative.

went northwards from Soria (which is a beautiful place) via the N111 through the Parque Sierra de Cebollera national park to Logrono then Pamplona then up through the Pyrenees

is probably the best road I have travelled yet, was truely awsome

its on my "must do again road"