Planning for France into Spain and Portugal

[Milemuncher]

My wife and I are planning a (slow) tour from St Malo down through France and Spain to Southern Portugal for this coming September/October. I have been looking at routes in the forums here and elsewhere and wonder if any of the cols over the Pyrenees is especially recommended? Ideally it would be flat

but failing that which is the 'easiest'? Norman

 

[bikepacker]

Done 2 tours in Spain, one down to Gibraltar and the other along the North Coast and I can assure you there is no flat route. Spain is regarded as the second most mountianous country in Europe.

Places worthwhile visiting.
Vitoria
Burgos
Salamanca
Trujillo
Merida

 

[Ajay]

I cycled Roscoff - Faro many moons ago.
Its very easy to ride down through France without encountering too many hills. Brittany can be a bit lumpy, so plan that bit carefully.
Cross the Loire on the St Nazaire bridge it'll be the last "climb" you need to do before Spain!
You can cross the border at sea level at Hendaye, so there's no need to climb the Pyrenees, but as bikepacker says Spain is much harder work, whichever way you slice it!
If you've got 2 months to play with you'll have plenty of time to pick an interesting route with shortish daily mileages. Don't avoid the hills, that's where the best cycling is!

 

[Dave Davenport]

We did Bilbao - St. Malo last year and a big loop south east of Bilbao a few years ago. The French section is all easy terrain (unless you go out of your way to find hills/mountains). Spain is lumpy but the gradients aren't too steep and the roads are great.


We're planning on Cherbourg to Santander next year.

 

[Milemuncher]

Bikepacker, Ajay, Dave, thanks for responding. You have no idea how useful your comments are to a beginner tourer. You can spend hours (I do!) scouring maps, but is impossible to make sense of what your 'seeing' and what you might face on the ground. I'll get back into the maps now with these suggestions in mind and with renewed enthusiasm. Thank you. When we bought our Thorns we were steered by Andy Blance towards gearing that meant that we 'would never have to climb off the bikes and push' - so we will be pleased to put this to the test in Spain. We are currently good for 50-60 mile days in lumpy terrain, so the hope is that a month or so wending down through France will get us ready for the challenges of Spain. As I say, its great to have found a space like Cycle Chat where experienced members are so willing to give their best advice to novices like myself. Norman

Further comments will be very well received.

 

[doog]

I did Girona, Spain straight up to St Malo in June

That was lumpy, nearly 30,000 feet of ascent, stick rigidly to the west coast I think is your best bet. Even slightly inland in the Vendee was hilly.

(edit ...probably not much use at all to you as you are heading towards the other end of the pyrenees

)

 

[johnny mcgurk]

I've done a bit of riding in the western Pyrenees but not a full on tour. Have used these cycle tourist maps as guides. They may be of interest. Guide velo from www.tourisme64.com is a bit simplistic but wil give you a good idea of popular routes with cyclists and Navarra en bicicleta from www.turismo.navarra.es shows some popular routes on the Spanish side of the border. Col profiles are available in lots places, the one I use most is climbbybike.com. My favourite way to cross the border is to follow the river nive from Bayonne, gentle climbs up to Cambo-les-bains then tips up a bit but never seriously pointy to st jean pied de port. You then have a choice of crossing ponts, col d'ispeguy, col d'urquiga or puerto d'ibaneta. The descent from roncesvalles into navarra and Pamplona is spectacular. Only problem with this route is its popularity, depending on the time of year it can be swamped with pilgrims walking/cycling/crawling the casino Frances and the the route to Santiago. I stress I have not cycled these route fully laden. If you do decide to cross further west, I would recommend the old smugglers route, la route des contrabandiers around esplette and ainhoa. Beautiful basque villages and the most breathtaking scenery. Only problem is it doesn't really get you across the Pyrenees and as others have pointed out, the fun really starts when you get to Spain. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Milemuncher]

I've done a bit of riding in the western Pyrenees but not a full on tour. Have used these cycle tourist maps as guides. They may be of interest. Guide velo from www.tourisme64.com is a bit simplistic but wil give you a good idea of popular routes with cyclists and Navarra en bicicleta from www.turismo.navarra.es shows some popular routes on the Spanish side of the border. Col profiles are available in lots places, the one I use most is climbbybike.com. My favourite way to cross the border is to follow the river nive from Bayonne, gentle climbs up to Cambo-les-bains then tips up a bit but never seriously pointy to st jean pied de port. You then have a choice of crossing ponts, col d'ispeguy, col d'urquiga or puerto d'ibaneta. The descent from roncesvalles into navarra and Pamplona is spectacular. Only problem with this route is its popularity, depending on the time of year it can be swamped with pilgrims walking/cycling/crawling the casino Frances and the the route to Santiago. I stress I have not cycled these route fully laden. If you do decide to cross further west, I would recommend the old smugglers route, la route des contrabandiers around esplette and ainhoa. Beautiful basque villages and the most breathtaking scenery. Only problem is it doesn't really get you across the Pyrenees and as others have pointed out, the fun really starts when you get to Spain. Hope this helps and good luck.

Johnny, this is just great, thanks. Lot's of super pointers. I'll have all sort of fun tracking these routes on the maps. I am beginning to think I am getting somewhere! Norman

 

[Milemuncher]

I asked Google maps for a 'no highways' 'no tolls' route from St Malo to Loule in Portugal tonight and it came up with the attached. Any thoughts? Would it be too 'rural' and miss places we ought to be going to? What do you think? Any advice will be very welcome.

 

[doog]

This was my recent route

http://www.crazyguyo..._id=198301&v=1i

Looks almost identical from St Malo to just north of Bordeaux leg on yours. All I can say is that it wasnt flat, was very rural and surprisingly quite busy.

The section between Vitre (East of Rennes) and Coulonges (Just north of Niort) had 4500 feet of ascent in 140 miles. May be easier riding to go west of this further towards the coast.

 

[Milemuncher]

This was my recent route

http://www.crazyguyo..._id=198301&v=1i

Looks almost identical from St Malo to just north of Bordeaux leg on yours. All I can say is that it wasnt flat, was very rural and surprisingly quite busy.

The section between Vitre (East of Rennes) and Coulonges (Just north of Niort) had 4500 feet of ascent in 140 miles. May be easier riding to go west of this further towards the coast.

Thanks again, Doog. Link to your blog safely bookmarked. I'll give it full justice tomorrow. Just about cross-eyed tonight!

 

[Dave Davenport]

We used the ferry between Le Verdon-su-Mer & Royan whch avoids Bordeaux. They go every half hour for about 6 euro.

 

[bikepacker]

Don't you mean Soulac sur Mer? As DD says it is a good way to avoid Bordeaux and they serve great coffee in the bar.

 

[Dave Davenport]

If your're planning on 50 to 60 miles a day (which is about the same as we usually do, Bilbao - St. Malo took 13 days) and you've got a couple of months you'll have time to do a less direct route than that google map one. Allowing for rest days and a bit of sight seeing I'd base a route on about 300 miles a week if it was me & mrs d. Maybe do some of the Loire valley and green Spain.

You don't say which Thorns you've got, we've got a pair of Sherpas and they've been great. We run a 26x27 lowest gear and haven't had to get off and push yet, even in the alps.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Oh, and just remembered; The canal cycle route between St.Malo and Rennes is very nice.