Pyrenees/Alps Tour – 2011 - Route Mileage Summary

[andyshooter]

Pyrenees/Alps Tour – 2011 - Route Mileage Summary

Day 1 Sunday Aberdare to Plymouth 170 miles

Day 2 Monday, Santander to Jaca 250 miles

Day 3 Tuesday Jaca to Pamiers 230 miles

Day 4 Wed Morning - Pamiers to Milau 136 miles

Day 4 Wed Afternoon – Milau to Trans en Provence 217 miles

Day 5 Thursday Trans to Barcelonnette 209 miles

Day 6 Friday Barcelonnette to Lons le Saunier 294 miles

Day 7 Saturday Lons le Saunier to Reims 243 miles

Day 8 Sunday Reims to Aberdare 447 miles

2,196 miles
well what do you think of this for a week away with the boys?

 

[Rasher]

A whole lot of motorway / main routes and very little time for mountain passes IMHO.

I spent over a week just exploring a fraction of the Alps (it covers an area larger than the entire UK, with over 300 passes to explore) The Pyreness is smaller (but still around the size of England) I would concentrate on one or two closer together locations, you could stop in Barcelonnette and spend 4 days riding great roads from that one base (same goes for Martigny, Andermatt and a dozen other Alpine towns)

You have over 400 miles to get to the Pyrenees, another 300 to get from the Pyrenees to the Alps and over 600 to get back home from the Alps, so well over half your mileage is on relatively dull roads or Motorways.

Looking at your route you get a full day in the Pyrenees on day 3, and two good days in the alps on days 5&6, the rest is just running from place to place so you get 3 great days out of your 8.


Why not just go to the Pyrenees (maybe via the Pico's as they are right next to Santander) and spend a week there enjoying day after day on great roads with amazing scenery This should provide twice as many great days and reduce "in-transit" miles from 1300 to around 500.

Check out some of the tour reviews on this very site and maybe buy the "Motorcycle Journey's through the Alps and Beyond" book - which also covers the Pyreness and Pico's.

Of course it is your holiday and if you really wanna get to both places in the one trip that is fine too, I just think from a riding perspective the time could be better used if you narrow down the scope of your trip.

 

[wildbeeste]

A whole lot of motorway / main routes and very little time for mountain passes IMHO.

I spent over a week just exploring a fraction of the Alps (it covers an area larger than the entire UK, with over 300 passes to explore) The Pyreness is smaller (but still around the size of England) I would concentrate on one or two closer together locations, you could stop in Barcelonnette and spend 4 days riding great roads from that one base (same goes for Martigny, Andermatt and a dozen other Alpine towns)

You have over 400 miles to get to the Pyrenees, another 300 to get from the Pyrenees to the Alps and over 600 to get back home from the Alps, so well over half your mileage is on relatively dull roads or Motorways.

Looking at your route you get a full day in the Pyrenees on day 3, and two good days in the alps on days 5&6, the rest is just running from place to place so you get 3 great days out of your 8.


Why not just go to the Pyrenees (maybe via the Pico's as they are right next to Santander) and spend a week there enjoying day after day on great roads with amazing scenery This should provide twice as many great days and reduce "in-transit" miles from 1300 to around 500.

Check out some of the tour reviews on this very site and maybe buy the "Motorcycle Journey's through the Alps and Beyond" book - which also covers the Pyreness and Pico's.

Of course it is your holiday and if you really wanna get to both places in the one trip that is fine too, I just think from a riding perspective the time could be better used if you narrow down the scope of your trip.

+!

 

[Jockser]

Why not just go to the Pyrenees

Pyrenees & Alps are 2 different trips. Unless you count passing through as 'doing' either
A week would give you a nice loop from Santander around the Pyrenees & back to Santander

 

[sven]

Pyrenees & Alps are 2 different trips. Unless you count passing through as 'doing' either
A week would give you a nice loop from Santander around the Pyrenees & back to Santander

I organised a trip to the Pyrenees for a group of friends from the VFR club in 2007 and it is easy to combine the two:

Zeebrugge
Troyes
Limoges (a very dull days riding from Troyes using A roads)
Bagnores du Luchon (in Pyrenees for three nights)
Carcasonne (two nights, although we saw it all on the first evening)
Le Puy en Velay via Millau Bridge
Briancon via Col du Bonette etc.
Annecy (two nights) via Col du Galibier and Col Du L'Iseron
Nancy via Vosges mountains
Zeebrugge

The only thing I would have changed was the ride down - it'd have been better to catch the ferry to Spain. The ride back via Millau, Massif Central and Alps was fantastic though

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

+!

+2

 

[cookie]

Pyrenees & Alps are 2 different trips. Unless you count passing through as 'doing' either
A week would give you a nice loop from Santander around the Pyrenees & back to Santander

yup. forget the alps.

 

[Rasher]

I organised a trip to the Pyrenees for a group of friends from the VFR club in 2007 and it is easy to combine the two:

Of course you can combine them, I could ride through Cornwall, Devon, Wales, the Peak District, the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland National Park, The Scottish Borders, Scottish Lowlands, Scottish Highlands, Yorkshire Moors and the Norfolk Broads all in a single weekend - which is probably less miles than riding from one end of the Alps to the other in a straight line.

If you only have one chance to see them "both" then it can be done as a whistlestop tour, but there are so many great roads and routes, especially in the Alps that I think you could spend 3 months there riding on new roads every day without having a single day that is anything less than brilliant.

The "best" of the Pyrenees can probably be done in a week, the Vosges / Pico's are no more than a few days worth of riding each if taking in the highlights, as is the Black Forest. This year is my second 8-9 day Alpine Trip and I reckon I need another 3-4 similar trips just to cover the highlights and "must ride" passes - then I would like to revisit my favourites and scope out a few lesser known routes - should keep me busy until the oil runs out

 

[sven]

Sadly, most of us only have time for "whistlestop" 1-2 week tours (I only get abroad on the bike every other year ), so I do a lot of research, try to pick the best roads along the route and overnight stops in interesting towns. In the 2700 mile trip to the Pyrenees we only did 200 motorway miles into/out of Zeebrugge, rode both the Spanish and French side of the Pyrenees and most of the highest passes in the French Alps.

Same again with last years tour of the Alps and next years tour to Morocco (probably)

 

[andyshooter]

THANKS for the replies guys, I didn't plan the trip but going with the flow of the other guys so I will let you know how it went when we get back, Its my first bike trip abroad.

 

[Rasher]

THANKS for the replies guys, I didn't plan the trip but going with the flow of the other guys so I will let you know how it went when we get back, Its my first bike trip abroad.

It will be tremendous whatever you do, generally I find riding in Europe so much more relaxing, your on Holiday, better roads, little traffic, warm welcome for bikes everywhere and no real fear of plodski (worst that can happen is a fine unless your going f**** mental).

Have a great time

 

[SteveBSW]

Doing a similar trip myself.
Plymouth to Santander. Picos(Potes area) for a couple of days. Then through the Pyrenees, Head north then back to Plymouth on the Roscoff ferry on 9 June.
I try to stick to the back roads, dont really plan much just make it up as I go along. Was thinking of going through the Alps but might save that for another trip.
Have a good 1.