UK - Madrid Mar 2013

[purpleblur]

Hello everybody,

In early 2013 I'm moving to Madrid to improve my Spanish and have decided that rather than fly, I'd like to cycle through France and Spain instead, document the journey as I go and attempt to collate into book at the other end.

I've decided to have my mid-life crisis slightly early (I'm 27). I got swept up in the magic of cycling over the summer, bought a road bike, now regularly cycle to and from work and manage to get out for a few longer rides depending on the weather.

I'm really looking for some advice on this. It is roughly 1000 miles, which if I take a month means roughly 33 miles per day, are there good places to stop off? For the purposes of the book, I will need to visit some interesting places that give a feel of the diversity of different areas. Have you embarked on a similar journey, did you come across some good projects/guesthouses?

At the moment my pencilled route is Salisbury (where I live) to Poole, ferry to Cherbourg then down the coast via Nantes. While this is the most direct route, it means I will miss Paris, Andorra and Barcelona which would be of real interest to me.

Can somebody please help with any insight into the types of road that I'm likely to encounter? Also whether or not it is worth adding miles to go across to Dover then through Paris, Andorra and Cataluna.

Would welcome any input from experienced cyclicts.
Thanks

Christopher
christopherpanks@hotmail.co.uk

 

[lulubel]

If you're planning to take a month, then it's definitely worth extending the route to take in places you want to see. Once you get going, 33 miles a day (average) won't seem like very much. I think most people on here expect to average at least 50, even if they're fully loaded with camping gear.

Take a look at some of the comments in this post from yesterday. There's a lot that will be of relevance to you regarding route planning, luggage choices, and where to stay.

 

[albal]

Salibury to poole thats a good route.! isee the ferry is due to start mid march 2012, i'd keep a close eye on this as brittany likely to cancel. The barfleur is currently doing Dover_Dunkirk. Under DFDS livery.
In Spain i'd tend to use the irun-pamplona-cintruenigo-Almazan-Olvega-Medinacelli-Guadalajara-Torrejon-Madrid. road!..Not so many trucks using this once popular route as a new m-way opened in the north. Good luck.

 

[Alex H]

I've done a similar trip, Roscoff to Santander, although it was on a tandem and some time ago now.

I think you need to give more idea of your interests to get suggestions for places to see.

As llubel says, 33 miles a day is not a lot, we were on the bike for 15 days and did 850miles, although siteseeing was done on 'days off'

 

[smith4188]

Here's another vote for going into Madrid on its eastern side. I cycled into it from the south and it was tricky to find roads that bikes weren't banned from. I've no idea what the north is like, but cycling out towards Guadalajara was a doddle.

Yes, and include Andorra if you can. It involves a climb to 2,400 metres and the mountain road up the hill can be busy (in was in late July 2011) but I thought it was worth the pain. That said, if you are going early in 2013 then it will still be thick with snow.

Cheers,
Steven

 

[jay clock]

Read my blog as I did something similar recently.... http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=11271&v=MY took me 4weeks to get to Gibraltar...

Personally I would avoid Andorra like the plague. The most built up place in the Pyrenees and one road only that is heaving. I have also done coast road into catalunya see here. http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/perpignan

Any questions please ask