Day 10: Tue 3rd July 2007

 

Ride: Plymouth to Bewdley - 201 miles

 

The overnight crossing was pleasant, we'd had a great meal, a few bottles of good wine between us, and a decent nights sleep. All that was left was a short 200 mile dash up the motorway. The ride back was pretty uneventful and we all made it back in time for lunch - except Pete and Gaz who finally arrived back in Bewdley at 10.00pm the following day.

 

Overall we had a fantastic trip and everyone had a great time. The "Millau" group covered over 2,500 miles and the "Santander" group a little over 1,600 miles. We were split as to which the better option had been: whether to ride to down to Spain...or let the boat take the strain. Taking into account fuel, accommodation and wear and tear it had been more expensive to ride down, however you lose a few days of riding by taking the ferry - and after all, it was a riding holiday.

 

On a final note, once again many thanks from everyone to Phil for his route planning, and ferry and hotel bookings.

 

Next year we're thinking of returning to the Alps, possibly putting the bikes on the Motorail from Calais to Nice, and touring and the Haute-Alpes in south-eastern France...

 

 

 

Day 9: Mon 2nd July 2007

 

Ride: Esterencuby to Santander - 248 miles

 

Today was our final day in the Pyrenees and saw us heading to Santander. Nobody wanted to stay in the hotel for a minute longer than was necessary and Pete and Gaz left a good time before anyone else. The rest of us left at intervals and stopped off in St. Jean Pied de Port for fuel and some breakfast. The route to Santander was straight forward however over coffee we decided to get one more pass in before jumping on the motorway.

 

Leaving St. Jean we turned left up the D933, and over the Puerto de Ibaneta to Pamplona - a very nice road where the old bad bits have been completely resurfaced. From Pamplona we just followed the motorway past Gasteiz Vitoria to Bilbao and Santander, arriving with time to spare. We didn't actually all arrive together, traffic was heavy into Santander and those with wider panniers couldn't filter through as quickly as others. As a result we got split up just before the ferry terminal and arrived in dribs and drabs, not actually meeting up again until we were on the ferry.

 

 

One by one we "checked-in" to our cabins and then headed to the bar to meet up. Except we appeared to be short to the tune of two - there was no sign of Pete or Gaz.

 

Now there are three sides to every story: yours...mine...and the truth, however this is the version that the rest of us were given by Pete and Gaz. They had decided to miss Pamplona and take the direct route to Santander via Biarritz and the coastal motorway. Somewhere between the hotel and St. Jean Pete's immobiliser button fell off his key ring so when they stopped for fuel and breakfast in St. Jean they couldn't restart his bike. It took them 3 hours to remove the bike plastics, find the wiring loom and remove the immobiliser from it. Now St. Jean isn't a big town but the rest of us had managed to miss them because we'd turned left up the D933 and they'd stopped a couple of hundred yards after the turning.

 

They didn't leave St. Jean until midday however this still left them enough time to get to Santander before 3.15pm to catch our 4.00pm ferry - it was 185 miles and 150 of that was motorway and they were both riding Honda Blackbirds which will cruise at 100+ without a problem.

 

Somehow they had got it into their heads that the 4.00pm departure time marked on the ticket meant 5.00pm local time. At 4.25pm Phil got a call asking where we were and where was the ferry? The answer was that we were in the bar, on the ferry, that had left 25 minutes ago. "Oh dear" was the response - "I suppose we'll have to stay the night and catch the next crossing tomorrow". Phil informed them that the next sailing wasn't until Thursday. There was a stunned silence at the other end of the phone before a "we'll speak later" and the line dropping.

 

 

In the event after a bit of phoning around they managed to get themselves booked on the next day's - Tuesday - sailing on the P&O ferry from Bilbao to Portsmouth. And they were lucky to get on that crossing because Europe's biggest gay festival, held in Madrid, had just finished and virtually all the bike spaces had already been booked by the UK attendees who were returning home. Mind you Pete and Gaz looked a lovely couple with their matching silver Blackbirds.

 

The moral of the story: probably take a spare key...definitely read the ferry ticket properly!

 

 

 

Day 8: Sun 1st July 2007

 

Ride: St. Lary to Esterencuby - 215 miles

 

Before we left St. Lary this morning Madame presented us with two apple pies for the onward journey. Also Chris B, who dropped his bike on loose gravel yesterday, had a broken bracket that held the rear brake lever. Madame's father ran the local garage and she arranged for him to make a temporary repair - he refused to accept any money for this.

 

Today saw us heading over the Col de Portet d'Aspet again and west across the Pyrenees to Esterencuby, about 5 miles from St. Jean Pied de Port. However we were split on how to get there. Pete and Gaz decided to go the most direct route while the rest of us decided to go the scenic route through Bagneres de Luchon and over the Col de Peyresourde - on the D618 - to Arreau. From Arreau we picked up the D918 and rode over the Col d'Aspin, Col du Soulor and Col du Tourmalet to Luz St. Sauveur. The Peyresourde, d'Aspin and Tourmalet were all enjoyable and for Phil it was his second time to ride over them, having ridden them last in 2005.

 

At the top of the Tourmalet we stopped for a coffee and watched all the cyclists we'd passed on the way up grind their way to the summit. Unfortunately we rode straight past the classic Tourmalet photo opportunity - "Le Geant du Tourmalet" or "The Giant of Tourmalet" - a giant steel sculpture of a naked man on a bicycle. It was created by Jean Bernard Metais to commemorate the first passage of the Tour de France across the pass in 1910.

 

 

The Peyresourde did highlight one issue to be aware of when driving in France and that is they often patch roads up and leave a lot of loose gravel around the repair - a nightmare when the gravel is left mid corner. We came across one patch of road later on where they just appeared to have dumped tons and tons of gravel over a 4 mile stretch and it was like riding on marbles.

 

At Luz St. Saveur the weather had closed in to the west, just where we were planning on riding over Col d'Aubisque to Laruns. Unfortunately we made the mistake of continuing with the planned route - when we got above 1,300m we were in thick cloud and could see next to nothing. The road surface over the d'Aubisque was dreadful, very narrow and deformed, and not recommended - not even for a car. From Laruns we just hacked our way across country to Esterencuby where we received a miserable welcome at Hotel des Sources de la Nive from a hatched faced old woman and her equally unpleasant daughter.

 

Without doubt this is the worst hotel we have ever stayed at which is a shame because the location is good and very picturesque, the rooms are clean and comfortable, and the food is very good. Sadly the attitude of the staff sucks and they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a service industry relying on people skills.

 

 

 

Day 7: Sat 30th June 2007

 

Ride: Andorra - 248 miles

 

Today the plan was to ride a 250 mile loop that would take us out from St. Lary, into and through Andorra - entering on the French side and leaving on the Spanish side - and back again. Unfortunately Pete couldn't make it, he was in quite a bit of pain from an old shoulder injury that had been playing up for the last couple of days, and so he decided to give today's ride out a miss. The vast quantity of wine he consumed last night may also have contributed to his absence.

 

Meanwhile, for those that had them, the rest fought off their hangovers with coffee and croissants, saddled up, and left St. Lary heading east down the D618 to St. Girons, through Massat, and up to the Col de Port.

 

 

It's only 40 miles or so from St. Lary to the top of the Col but heavy holiday traffic and a local cycle race turned a 70-80 minute ride into a couple of hours. Also, having 7 riders in the group all trying to make overtakes in the heavy traffic made it tricky for those at the back to stay in touch with the lead riders. Whoever happened to be tail end Charlie had to work very hard to make all the overtakes and still stay in touch with the riders at the front, so there was a lot of jostling for position. Needless to say by the time we got to the top we were ready for a coffee break.

 

 

Fully refreshed we left the top of the Col and had a pleasant ride down to the N20 where we turned left heading south towards Tarascon.

 

 

The N20 had heavy traffic until beyond Ax-les-Thermes. This is a superb biking road and since much of the traffic decided to use the tunnels into Andorra, we were able to crack on up and over the Port d'Envalira - at 2,407m it's the highest surfaced pass in the Pyrenees. In fact the traffic wasn't a problem again until we got near the customs post and the busy ski resort of Pas de la Casa.

 

After we'd made our way through the ski resort we dropped down the CG-2 - Carretera General - to Andorra la Vella where we looked for somewhere to stop for lunch.

 

 

After lunch in Andorra we split into two groups. Chris B, Cat, Gaz and Mark wanted to go looking for cheap leathers and lids while Kyle, Phil and Chris P wanted to push on. The main drag through Andorra la Vella isn't much fun, it was very busy and very hot, and it was a relief to get to the customs post and cross into Spain. We took the N145 briefly to La Seu d'Urgell where we turned right onto the N260 towards Adrall, staying on it to Sort. The N260 has to be one of the best roads in Europe whether you are in a car or on a bike - 29 miles across the mountains on a well surfaced road with plenty of bends to play with, as you cross the Coll del Canto.

 

From Sort the road - the C13/C28 - to Sorpe is equally good, and then you climb up the Port de la Bonaigua and down to Vielha. The road over the top was a bit hit and miss as there were extensive roadworks and it was here that one of our group had his front wheel wash out on loose gravel - luckily only at low speed so the only damage was a scuffed fairing and a broken bracket holding the rear brake lever. The road down from the ski resort just below the pass at the top wasn't much better and also had a pretty poor surface.

 

From Vielha the road back to St. Lary, at least for Kyle, Phil and Chris P, was the same as the night before - Vielha to St. Beat where we turned right over the Col de Mente and then over the Col de Portet d'Aspet to St. Lary. However the group behind had misprogrammed their GPS for the shortest route. The result was they ended up following loose gravel forestry tracks for most of the way back. GPS is useful but it's only as good as you programme it to be! Chris B, Cat, Gaz and Mark finally rolled in 90 minutes after the others.

 

 

 

Day 6: Fri 29th June 2007

 

Ride: Urdos to St. Lary - 255 miles

 

This morning we rode north from Urdos up the N134 to Escot, and then east over the Col de Marie Blanque on the D924 to Bielle. The N134 is an excellent road but the pass over the D924 is nothing to write home about. From Bielle we headed south on the D934 to Laruns and on to the Col du Pourtalet.

 

Whether you are going south from Laruns on the French side, as we were, or heading north up from Biescas on the Spanish side, the Pourtalet is a wonderful Col to ride. It's tight at the bottom if you're coming from Laruns but as it climbs it opens out and you get some wonderful views. In a car you would be stuck behind slower traffic until the pass opens out but you could enjoy the road further up. On a bike though traffic is rarely a problem for more than a minute or so.

 

 

While the D924 pass road over the Marie Blanque was nothing to write home about, the D934 over the Pourtalet is spectacular, and so are the views as you can see from the photos below.

 

On the way up the Pourtalet the group got spilt in two and by the time Chris B, Pete, Kyle and Phil got to the top there was no sign of the others and rather than chasing after them it seemed like a good place to take a break, so they stopped for a coffee and took in the views.

 

 

 

Meanwhile Cat, Chris P, Gaz and Mark had also stopped for a coffee - on the Spanish side of the Pourtalet - and were waiting.

 

 

From the Pourtalet we then rode down to Biescas and took the N260 through Broto to Boltana. The first part was ok but beyond Broto the road surface deteriorated significantly until a few miles before Boltana and we wouldn't recommend this road for car drivers. You could be stuck for miles behind a coach or something similar. Before Boltana the road has been modernised and becomes a very fast road for the next 20 miles or so until it dips into a gorge near Campo, where the scenery was quite spectacular, to Castjon de Sos.

 

At Castejon the N260 continues over two nice Cols - Coll de Fadas and Coll de Espina - until it joins the N230 where we headed north to Vielha and back into France. From Boltana onwards a car driver could enjoy this road, although through the gorge it could get a bit slow - it took quite a bit of time for all of us to get past a convoy of two tankers and four cars. The N230 is a fast modern road but you have to sit and suffer through a long dusty tunnel before Vielha.

 

After Vielha it was fast untilI we reached St. Beat where we turned right over the Col de Mente - a typical hairpin pass Col - and then over the Col de Portet d'Aspet to St. Lary.

 

Both of these Cols have memorials to Tour de France riders. On the eastern side of the Mente there's a plaque for the Spanish rider Luis Ocaña, who crashed out on the 14th stage of the 1971 race while he was wearing the leaders yellow jersey. And going up the Portet d'Aspet we noticed another larger memorial with fresh flowers on it. This is for Fabio Casartelli, an Olympic gold medal winning cyclist from Italy who tragically died descending the pass on the 15th stage of the 1995 race.

 

 

At St. Lary we stayed at Auberge a l'Isard. This hotel is run by a very friendly family, it's clean and comfortable with good food, and it comes recommended.

 

 

 

Day 5: Thur 28th June 2007

 

Ride: Sorede to Urdos - 314 miles

 

Pete, Kyle and Cat had about a 5 hour ride in front of them and they were going to take the most direct route from Sorede to Urdos. This meant that most of the day would be spent on motorways. Picking up the A9/E15 and the A61/E80 they would head towards Toulouse for approximately 135 miles, before picking up the A64/E80 and heading towards Pau for the best part of another 100 miles. However, from Pau they would pick up the N134/E7 for the final run up to Urdos - a very pleasant 40 miles or so. The E7 is a spectacular biking road and the run from Pau, through Oloron Ste. Marie, and up to Urdos would be their reward. For Pete though - who was suffering with a hangover from hell - it was going to be a long painful day.

Ride: Santander to Urdos - 262 miles

 

Meanwhile Chris B, Phil, Chris P, Gaz and Mark were making their way from the ferry in Santander. After disembarking the ferry they hopped onto the E70 for about 10 miles, heading towards Valdecilla, and then turned onto the CA161/CA261 and over the Puerto de Alisas. From there they rode through Arredondo to Ramales de la Victoria picking up the N269/Bi-630 to Balmaseda.

 

 

The scenery on the Bi-630 was very pretty and the road surface good, but on the hilly bits traffic tended to build up behind slower drivers - not really a problem on a bike though. From Balmaseda they headed for Arceniega on the N624 - although listed as an N road the surface was very poor. From Arceniega they continued on the N624 through Amurrio and joined the AP-68 at Urquillo. This road was an improvement on the N624 and was excellent, with fast sweepers and a good surface.

 

They then took the motorway, and then dual carriageways N622/N1 and A2134/N104 to bypass Gasteiz Vitoria and get on the A132 riding through Campezo and Acedo to Estella. This was a terrific road with very little traffic. From Estella they took the N111/Na-601/N121/Na-234 to join the N240 a couple of miles north of Monreal, heading south-east. The first 24 miles of the N240 are nondescript but at Yesa the road runs around the Embalse de Yesa - a reservoir - and then to Jaca 38 miles away, a great bit of road. From Jaca they turned north and up the N330/E7 to Canfranc.

 

Avoiding the tunnel you pass through Canfranc Estacion and then up and over the Col du Somport rejoining the main road, which on the French side becomes the N134, a few miles from Urdos. The road up from Jaca is good but the pass road going up on the Spanish side is spectacular with wide, well surfaced, constant radius corners.

 

 

We all met up in Urdos late at Hotel des Voyageurs late in the afternoon with the "Millau" group arriving first and the "Santander" group arriving an hour or so later.

 

 

 

Urdos is the proverbial one horse town with nothing to do or nowhere to go outside of the hotel, however the hotel itself is fine. It is reasonably priced, with reasonable food, and the staff are friendly and helpful.

 

 

 

Day 4: Wed 27th June 2007

 

Ride: Collioure - Day off

 

Today was Cat's 40th birthday and Pete, Kyle and Cat had planned to take the day off and spend it by the seaside. Aside from a short 14 mile round trip to the supermarket so Pete could pick up some essentials they didn't ride anywhere today, and instead they took a taxi into Collioure - a busy seaside town a few miles from Sorede. Collioure is a beautiful little town that's famed for art and culture, and is a popular tourist destination with a good market every Wednesday and Sunday.

 

Their day started off innocently enough and saw them wandering aimlessly around the town, and then the market, trying to justify the first beer. It didn't take long before they cracked and an early lunch soon became a boozy afternoon, until finally they staggered back into the hotel sometime after 2.00am.

 

Ride: Bewdley to Plymouth - 201 miles

 

Meanwhile today was also the day that Chris B, Phil, Chris P, Gaz and Mark kicked off their tour and this morning saw them riding down to Plymouth to catch the overnight ferry to Santander. After an uneventful ride down the M5 they arrived at the ferry terminal with plenty of time to spare, and boarded the ferry that was to be their home for the next 18 hours or so.

 

 

 

Day 3: Tue 26th June 2007

 

Ride: Millau to Sorede - 233 miles

 

Considering the nearly 700 miles that they covered yesterday Pete, Kyle and Cat felt suprisingly good this morning. After a lie in and a late breakfast, what was left of the morning was spent stretching their legs wandering around Millau. It turns out that besides the famous bridge Millau is also well known for glove making, the production of Roquefort cheese, it's the main centre in France for paragliding...and it's twinned with Bridlington.

 

Millau and the surrounding area is very scenic and warranted more photos but they were keen to get to Collioure and only managed to take a couple of token pictures. Below are a couple of photos that were taken from the bar-restaurant that they ate at last night. The one on the left is looking across the road at their bikes parked in front of the last night's hotel. The one on the right is looking towards Millau town centre.

 

 

The destination today was Sorede, near the coastal town of Perpignan. They didn't have a specific route planned however they did want to take a look at Millau's biggest attraction, "Le Viaduc de Millau" or "The Millau Viaduct". Designed by Norman Foster, it's a road bridge that spans the valley of the river Tarn and is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with the tallest mast atop pylon peaking at 343m above the valley floor. The viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute from Paris to Beziers and was opened to traffic on 17th December, 2004. There is a viewing area on the northern side of the viaduct.

 

Below are some views of the viaduct but unfortunately the weather was very overcast in the morning and none of the photos that were taken did it any justice.

 

 

 

It costs €5.60 - €7.40 during the peak months of July and August - for light vehicles to cross the bridge but Pete, Kyle and Cat wanted to ride underneath the viaduct and along the Tarn Valley instead.

 

 

Whether by luck or good judgment the decision to take the valley road was absolutely the right one. From Millau all the way to Albi it's 60 miles or so of pretty much perfectly surfaced, traffic free D-roads that swoop up and down the valley. It really is a terrific biking road and possibly one of the best in France. Unfortunately they enjoyed it so much they didn't stop to get their cameras out.

 

From Albi they made their way to the motorway and picked up the A61/E80 and then A9/E15 pretty much all the way into Sorede. The side winds that gusted across the A9/E15 were quite unpleasant but apart from that the rest of the ride was incident free. Except for Pete's mad half hour when he started riding towards Carcassonne instead of Perpignan, and Kyle and Cat had to chase him down and point him in the right direction. In fairness they had been talking about visiting Carcassonne - at some point - and Pete had got it into his head that that was where they were staying tonight.

 

It was nearly 8.00pm when they checked into Hotel Saint Jacques and they were glad to get out of their leathers, get showered and changed, and get something to eat. The hotel was nice enough, clean and comfortable with pleasant staff, although the restaurant was closed when they got there. Fortunately there were a couple of places to eat in the town, only a few minutes walk from the hotel.

 

 

 

Day 2: Mon 25th June 2007

 

Ride: Caen to Millau - 678 miles

 

At 6.00am this morning soft music was piped through to the cabin and Pete, Kyle and Cat were gently woken from their slumber. The tune was called "It Can't Be That Time Already", and for those that had hardly slept, they were glad it was that time already - there may need to be some cabin changes on the return journey from Santander. After a good breakfast it was back to the cabin to put on damp leathers and waterproofs and pick up the luggage. Unfortunately the weather this morning didn't look promising but despite this Kyle still refused to put his waterproofs on. The luggage was loaded onto the bikes and they waited for the ferry to dock. Everything was going like clockwork.

 

Last night everyone had fuelled up before getting on the ferry and as soon as it docked they were on the road and rolling. It wasn't long after this that the confusion started. Last year the only person that knew where they were going was Phil because nobody else had a GPS. This year Kyle had a brand new TomTom Rider and he had the route to Millau planned. The GPS predicted that it was 498 miles to Millau and they would arrive at 4.00pm. It directed them to take the A88 and continue for 30 miles before joining the A28 signposted Le Mans. From there continue for another 15 miles and join the A11 signposted Paris. From there it was A28, A10, D976, N76, A71 and then a couple of long stretches on the A75 and D911.

 

However, it didn't seem to make any sense to ride towards Paris to then go south so the GPS was overruled and instead they took the A84 signposted Rennes and would face the consequences.

 

Meanwhile the rain had started lashing it down to the point where Pete and Cat forced Kyle to put his waterproofs on. The theory went that it wouldn't stop raining until he did. So he did, and it duly did. The rain stopped and the sun finally made an appearance at midday by which time leathers and luggage had started to dry out. They were making good time employing a splash 'n dash technique at fuel stations, stopping every 100 miles for fuel with 10 minute breaks. Apart from the rain the ride was fairly uneventful although the closer you get to the Pyrenees the more dramatic and stunning the scenery becomes.

 

 

As the rain clouds cleared so did everyone's heads because it dawned on them that they really should have listened to the GPS. By time they arrived in Millau they had covered 678 miles in a little under 12 hours and the consequence of not listening to the GPS had been an additional 180 miles and 3 hours of riding. They finally rolled into Millau shortly before 7.30pm and checked into Hotel du Commerce in the centre of Millau.

 

The hotel was clean, comfortable and located in the centre of Millau, but parking wasn't secure and the bikes were left on the street in front of the hotel.

 

 

 

Day 4: Wed 27th June 2007

 

Ride: Collioure - Day off

 

Today was Cat's 40th birthday and Pete, Kyle and Cat had planned to take the day off and spend it by the seaside. Aside from a short 14 mile round trip to the supermarket so Pete could pick up some essentials they didn't ride anywhere today, and instead they took a taxi into Collioure - a busy seaside town a few miles from Sorede. Collioure is a beautiful little town that's famed for art and culture, and is a popular tourist destination with a good market every Wednesday and Sunday.

 

Their day started off innocently enough and saw them wandering aimlessly around the town, and then the market, trying to justify the first beer. It didn't take long before they cracked and an early lunch soon became a boozy afternoon, until finally they staggered back into the hotel sometime after 2.00am.

 

Ride: Bewdley to Plymouth - 201 miles

 

Meanwhile today was also the day that Chris B, Phil, Chris P, Gaz and Mark kicked off their tour and this morning saw them riding down to Plymouth to catch the overnight ferry to Santander. After an uneventful ride down the M5 they arrived at the ferry terminal with plenty of time to spare, and boarded the ferry that was to be their home for the next 18 hours or so.