Advice/thoughts,Please

[cjw]

A mate and I are starting to think about next year’s tour..as you do at this time of year !.The plan is to land at Santander or Bilbao in May,bimble” around Spain and Portugal for about seven days or so then sail back to the UK by the same route.Although my mate has been to the Moto piston event a few times and knows north west Spain, he's never been south. I've never ridden in Spain.
My mate particularly wants to see Santiago de Compostella and Gibraltar apart from these locations, we are open to suggestions. We are not looking for advice on particular routes,we'll just look at the map and play it by ear,what we would like is suggestions regarding smallish towns with a decent selection of bars for overnight stops and sights.We are not into camping or any "off road " stuff.
Has anyone any thoughts or experiences’ on places to that must be seen or, just as importantly, avoided!.
Thanks in anticipation
Craig

 

[stick]

Never been to the places you wish to go but look at the Pyrenees its awesome , fantastic roads, views and places to stay , if you need any routes for this area pm me and will send , if not, no worries as im sure you will get answers from others. Not the best answer for you post but ..........................

 

[sidestand]

It's a fair way down to Gibralter from Santander - If you're planning on bimbling down on back roads, 7 days isn't that long - and you could lose one of those with the ferry timings - it's generally a 5.00 pm docking at Santander, so you won't get far the first night (Potes in the Picos is nice though )

 

[wideparting]

firstly dont go to bilbao,go to santander.your on the boat for f--ckin hours,and sometimes the boat will pull into france to change crew.i always get the sunday 4pm from plymouth gets into santander 11am monday.then onto the must do n623 to burgos,after that the worlds your lobster.if you get to gib the cannon hotel is basic but cheap with a nice full english in the morning.and in the middle near the pubs etc. hth. if you need any more advice pm me.

 

[pedro]

I would set your mind on one or the other, there's quite a lot of ground to cover there, and as previously said, you miss the best part of your first day. I've been to Santiago a few times and it has absolutely lashed with rain, something that's quite common up on that coastline.
Best thing to do in the towns is get as close to the centre as possible and look for the one star 'hostals'. Theyre usually quite cheap and family run. Last trip I did to Spain in June, we mostly just pitched up in town and logged onto Trip Advisor from our phones to choose accomodation.
Enjoy !

 

[Oliwoof]

I can highly recommend an overnight or two at the Paintshop Hostel in Figueira da Foz www.paintshophostel.com Steve and Debbie will look after you well and they have a secure place for bike parking. Visited Portugal for the first time this year and was well impressed with the scenery and roads. Happy planning!

Cheers Phil.

http://www.pyreneesmotorcycletours.com

ride the best roads

 

[cjw]

Thank you very much for the very helpful replies chaps,this trip is clearly going to take a bit more planning than our usual jaunts to France,no big deal,yet !,as there's plenty of time to do it,
Thanks again
Craig

 

[masterman21]

Definitely Santander. Brittany ferries go from Portsmouth and Plymouth. If you planning Gib you got to go to Ronda. Grazalema national park above Rhonda has excellent roads. Also Ronda down to the coast A376 to Marbella is pretty good !

 

[Wapping]

Look at your map, the one you are using to plot your routes to bimble down through Portugal and Spain.

Santander, to Santiago, to Gibraltar is (off the top of my head) about 1000 miles. It's also a thousand miles back. 2000 miles in seven days is 285 miles a day. Easily achievable, using reasonable roads providing you start reasonably early each day and don't stop to press too many wild flowers.

BUT! Whoa, a moment, Neddy. You may not have seven days at all. Assuming you want to spend at least a day seeing something in Santiago and Gibraltar, you have now got five days, which is 400 miles a day. You may not even have five if your first and / or seventh day are not full days if you have to get off ( or get back onto) the ferry.

So, at best, you are going to be riding (probably not bimbling as you suggested you would be doing) for about 400 miles a day, every day..... And you are now looking for smallish towns spread over your 2000 mile route to while away the evenings in, sipping beers? I guess you are probably seeing the possible problem?

But, hold fast, you can do it.......perhaps......

On the Dashes to Morroco, we rode from Bordeaux in France to near enough Gibraltar in a day. So that is right across the Pyrenees barrier and right across Spain, north to south. But we didn't bimble and we didn't stop to sip beers en route. So, if you exclude (or at least moderate) the bimbling part of your cunning plan, it may well work.

Now, what to do? Fortunately you have some time before next year. We might guess you are not going in January or February, which is good as you have at least three months to get something sorted out and, if nothing else, it will be considerably warmer in the spring and summer.

The straight line distances A to B to C and back to A, probably won't reduce that much between today and whenever you set off. If you plan on taking in very 'must see' village over the two thousand miles journey then the two thousand miles journey will get longer, not shorter.

Then work out the maximum number of days you have to complete the two thousand miles, but remembering to subtract the periods you want to spend in B and C, seeing the things your mate and you want to see. The balance of time to cover the 2000 mile distance will then dictate your roads ridden (or bimbled) and above all where you might well end up each night to sip your beers. If you get a tip of a 'great town, mate' then don't exclude it. All you might have to do is slap in a chunk of non-bimble riding to get there (from wherever you are) as the sun sets slowly in the west.

As I say, it can be done.... But the how is now down to you

 

[sven]

Another point is whether you want to "see" Santiago and Gibraltar or "visit" them - 285 miles a day doesn't give you much time to properly visit your destinations. Personally I'd either concentrate on the south or the north west given the time you have available. The north also has other classical cities to visit (Salmanca, Segovia, Avila etc.) and the Picos on the way to/from Santiago

 

[karlp]

Depends on how many miles you consider ok to do in a day.

From where you are it is a reasonable treck to either Portsmouth or Plymouth but can be done in a day easily IF the ferry timings are ok.

Portsmouth leaves at approx 4:00 pm so ok to travel that day.
Next day on Ferry arriving at 17:30 - if it is ok in the Bay of Biscay - if not then there will be a delay.

The road to Burgos MUST be done in daylight to appreciate it fully so you will need a hotel in Santander.

You can see how the days are quickly disappearing.

Personally I would stay in the Extramedura region unless there is an absolute necessisity to ride up a rock, see monkeys and ride across a runway. I found Gibralter not worth the effort but that is just my opinion.

Ronda is great , avoid Seville.

The extreme north west is always wet (worse than UK)

 

[Wapping]

Another point is whether you want to "see" Santiago and Gibraltar or "visit" them - 285 miles a day doesn't give you much time to properly visit your destinations.

Which is exactly why I upped it from 285 to 400 miles a day

 

[Steptoe]

I bimbled to Santiago last year. [URL="http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282726&highlight=moto"]Here[/URL].
I would ride all along the northern coast road to la Coruna then head south to Santiago . A very very very leisurely and enjoyable two day bimble to get there. Or you could do it in a day just bimbling normally.

Once you're past Gijon the roads empty and you can bimble (and eat heartily along the way) your little cotton socks off.

To ride to Gib and back via santiago in 7 days couldn't be classified as a bimble. I'd call it more of a gentle "hurry up" trip.

 

[Steptoe]

- 285 miles a day doesn't give you much time to properly visit your destinations.

Depends. Up and away at 7am you can comfortably have 250 miles under your tyres before early lunch.

 

[Grizzly]

Too Much??

We also did Northern Spain this year, Mainly Galicia (incl. Santiago) but also a few days inland and a few days in the Picos (we'd been there before) - but we were away for 20 days
So as somebody else suggested pick north or south but not both and then enjoy the stunning roads and scenery. Galicia, Asturia & Cantabria are beautiful and unspoilt and offer stunning coasts and mountains.
Another suggestion which may help your timetable for a shorter trip - the long haul ferries to Bilbao/Santander leave you with a lot of time on a ferry & not on the bike & they sail only every few days so timing is not easy. This year we crossed to St Malo then used the little-known LD lines overnight crossing from St. Nazaire in France to Gijon in Spain.
It's a great crossing. sails at 21:00 and arrives at 1200 next day (both directions) - so that covers a nights accommodation each way. We had an outside cabin for about £120 return for bike/rider/passenger. Good, reasonable price grub on board.
From where you guys are you could possibly leave home AM, get a short/fast ferry to France, then ferry from St. Nazaire and your in a great area of Spain at lunchtime next day

Cheers ...........Grizzly

 

[Steptoe]

. This year we crossed to St Malo then used the little-known LD lines overnight crossing from St. Nazaire in France to Gijon in Spain.
:

That's the crossing i took in the ride report link in the post before yours

I didn't book in advance, just turned up and the nice lady gave me a lorry driver discount so i had a cheaper crossing. .

 

[Grizzly]

So You Did!

Hadn't read your report Neil - we had pre-booked the ferries but I think there was plenty room if you just arrived on spec. What did you think of the ferry? - we enjoyed it - a bit simpler & straightforward than most overnight ferries and a friendly/relaxed atmosphere on board.
The idea was to enjoy a couple of days bimbling in France but I have to admit this year they were getting the same shite weather as the UK in the summer

Cheers....................Grizzly

 

[cjw]

Once again thanks for all the posts and the pm from John (jaws100),interesting and more importantly,some good points made,all very helpful stuff.
I quite like Steptoe's route to Spain, it must be better than spending 24 hours on a boat, its a bike trip after all.
Also, as pointed out, perhaps Gibraltar is too far for a seven day trip.I don't want to do more than 250 ish miles a day. We've done a couple of trips to France in the past where to get to the nice bits in the south we've done big motorway mileage, a pain in the backside,literally!.
Steptoe,I sort of think an extension lead might be useful,though I can't just put my finger on how yet....but a whisk?, that's really "beaten" me!
Craig

 

[Wapping]

Have a look at http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197540&highlight=miss

 

[cjw]

Wapping..thanks for the link,although I always enjoy well written ride reports,I've never read one with itemised billing before!. Seriously, I don't think we will be going that way,at least on the outward journey, nevertheless,it was good reading.

Although its still early days yet, I our provisional plan is to travel to do the Portsmouth-St Malo-St Naziare-Gijon route down.Then Santiago,a bit of Portugal,back into Spain but possibly only as far south as Madrid.

Yet to be decided is which places to visit apart from these two and the route back.We might bite the bullet and take the Santander-Portsmouth ferry to give us more time in Spain,though I'm not impressed with the thought of 24 hrs on a ferry.

Craig