Advice on routes through Europe

Ok FOAK, t'other half & I are heading down to Spain in March, the idea
being to spend a few days at his parents place in Carava de la Cruz not
far from Alicante & ride around from there. But I'd like to take a few
days to get down there & could do with some advice on routes to get
through France.

Any thoughts? Or ideas?

Cheers

 

Depends on where you want to cross the border to some degree and just
how many days you want to take to get to the border.

Not in a rush, enjoying the ride and avoiding autoroutes, or do you want
to put France behind you and get in to Spain ASAP?


--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Take in the Milau birdge?

I'm off to Spain on Friday myself, but flying not riding )

--
Lesley
CBR600FW
SBS#11 (with oak-leaf cluster)
BOTAFOT#101A UKRMHRC#12
BONY#54P BOB#18
Real burds don't take hormones, they rage naturally

 

Get a ferry direct to Spain?

Looks like a much less painful way to do it.

It'll still be bastard freezing in the UK and Northern France at that
time of the year, making the ferry look like a very attractive option -
especially as ISTR, you live in the West Country these days.

 

Take a lesiurely lunchtime boat. Spend the night in Chepy and eat well.
Then just follow a map, picking the nicest looking route?

Bear in mind that the routes through the Pyrenees may be closed. The Col
du Tourmalet certainly will be, as people will be zooming down it with
funny wooden planks on their feet.

The Bielsa tunnel may or may not be closed - depends on the snowfall.

And it will be *bloody* cold. Best route is along the coast into Spain.

 

BRC wibbled:

The a71/a75 over the Auvergne and the Massif Central is pretty good via
the Millau Bridge. The hilly bits were designed for two wheeled
hooligans even to the extent they've put up warning signs for dozy cage
drivers pointing out there may be fast two wheeled traffic. The
motorway once in Spain is also reasonably quick and painless from
France down past Barcelona.

 

<brrr>

www.ba.com about £65 each
www.carjet.com about £75 for a week

 

Get a ferry that includes an 8hr+ crossing, a cabin and, therefore, some
well needed sleep. No further north than Le Havre, as it'll possibly be
cold/wet.

Then go cross country ish, as suggested, to Millau. That'll be a day, but
worth it. I found the approach from the north, down into town then the
viaduct back north quite good, with maybe a stop in the town (or nearby if
cheaper)

Next day you can make Spain easy, but I have no idea on geography so whether
you'd make the destination... Er.. Dunno.

Of course you could do part one, stop near Cahors overnight and do a day's
off-roading the next day round the Lot, another night near Cahors then off
to Spain via Millau, with no overnighter, the next day (Millau is about 2
hours from Cahors at medium pace)

Temperatures here are around 20ish at the high point and down to 6-8ish at
night in late March, a tad colder highs in early March.

Dave

 

I used to go via Millau to Spain before the bridge was built. You could do
Barcelona easily enough in a day from there - we did - but Alicante is a
fair old way further down.

Ali

 

In communiqué <45a2c792$0$5113$>,

An 8 hour crossing in possibly gale force conditions - lovely.

How about for a reasonably rapid transit of France:

Afternoon Eurotunnel crossing giving time for a decent dinner in
Coquelles (the resto at the Ibis is surprisingly authentic, or there is
the 'John Bull Pub' if you want cheap and cheerful) before a restful
night in a not overly expensive hotel of your choice (Formule 1 to Suite
Hotel all nearby).

Next morning, blast down the autoroute to Rouen (unless you want to join
the Paris Peripherique filtering fest) and then cut across via Chartres
to pick up the autoroute again just north of Orleans. Stay on it until
south of the Loire when with any luck you will be in a milder weather
system.

Head off down the A20 and by late afternoon veer off the autoroute to a
small Limousin or if you get a bit further Quercy town or village with a
Logis. (If we were in residence you could drop in on us, but not in
March).

Pick up the A20 again and proceed to Toulouse. Probably best to then
carry on towards Perpignan and the coastal gateway to Spain as advised
by TOG. Having said that the Tunnel de Puymorens and down the valley to
cross in to Spain at Bourg-Madame/Puigcerda is an alternative but even
the climb up to that might still have snow that early.

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Like TOG said, Chépy. If you push on for a further 75 miles or so from
Coquelles, you can eat and sleep well in the Auberge Picarde. Next morning,
you're that much further along, and you're only about 5 miles from the
autoroute.

 

<fires up mappy>

Oh I see, between Abbeville and Le Treport.

<files for future reference>

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Pete Fisher wrote:

Scene of ukrm gourmandising and drinking, plus my own recent silver
wedding anniversary, come to that. Bike friendly. Very quiet - in the
middle of bugger all. Cheap rooms, and brilliant tucker.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Pete Fisher

S'lovely.

<burp>

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

The Older Gentleman ha escrito:

In a normal winter. There is a dry and warm winter down here :-(

Most reliable pass would be Tunel de Vielha. The old one is a crap
military construction, but a new one is being built that may connect to
a new toll-free highway to Lleida, on the Madrid-Barcelona A2 highway

 

And the local beer "Le Colvert" is bloody lovely.

However, if you follow approximately 3 litres of the stuff with a trip
along the optics in the local bar, the results are...

<cue chorous from the rest>

 

Fragile chairs, though.

 

Fucknose what would've happened, if I'd sat on it...

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, The Older

Not any more. The weaker members of the species have been selected
against in a harsh environment.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

No, got a ferry booked now Dover Calais & heading for the MotoGP at
Jerez - t'other half changed his holiday dates to suit, good lad

We want to enjoy the ride through the two countries, weather not a
major issue unless there's snow.

Na, thats what Nurofen plus & whatevers left over after the accident's
for.

South Wales. We live in Chepstow.