Barcelona to Montpellier

[Lee-M]

Booking Easyjet to Barcelona with three bikes for the fortnight Easter holidays . My two girls and me are going to cycle from Barcelona to Montpellier and fly home from there. It seems around 300 miles which isn't too bad but importantly the train line runs along this part of the coast so if the girls get tired or bored or both we can get a train for some part of the journey . My intention is to follow the Eurovelo 8 but I don't want to rely on signposting so wanted to buy maps similar to the Sustrans one's we have but the more I search the less luck I am having finding cycle maps . Do the Spanish have a cycle network that is mapped out? Just a map that goes on my handlebar bag will be fine . A point in the right direction will be mightly appreciated.

 

[mjr]

Do the Spanish have a cycle network that is mapped out?

Not a full network as far as I know. There are the Vias Verdes http://www.viasverdes.com/en/principal.asp but it's far from complete. Your best bet is probably to print or take www.openStreetMap.org cycle layer, but even then, I think your best bet looks like following the coast road to join EV8 at Sant Feliu de Guíxols - unless you like MTBing, in which case GR-92 seems to be cycleable between Montcada and Lloret del Mar but pretty lumpy: http://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/2329422

This is further north, after EV8 is marked on the map, but maybe isn't that different, as it's still Catalonia:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onutGuvmHE8

Bending your route off EV8 to visit Perpignan and see Dali's centre of the world, the citadel and the Palace of the Kings of Majorca would probably be worth it IMO. Also, people say nice things about the cycling near Girona and it might not be a huge detour

(source)

 

[Lee-M]

Thanks for the info.

I sort of got the impression with Spain's cycleways that it may be a case of turning up and following one's nose although having a certain amount preplanned with a 13 and 11 year old would have been helpful . The detours seem like a good idea and will be noted for future use but as this is our first tour together I will probably keep it as simple as possible and pretty much head in a straight line .

 

[mjr]

I sort of got the impression with Spain's cycleways that it may be a case of turning up and following one's nose

Yes - I've ridden part of the VV del Ebro in southern Catalonia some years ago and it's great once you're on it but I'm not sure whether I would have found it very easily without our host showing us the access point. I don't remember it being signposted from nearby roads in towns/villages at all. Things may have improved.

I'd check confusing bits on Street View or similar (but watch out for the last updated date on it) and try to have Plan, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency options. Oh and check out cycling-related roadsigns in both Spanish and Catalan. Another thing that was very strange on the VV was an incredibly low speed limit - I think 10km/h (6mph) was common, but thankfully unenforced. I think other stonedust cycleways may have that, too.

I suspect that once clear of Barcelona, you might not see another cycle route sign on the coastal route before Palamós... but I hope you'll return later to tell me I'm wrong!

 

[mjr]

I just found http://www.pirinexus.cat/ which has lots of downloads and might take you from Sant Feliu to almost Perpignan.

 

[mjr]

And that links to http://www.eurovelo8.com/stages/barcelona-beziers which has a map at the bottom showing what's signed, what's built and what's missing...

 

[mjr]

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=118979 is a discussion of Pisa to Barcelona that's just had a link posted to a Catalonia cycling site with a Girona- Barcelona quiet route.