London to Barcelona - Trip / Bike Advice (First Time Tourer)

[roland]

Hi,

Via a few boasts over a couple of beers a couple of months ago and a hugely inflated sense of pride, I am cycling from London to Barcelona next year. I am attempting to do this with a friend of mine not just for the enjoyment of experiencing a country in a different way but also for raising money for charity. I have read a few books on cycle touring and I have been inspired by the travels of Alistair Humphreys but I thought I would come on to the forum and see if you had any specific route advice and tips on bikes etc.

My thinking at the moment is taking the ferry from Portsmouth into Caen and then cycling as much of the West coast as possible via Bordeaux, over the Pyrenees and then across Spain to Barcelona and then flying back. The other option is taking the ferry again to France and just cutting straight through the country to Perpignan over the mountains and into Barcelona. Giving ourselves about 12-14 days to do it around September next year…

I have to be honest I have not cycled much in my life and do not know much about bikes. But from what I have read and also because I want to have a good bike to commute into work and a limit of about £150 to initially pay for a bike, rather than going for a straight touring bike I would prefer to buy a MTB for similar value and add all the kit on to it. I have set myself an added budget for kitting it out but will not really be able to do that until mid next year. Any recommendations or tips?

Any tips, advice or help would be very much appreciated. Even if it is a matter of telling me that I am taking completely the wrong approach to this.

Cheers,

Roland

 

[barrybrighton]

hi
have you done this ride?if so what route and how painful was it?

 

[Tynan]

£150 is a very small budget for any bike, very small

You really want something decent for a ride like that, think about something second hand that's suited to it, there's touring bikes built to be comfortable and reliable and able to carry some luggage

 

[tmcd35]

I have been inspired by the travels of Alistair Humphreys

Hi, I too have been inspired by reading Alistairs adventures. I have a link to the original website (now only availably via the internet archive) on my blog. He's journey was truly epic.

I have a growing wish list of tours I'd like to do and see the world. Starting with a JOGLE next year.

Any who, best of luck with the London-Barcalona. Let us know how it goes, or better still give us a link to a blog so we can read about your adventures.

 

[Holagaz]

Hi, I'm certainly not saying you need to spend thousands on a bike but I'm hoping £150 was a typing mistake in relation to the bike you are planning to buy to do a trip like that. I think that with a new bike costing just £150 then you are buying a whole load of problems. At that price you really do risk being stuck in the middle of nowhere with mechanicals etc and I'm not sure that as an inexperienced rider that you will have the necessary abilities to sort the problem yourself. Good luck and I like your sense of adventure, but I think you need to aim a bit higher with the bike....

 

[rich p]

The OP hasn't posted since August so I suspect these posts may fall on deaf ears!

 

[arallsopp]

Perhaps he/she is simply out riding?

Its a nice idea, and a good approach. Commit first, then seek advice on whether its possible. I'm sure its workable, although I don't doubt it could be a fair amount more fun on a slightly better bike.

Mind you, for adventures / mile ratio, a £150 MTB bike can't really be beat.

 

[Yellow7]

Hi.

I cycled MK to Barcelona (then a ferry for Majorca) in 2007.
Being your first tour your no doubt feeling uncertain about things but you'll be surprised how relatively easy it is. Use the IGN maps (French) from the http://www.themapcentre.com/. They sell maps for cycling with a scale of 1:100 000 so every bit of details shown & makes route plotting a doddle. Select the ones you need from the country grid. All the roads in France are well marked, even the quiet country roads that I was following so getting lost proves real difficult, but do take a compass. (or a 'sad'Nav!)
From Calais I headed south to Cleremont-Ferrand in the Auvergne mountain range, then south-west to Toulouse, Pammiers, Foix, Ax-les-thermes, border town of Bourge-madam, then Ribes De Freser, Ripoll, Vic, Barcelona. The BEST part of the journey was the Pyrenees! If you take a costal route you'd miss out on some epic views, there's a few good climbs but WELL worth it, both for views & sense of achievement!

I always found I was never too far from a camp site or gite (B&
As their roads are good (better than ours!!) you don't need an expensive bike, just one with reliable gears & a good rear wheel, it's easy to over-pack on a first tour, "if you don't need it, don't take it" keep the weight down & minimise rear wheel probs. Fit new brake pads. Carry a basic tool kit. I never received a single puncture, is use Schwalbe Marathon plus tyres (one puncture over 3200 miles of tours)

If it's a mild september you should be ok, I done it end of May.

Mark

 

[barrybrighton]

hi
how lond did this take you?

 

[Yellow7]

Hi. I done it over 11 days, this way I had a few days at my mates in Majorca before flying back as a 2 week hols.
Mark

 

[thompc]

I will be attempting this ride solo in June this year (2010) in time for the Sonar festival. I have a £200 second hand rigid mountain bike equiped with road wheels and will be going with the schwalbe marathon as mark suggests, no desire to set a land speed record and will be camping wherever I stop.

The mountain route sounds too good to pass up, so I plan to head straight down through France, over the Pyrenees and then to the Spanish coast. If anyone is interested I'll set up a blog and post the address.

Thom