UK to Spain

[MattyB]

Hi there, I have never done a cycle tour before, so perhaps being ambitious (but i like a challenge) but.. i am planning to cycle from liverpool to my parents house in Alicante Spain. Starting in June probably. I have done a bit of research (it's 1500 miles) but would love some advice please.

1) I have a Bianchi C2C via Nirone - from forums it appears might not be suitable for adding panniers, so thinking about a trailer (possibley extrawheel) OR buy a proper touring bike off ebay and sell it when get back!
any thoughts....?

2) To camp or not to camp? what are hostels / Camps sites in France / Spain. Is it OK to just camp in a field?

3) I'm fit, but out of practice on the bike, 27 year old - who has cycled 40 - 50 in a day before without problems but never tried anything over! How realistic is my challange and how much training between now and June would be required. (thinking of doing bout 90 miles a day)

4) Would anyone like to come with me!? / Doing anything similar at around the same time?

Would like to raise some money for charity, and would appreciate some company. Yes this is a bit of a whim, but i am serious and have actually wanted to do this ride for a long time now, but.... i ain't no pro, thats obvious and would really appreciate any advice tips or help.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[upsidedown]

Hi Matt

Welcome, can't help much with your plans but do give it a go. There are a fair few continental tourers on here who will help you out.

If you come through the West Midlands i'd be happy to do a day with you to keep you company.
Let us know how you get on, it sounds like a great journey !

paul

 

[voleurs]

Hi matt, sounds like an awesome challenge.

You've probably read a lot about camping in france, there are campsites literally everywhere, and gites (houses with rooms to rent) everywhwere, accommodation is never a problem, especially in summer. Which port are you intending to goto, Calais, portsmouth, plymouth ?? In terms of heading to spain i went from the NW Britanny and stuck to the west coast to the Pyrenees :-D. Things to look forward to, campsites everywhere, lush beaches, the whole of the west is basically flat, we must have had about 700miles of flat, it was great ! Then when you get to Biarritz and you see the mountains it's breathe taking. 90 miles a day is quite ambitious, are you having rest days, we did about 3 days in a row towards the end of the trip doing 90/92/95 miles and we were nearly dead at the end, you'll need some kind of routine to do that everyday. Temperatures can get very hot, in the southern half of france we rarely had a day below 35degrees. Sorry it's brief, i only have minimal touring experience.

 

[chris__P]

Hi Matt

First thing I would say is make sure you do this, because you won't regret it.

With regards to the bike, it probably is possible to do it on the Bianchi, but I wouldn't. Its not a touring bike, you won't be able to carry much stuff and it won't be very stable. On the other hand, you will be faster. But my choice would be to go for the touring bike. You can get some good deals on ebay. Do a bit of research, look at bikes by Dawes and Thorn as a start point to get an idea of what you can get for your money. Get some half-decent panniers. IMO Ortlieb are the best, but 1500 miles in the summer there are a few cheaper options that can get you there ok. I've never used a trailor but personally I wouldnt want to.

Personally I almost always wild camp so can't say much about the campsites. I've done it in France and Spain without any problems. I try to stay away from fields though to avoid angry farmers - woods are my favourite or any wild scrubland. In summer the beach is always a great place to sleep.

Your challenge is entirely realistic. Do a bit of training beforehand of course, but you will find yourself getting fitter as you go along so its not really that important where you start from. 90 miles is quite a lot to be doing everyday though, so maybe consider doing a little less each day but give yourself more time to get there. You will probably enjoy it more

all the best and let us know how you get on

Chris

 

[rich p]

What Chris said!

I only use campsites and you can do it very cheaply in a lot of France. Municipal sites for as little as 4 Euros a night mean you can have a free shower etc but if I toured alone or was a bit younger I'd try some stealth camping.
I would agree that a touring bike would be best but I started touring on a hardtail mtb with slicks without a problem. I would also agree that 90 miles per day might be a bit ambitious, fully loaded but I know some tourers do that. For me it would detract from the enjoyment of stopping to look at things but each to his own. I would think 50-75 miles per day was a better range depending on terrain.

 

[onlineamiga]

Hi MattyB.

Im also planning a similar run which will be a first time tour. Im hoping to do Gibraltar to Yorkshire in September (pending authorisation to have a month off work!)

But I'm all geared up for it... well mentally anyway. Its a case of "I will do this" not just some idea im thinking of which will pass me by. Which is why im wanting to take the next seasonal window of opportunity.

I figured september is a good time. Will be hot in spain but as I get further north and the sun is dropping further south will cool down. Better than being absolutely freezing by the time I hit the UK if I did it in October.

I havnt done a cycle tour at all before. But Im planning a 3 day trip around Andalucia - mountainous region of southerns spain. In which I plan to wild camp for 2 nights. Ive just planned a ciruclar route that will take me from the coast up to the awesome via verde de la sierra riding route. http://www.fundacionviaverdedelasierra.com/ 300km in total i will be doing in 3 days. so thats about 70 miles a day i say. Which is the rate Im thinking of for my tour up to gibraltar.

Im doing my tour for Charity. Though its really a personal challenge that I want to do. Its just that people have said. I'll donate for charity. I'll sponsor you if you do it. So if some charity is going to benefit from me doing this, then why not? Im actually doing it for two charities. A local one for Gibraltar and a local one in Yorkshire as well. As its a home to home ride.

I really cant wait. I want to just jump on the bike now and go.. Though that wont be a good idea. I dont have a touring bike yet. I have a rockrider 5.3 mountain bike with road tyres on it and no panniers. I am planning to fit panniers to it and do the 3 day tour with this bike though.

Feel free to pm me if you want to put heads together about any of this!

Good luck!

 

[MattyB]

Thanks guys

Thanks for the support and encouragement people. Yeah really gearing up for this now. I'm slightly concerned now that my Bianchi won't be up to it! Thinking that will try to camp instead of credit card it, so that means more stuff for my bike to carry.

I have plenty of time (and little money) so going at a slower pace (60-70 miles a day) is not really an issue, plus if camping don't need to be somewhere thats booked etc

Please keep the advise coming, I really appreciate no one has said "well... there are plenty of web sites go find things out for yourself!" that really winds me up, of course i'm doing that, but i feel totally non bias advice from people who use forums like this is the best.

Cheers again.
Matt

 

[rich p]

There are some panniers for sale in Classified at the mo

https://www.cyclechat.net/

may be of interest

 

[onlineamiga]

I think being prepared to wild camp is definately the best thing. I guess sometimes you just dont know whats going to happen on a tour. You might find yourself feeling very happy to go further or think no I cant. Being able to pitch down just about anywhere for the night really gives you the freedom rather than having to find hotels which could take you off course, and of course its cheaper.

The fact you are thinking of doing the tour on a bike that isnt designed for touring, might get the user groups of that bike or the manufactorers interested in what youre doing. Taking a touring bike on a tour isnt a big deal. But pushing the boundaries of a bike that isnt designed for touring by touring with it is pretty cool.

I've got a little old rusty fold up light weight bike with small wheels designed for low distances city commuting. (Park and cycle type thing) I should tour with that. be a great laugh as well as bloody painfull!

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Hi Matt,
I have a Bianchi c2c via nirone and a dawes galaxy tourer. I toured th elength of germany and down to the med on the galaxy with a small tent. I would not like to do that trip on the bianchi unless i was a rich man and credit card touring with pre booked hotels etc.

Get a proper tourer, take a tent and four panniers..all will be well.

 

[Anthony]

Hi Matt.

I have done a similar ride to what your planning. I did Caen to Gibraltar. I don't know if you want some route advice but I would suggest going down the west coast of France, across the Pyrenees and cut through the centre of Spain a bit.

I would definitely recommend getting a touring bike. If money is an issue use ebay. I did for my first tour and got a bike for £105 which got me from John O'Groats to Land's End comfortably. I later sold it back on ebay for £280! If money is less of an issue you can't go wrong with a Dawes Galaxy.

I would say camp to. You don't have to book it, campsites are everywhere (less so in Spain), and it gives you more freedom. I however don't use campsites, I wild camp, but that is a personal choice of mine.


You might find my journal about my trip interesting and useful. It has more details than I can write on here. http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/gibraltar2008

 

[MattyB]

bike

People not rating my chances on the Bianchi then, is this due to position / comfort, or more so strength of bike. Is there anyone out there who has used a trailor? There are mixed opinions, but could this be viable, i love my Bianchi, and have very few pennies in the bank for buying new bike, would maybe have to sell the Bianchi to pay for tourer

But i will do what it takes, adventure adventure adventure! (will do the wild camping thing too, sounds cool!)

 

[rich p]

I've never used a trailer so I can't offer any advice on that score. How much does a trailer cost? You may be able to pick up a secondhand tourer for the same sort of money?

 

[GrahamG]

People not rating my chances on the Bianchi then, is this due to position / comfort, or more so strength of bike. Is there anyone out there who has used a trailor? There are mixed opinions, but could this be viable, i love my Bianchi, and have very few pennies in the bank for buying new bike, would maybe have to sell the Bianchi to pay for tourer

But i will do what it takes, adventure adventure adventure! (will do the wild camping thing too, sounds cool!)

I did two weeks touring France on a road bike with a carry freedom trailer (two wheeled job) and waterproof ortlieb bag strapped to the top of it. I'm going to be the first to say that it's doable on a road bike with the following caveats:

1. You need to gear down - I had a touring triple (26/36/46) crankset with a 12-27 and would still have been left looking for easier gears on occasion had it been hillier. So, I'd suggest either a MTB triple crankset is fitted or at the very very least, 11-34 mtb cassette and rear mech.

2. Braking is seriously affected - downhill when wet was a bit scary - this was down to crap pads as well as the fact that i was using dual pivot calipers. Fit koolstop salmon pads and make sure brakes are constantly checked and well adjusted.

3. It really needs to be a two wheel trailer, not an extrawheel type of thing, reason being that the trailer can take 90% of the weight so that there's very little extra loading on the rear wheel. A single wheel trailer place half the weight on the rear wheel.

4. Become a camping weight weenie - it will make a massive difference - getting a <3kg tent plus light bags/mats/cooking stuff etc. made a big difference to us and meant only 25kg of luggage for the two of us.

Basically, it worked for me as a great introduction to touring but I've since bought a proper tourer (still intend to tow a trailer!) for easy gears, better brakes and the ability to ditch the trailer for panniers should I ever want to fly with the bike.

The carry freedom trailer + bag was over £220 and they're bloody good so unlikely that you'll find one second-hand, the crankset and BB about £75. Should've just gone MTB for the crankset to get a 22/27 lowest gear but I was fine as it was. Bar bag was also bought with a map holder, probably the most essential item! Some of this depends on what equipment is fitted to the Bianchi - let us know how it's kitted out and I'll try to advise on what would be needed.

I reckon the cheapest option, if you're canny about things, is to get an old 7 speed (preferably steel framed, definitely no suspension fork) MTB - see if a relative or friend has something collecting dust in a garage somewhere. Fit slicks to it, mudguards and a rack, maybe even a front rack too, and all you then have to do is buy panniers. Google converting mtb for touring or something like that, there's quite a few guides available.

A bargainous tourer would be even better, but unless you know a reasonable amount about bikes I think that's not quite so easy (ebay does not have bargains any more but there are alternatives).

Forgot to ask - do you know your way around a bike mechanically to do all this yourself?