St Malo to Barcelona

[robbyt82]

Hi all,

I am planning to cycle from St Malo to Barcelona on June/July and was hoping to get some advice and tips.

This will be the first long distance ride I have done. I am 36 and am confident about my fitness levels so I don't think that will be an issue.

I'm taking a hammock and tarp and plan to wild camp mostly but staying on municipal campsites now and then for the showers/meet people/world cup etc.

One thing I am unsure about is how cycle friendly a lot of the roads will be, especially around the major urban areas. I google street viewed a route into Barca and it just seems all very busy 'A roads' and dual carriageways and pretty unsafe to cycle along with a loaded touring bike, or am I just being a bit whimpy? So how do you go about safe route planning into a major city? Does it all seem to work itself out once your there.

Any other general tips and route ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

 

[Joffey]

I remember when I was cycling to St Malo I got stuck on a single carriage A road that cycles were not allowed on and was escorted off by the police - I would plan your route carefully as i don't think the road laws are as simple over in France as they are here!

After our brush with the law we found some lovely quiet country lans though that were a pleasure to cycle on!

 

[si_c]

I've got friends who live in Barcelona, and they mostly use bikes to get around. It has excellent cycling infrastructure within the city centre as most of the major arterial routes like Av. Diagonal have segregated bike lanes along their entire length.

A quick look found this website, which has a bike lane map, if thats of any use to you.

http://sweetbcnapartments.com/en/how-to-ride-a-bike-in-barcelona-bike-lane-map/

If you post your planned route you might be able to get some more detailed feedback.

 

[mjr]

I've got friends who live in Barcelona, and they mostly use bikes to get around. It has excellent cycling infrastructure within the city centre as most of the major arterial routes like Av. Diagonal have segregated bike lanes along their entire length.

From memory, the difficulty is getting out from the city centre towards the French border, as shown by the linked map, which is presumably the inverse of the problem that the OP is facing?

 

[si_c]

From memory, the difficulty is getting out from the city centre towards the French border, as shown by the linked map, which is presumably the inverse of the problem that the OP is facing?

Possibly, it depends from which direction you approach the city, from the Coast I'd agree, but if approaching from Andorra in the W/NW it looks a bit easier. It really depends on the route the OP is planning to take.

 

[robing]

I've cycled in Spain and France and on the whole I prefer Spanish roads. There's more space and often a decent shoulder you can cycle on. Barcelona is no problem, I have cycled through it several times. The coast road down the Costa Brava is a nice one to cycle.

 

[robbyt82]

Thanks for the replies,

To be honest I have no set a detailed route yet as I want to keep options open. I intend to go roughly down the west coast of France initially, possibly as far as Bordeaux and then head inland towards Toulouse as I'm going to be working on a farm there for a week.

I was hoping to go through Andorra towards Barcelona in order to get the proper mountain experience. Has anyone got experience of this and any tips of routes to take or routes to avoid?

Many thanks

Rob

 

[robing]

I cycled over the Pyrenees through Andorra and it was all fine. I approached from Perpignan. There were a few days of long climbs but the gradients weren't too bad as there are switchbacks all the way, it's just a long slog. Andorra is tiny and from this direction is all downhill! I then cycled south via Artesa de Sagre, Espugla de Francoli and then reached the Med at Reus south of Tarragonna. The roads were all quiet and nice to cycle on. As you can see I did it fully loaded

 

[robbyt82]

excellent