1st Euro trip planning France?/Spain?

[Old Git]

Am looking for opinions on % how mad I am & if you think I may be biting off more than I can chew.
Have looked a bit at going next April for week in France, riding down to Nice with the wifelett on the back, turn around then back again.
Looking at 3 days gentle ride down, 1 day stay, 3 days ride back so mostly in the saddle which is fine by me, but worried that passenger will get bored!
Next idea was to sail down to Bilbao, then ride to Barcelona area, couple of days stay there, then back to Bilbao & sail back.
Obviously heading south in April in the vain hope of some early sunshine, but should I stay in France & maybe even not go so far down, only go to say Limoges / Bordeaux area to have only 2 days ride each way & so have 3 days planted somewhere for wifee to settle & enjoy the bars/shops etc.etc.

In April northen France and the mountains will still be cold, the good passes will be mainly shut, which kind of takes out half the fun of heading to Nice. The south of France should be nice and warm by then, but the rest is a bit of a risk

I'd imagine Spain to be warmer, although have no real experience. Hope someone else is along soon to offer their iberian advice.

[STRAMASHER]

I would go Bilbao/Barcelona. Ferry times will be your only problem. Portsmouth is now only 24hr instead of the old 36hr but the times and frequency of the boat is not great.

The distances are a lot shorter than heading for Nice and all the best Alpine passes will still be shut for another couple of months. So more time riding and enjoying the quiet mountain roads in the Pyrenees, zig-zagging your way down over passses from Spain to France and back. For a bit of scale, our 1st stop is usually Jaca from either ferry port. The actual m/way along the coast is incredible.

Barcelona to Bilbao is easily doable in a day. Under 400miles on the m/way. Zaragoza is a beautiful city to stop and break it up.

I'll take Barca over Nice everytime. Both in a "hot spot" though.

Whether you do Pyrennes or Alps, at anytime of the year the weather in the mountains will be "changeable". And it ain't just like the "scotch-mist" we get!

Half the fun for me is the planning so have fun. Don't think you are biting off more than you can chew from any of your trips you mention. It is addictive though, you'll not be back long and you will be planning an even longer trip away!

Making progress in France is very easy as roads are mostly very empty. I went across in Sept this year and did le havre to Andorra in a lot less than a full day. Just an observation that 3 days each way might be wasting a little bit of time.

I'd go for the 2 days ride each way, giving you a bit of time to explore when you get there, otherwise the wifelet might give you some aggro

hi , i live on the med coast near perpignan and my wife runs a b+b here my advice is what most of our visitors do take the ferry to santander/bilbao. northern france is boring, the loire is pretty if you want to see the chateau but if you go to spain the weather will be warmer it will take two days to cross the pyrenees and 2 to go back, the roads are very special as well
see this link for 4 videos
this is number 1 so after looking at this you can find the rest by typing n260 in the search field
http://www.usedbikeguide.com/news/us...0-spain-part-1

If you want further help you can PM me

[TSM]

France is boring ish if peeps take the tolls, I did not.

Amiens -> Paris -> Orleans - > Limoges -> Toulouse -> N20 to Andora
Andora -> Lleida -> Zaragosa -> Madrid -> Avila -> Salamanca -> CL-517 to Portugal (Look see the road)
Portugal -> N221 -> N332 -> N222 -> etc... to Porto

Originally Posted by TSM

France is boring ish if peeps take the tolls, I did not.

Amiens -> Paris -> Orleans - > Limoges -> Toulouse -> N20 to Andora
Andora -> Lleida -> Zaragosa -> Madrid -> Avila -> Salamanca -> CL-517 to Portugal (Look see the road)
Portugal -> N221 -> N332 -> N222 -> etc... to Porto

Dull, dull, dull......

The road in the top pic looks great!