Pyrenees in June

[Phil Magill]

Hi,

I am planning a similar trip at the moment


I was working on ferry from Dublin - Holyhead on Sat 5th June then a liesurely journey through Wales to Plymouth for the 4pm sailing on Sunday 6th, arrive in Santander around lunch time on Monday 7th then spend a few days camping around the Picos, then making my way through France to get the ferry from Cherbourg / Roscoff on 19th June.


I've done some rough costing :-


Dublin - Holyhead

1 + Bike £45 / 2 + 2 bikes £90



Plymouth - Sandtander (inc 2 berth cabin)

1 + Bike £237 / 2 + 2 bikes £385




Cherbourg / Roscoff - Rosslare (inc 2 berth cabin)


1 + Bike £170 / 2 + 2 bikes £260



Total


1 + Bike £452 / 2 + 2 bikes £735


I haven't booked any ferries yet but hope this helps.


Phil.

 

[de crowe]

no more than the "rain in spain "etc., the wine is fine!!

we did Dun L - Holyhead, Plymouth-Santander but after the sickness vowed never to venture across the Bay of Biscay again!
If we were going again (and have done since) would always go Rosslare-Cherbourg - you dock in Cherbourg around 11am and can easily make Santander by nightfall.... Granted it's a motorway slog but I'd rather ride on motorway than puke on a boat!

p.s. PLUS, unless the ferry times have changed it's hard to make the Plymouth ferry from Holyhead in one day easily - nearly always requires an overnight in England or good luck with the traffic! The way I see it you can leave NI one morning and make Spain the following evening if you Rosslare-Cher.

I agree very much with David on this. there are (or were until recently) three choices on ferries to france in june, cork roscoff 14hrs, rosslare cherbourg 18hrs. (or 20 odd on occasion if traveling celtic link).All over night, food and water, relaxation and time to plan, look at maps etc.etc. As you can sleep through a lot of the journey, none are so long as to cause cabin fever.
Subject to issues of on board consumption you arrive i france fit and healthy and it is possible to spend your second night since leaving belfast at the pyrennes. apart from the getting there, any plan or arrival???KTM?

 

[kyle]

apart from the getting there, any plan or arrival???KTM?

Certainly via KTM as would like to be able to do tracks if there are any.Planning is still very much in the embryo stage.
how well can you tour on an hp2 or how well can you offroad on a Goldwing?

 

[de crowe]

how well can you tour on an hp2 or how well can you offroad on a Goldwing?

I can off road on the wing as well as I can tour on the hp2, which is not well at all!!!

 

[(RIP) Shenzi]

Spain is also cheaper than france

We were in Spain three times this year and we don't think there is much difference now. We didn't look at it seriously as we don't care but things like the cost of tapas and hotels seem to have shot up.

 

[Zanussi]

Pyrenees

Hi kyle

I did the Pyrenees in June of this year, it's a fantastic destination.The ideal route is the N260 which takes in ,Jaca,Sort,Ainsa and lots more.Great food and great people. I went via Dublin Holyhead ,stayed overnight in the UK and then went via Plymouth to Santander (20 hours).On the return journey I went Santander to Portsmouth (25.5 hrs). The sailing to Spain was very calm and the sailing on the way back was rough for a few hours but was grand.The Bay of Biscay has a bad rep and I believe it's because of its shallow continental shelf or something,it depends on whether you are easily put off by rough seas? The staff on Brittany ferries are great and tie the bike down well.
The good news is that Stana are now operating a new service which leaves Dublin Port at around 2 am and arrives in Holyhead around 5.30 am.This leaves you plenty of time to get to either Portsmouth or Plymouth.For a better route down through the UK,I would go via Telford ,it's just as quick and not as boring as using all of the Motorways.You can then sleep all the way to Spain..Given that you have two weeks ,you could route via Rosslare to either Cherbourg or Roscoff and have a nice two day ride to Spain if you wanted.I can highly recommend the Picos about an hour outside of Santander.I got to stay one night there.If I had known how nice it was I would have spent more time there.If you need any more info just give me a roar.Also, I got a lot of information from this forum.There are a lots of great ride reports which are invaluable.Good luck with the journey, you will have a great time.

 

[kyle]

cheers,lads for all the info.

looks like it might be may-june now

 

[Merv]

Hi Kyle,
Im planning a similar trip at the start of may with a mate.Planning to sail to Cherborg and spend a few days in normandy before heading to the pyrenees. Ferry is about 90 euro per bike and 85 euro for a cabin but need to try Nutt travel as i brought my car home from scotland on xmas eve [last minute booking] and stena wanted almost 500 sterling return and nutt did it for 170.
We are going to book the ferry in the next few weeks .
Cheers Merv

 

[Kwackers]

hi, i did the pyrennes from biaritz all the way across to Barcelona a couple of years ago and it was amazing, definitely take in the area around Jaca, We went Rosslare to Cherbourg and took 2 handy days down to Biaritz via Bordeaux which I would recommend. 10 days in all and back up to Roscoff for return journey, even though mid/northern france is flat I think it is still worthwhile if it is your first time through it,,,

 

[kyle]

thanks Merv and Kwackers.

one big factor for my trip will be economy.dont have a shedload to throw at this holiday.

im guessing shorter ferry crossing=cheaper.
Time i have got