Pyrenees & Normandy 2019

[sven]

Day 1: Home - Poole

My original plan was to travel from Plymouth to Santander, but the knackered Pont Aven ferry meant some hasty replanning and a three day ride down through France was required instead.

The first day started with a scenic 340 mile round from Yorkshire to Poole via Wales. Well, it was scenic except for skirting round Manchester and Bristol on the motorway.

The ferry didn’t leave until 9:15pm, so enjoyed the delights of a Saturday evening at Poole key amongst the hordes of rowdy hen and stag parties.

Once aboard I discovered that I’d lost my wallet in Wetherspoons too, so no driving licence for the trip.

 

[(RIP) Mark H]

Looking forward to this

 

[sven]

Day 2: Cherbourg - Poitiers

Normandy was cool and drizzly as we left Cherbourg and my scenic route south wasn’t very scenic as you couldn’t see much due to the high hedges in the Bocage area. No wonder the invasion ground to a bloody halt here a few weeks after D-Day as they where impregnable and provided excellent sniper cover. Dinner (lunch to you southerners) was an epic fail as we resorted to MacDonalds out of desperation. She wasn’t impressed....

The weather improved as we approached our overnight stop at Poitiers and it turned out to be a great place to spend an evening. The Ibis Styles was in the heart of the old town and had a secure underground car park and newly refurbished rooms. Dinner (or tea as we call it up north) was in a very nice, if slightly expensive Lebanese restaurant.

 

[sven]

Day 3: Poitiers - Cahors

I was expecting a fairly dull ride south, but the roads became very scenic as we approached the Lot Valley and the Dordogne. Cahors has a very famous bridge, a nice cathedral and not much else, but we had the best meal of the holiday at the Au Bureau restaurant. It was a bit like the Hard Rock Cafe and part of a chain as it turned out, but the food was better than the crappy French food we had for most of the holiday (I really don’t like French food).

 

[sven]

Pyrenees & Normandy 2019

Day 4: Cahors - Torla

Our holiday would be back on track once we crossed into Spain, but first we had to negotiate the Col du Tourmalet in freezing fog and sleet. It wasn’t a fun experience.

As soon as we crossed into Spain the skies cleared an we had a cracking ride down the N260 to Torla in the Ordessa National Park. What a beautiful place.

 

[Nutty]

 

[Dave56]

enjoying this.

 

[barak666]

Thanks for sharing - I'm in....

 

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one Sven. I've got some friends doing a tour down to Croatia and they have had no end of problems with closed Alpine passes causing them to back track and reroute on several occasions. They arrived at Lake Bled and whilst taking pics one of the lads dropped his bike whilst at a standstill, fell on his right side with the bike on top of him. They continued but he started to struggle, next petrol stop there was an ambulance and two paramedics who checked him out - off to A&E. Result is bad ligament damage, shoulder given special support and not to be moved so that is his tour over, might need surgery. He has AA cover and they have been brilliant, arranged his taxi and flight home and safe storage for the bike, the weak link was the recovery of the bike and they took hours to arrive.

 

[Simon_100]

As soon as we crossed into Spain the skies cleared an we had a cracking ride down the N260 to Torla in the Ordessa National Park. What a beautiful place.

Do bears shit, is the Pope catholic? This is a great report!

 

[sven]

Day 6: Torla

A day off the bike today walking in the Ordessa National Park.

The Edelweiss Hotel is a great value hotel for €56 per night including breakfast. There’s garaging for bikes and the bedroom was large and comfortable with a separate seating area.

There’s a good selection of restaurants in the village and a pint of ice cold Estrella is only €3. It’s a great base for a few days in the Pyrenees.

 

[sven]

Day 7: Torla - La Seu D’Urguell

Another sunny day as we first headed down the N260 to Ainsa and then into France via the Bielsa tunnel. The Col du Peyresourde was a great ride to Bagneres-du-Luchon before heading back into Spain and some more wonderful roads, including my personal favourite, the N260 east of Sort.

Our bed for the night was the parador at La Seu D’Urgell. The parador was nice, but the town wasn’t, so we also ate at the parador and had an entertaining evening chatting to an old British couple who’ve retired to France.

 

[leadfarmer]

Some stunning roads and scenery there !

Great trip

 

[sven]

Day 8: La Seu D’Urguell - Carcassonne

A short day as the focus was on exploring Carcassonne, so we followed the D118 north which had been recommended to us by a few folk, but it descended into a narrow horribly surfaced canyon road as we approached Quillan, which definitely wasn’t a fun ride. The deep gorge at the bottom was quite spectacular though. After a lunch stop in Quillan, we arrived at our hotel right next to the old town in Carcassonne. I could just about see the citadel from the bedroom window

The hordes wandering around Carcassonne can be overwhelming, but the coach parties disappear my around 4-5pm, so I’h highly recommend walking the city walls just after 5pm as they close at 6

 

[(RIP) Bin Ridin]

Thanks for great photos, just keep it going!

 

[Davy F]

Looks fantastic, Steve...

 

[Bounce]

Lovely.....cracking pictures and the roads/scenery/weather/food/beer looked marvellous; just over 4 weeks for me & his lordship to be on the ferry to the Picos

 

[ymfb]

Very enjoyable, keep up the good work

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Most enjoyable trip report so far,excellent pictures again. The Picos looks stunning, may plan a trip for my 60th next year. Looking forward to reading more Sven

 

[Rusty]

Super photos and a great report ... you both clearly had a sooooper dooooper time .. thanks for sharing