Portsmouth to Barcelona route suggestions!

[valley]

Evening!

I'm soon to be heading off on a solo bike tour to Barcelona! I'm hoping you guys could give me some pointers on any route suggestions?

I will be taking the ferry from Portsmouth around the end of July, and will have 14/15 days to travel down to Barcelona. My initial plan was to not have a plan, and just ensure that I took a map/compass?

What are peoples thoughts on this...?

[mike_dowler]

I think the important detail is not where the ferry goes from, but where it goes to. From the timescale, I presume you are cycling through France, rather than getting the ferry to Santander, but I think there may still be a couple of options for arrival ports.

[valley]

I'm opting for either Cherbourg or Caen for an arrival point. I think I would prefer Cherbourg, as it looks to be a smaller town, and also gives me the chance to ride through the national park area (as opposed to starting my ride through a busy town centre)?

The general idea was to ride down the Western side of France, cutting across the country after the Bordeaux area (towards Toulouse), and crossing the Pyrenees towards Barcelona.

Something like that

[FarOeuf]

if you go via Bordeaux then you take the flat but longer route, and you'll inevitably end up on the Midi canal (quite boring). Toulouse is a bit dreary for cycing into/out-of, as it's working city.

I'd go through (have gone through) Albi/Carcassonne and onto Foix. Varied terrain (hills), history often at the roadside (plaques, etc) and no huge towns to get bogged down in. The coastal route of Perpignan/Barcelona means you ride through lots of cheap Spanish seaside resorts, which is not that pleasant. The Ceret route to Ripoll is quite nice, not as hilly as the Foix route.

cheers,

[valley]

Thanks for the suggestions! I like the idea of keeping away from big towns/seaside resorts. I'd prefer to keep the coast route section within France (western coast).

I ran a google map search for the route, avoiding toll roads and highways and ended up with this??

[FarOeuf]

I don't think you can go wrong in France. Just get a reasonable road map and plan the following day the night before, you'll quickly get a feel for the quieter roads (D-roads). Going into Barcelona, there's a number of ways. But I think the simplest is maybe via San Cugat, which gets you the least amount of built-up-ness, and a quick 20/30 minute downhill into the city centre.

cheers,

[valley]

Excellent - I think i'll opt for setting the route the night before - gives me something to do after dinner

Thanks for your advice!

[PH]

I did it last September, a rough idea of where I wanted to go and making a lot of it up on the fly, I was using Municipal campsites which were loaded on the GPS, so they influenced some of the route. I used a fair bit of cycle track, which I wasn't planning to do, but some of it is so good it seemed silly not to. The big decision is where to cross the Pyrenees, I decided to get to Toulouse before deciding, I was running out of time by then and opted for the easy option going further East and crossing the Corberes. This worked OK, but didn't give me the best run in Spain down to Barcelona. My rough route;
Caen>Lavel>Nantes>Coast (Velo 1) to South of Bordeaux> Canal to Toulouse>Carcassonne>Durban> Spanish crossing at Le Perthus>Main road to Figures>followed the coast to Barcelona. Bike Express back from Rosas.
there are loads of options, have a good ride.

[bikerwaser]

i did this last September
i took a lot more time , well, partly because of Achilies tendon problems.

check my blog of the trip :

http://biker-waser.blogspot.co.uk/

all the best !

Bikerwaser

[valley]

Thought i´d done a half decent job of packing light and keeping things fairly minimalistic but for some reason my bike weighs 47kgs.

haha - this made me laugh!

Thanks for all your help guys! I've decided to go for the following (very rough) route;

Begin in Cherbourg, heading southwards between Rennes and Le Mans (passing Nantes on the Eastern side). I willl then follow the coast through Bordeaux, before cutting Eastwards into the Pyrénées and onto Barcelona.

Very rough - but it gives me a general idea of where i'm going. The route for the following day will be planned out the night before, with the names of the travelled towns written down in order (and checked off as they are passed). After doing some reading, I'm not so worried about the Pyrénées anymore - i'll just keep cycling!

I'm beginning to get excited!

[bikerwaser]

Have a great time !

As i've said in my blog, the Tourist info places in France are really good. they give you a free cycle map and are happy to phone ahead to a campsite to book you in.
worth while using the canal du midi for some of your route.

also , as i've mentioned in my blog , not sure what gas ur using for ur stove but the Eldrid converter was really good, also the rock peg was brilliant.

oh, one other tip, pharma drugs are crazy expensive in France . stock up here in the UK on simple stuff like anti inflam tabs etc .

Bon Voyage !

[Ned Ludd]

Hi, the ferry port in Caen is a fair distance from the city, (about 15k I think!) and you can pick up a nice fast cycle path from the ferry port...

[BeeKeeper]

Without checking this looks like about 100 miles a day. You must be very fit so good on you if you can do it. I'm currently taking 14 days to go from Girona to San Sebastian, taking it as gently as the hills allow and seeing lots of wildlife and admiring the scenery.

Spanish drivers so have been excellent, at least as good as the French. Main problem is shops rarely open before 0900 and sometimes later and you won't get much to eat in restaurants before 2000. We are adapting after 9 days but it took time.

Oh, and tourist information offices are always shut when you want one.

[PH]

Without checking this looks like about 100 miles a day.

I don't think it is, my route came in at under 800, and valley is talking about 14/15 days.