Semi-direct route south to BCN

er-minio

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Planning a long-ish trip to south of Spain and Portugal this spring.
Have some free time today, so looking at putting down some route options, starting with the leg down to Barcelona.

Considering doing this fairly direct in a couple of days, starting from about 50/70km south of Calais.

In 2019 I did the same route, coming up, at the end of a Pyrenees trip.
The first leg of the journey (pink and red tracks in the Basecamp screenshot below) was extremely pleasant and fun to ride. Second day was the usual direct motorway route to London from Dijon.

Screenshot-2025-02-16-at-14.59.57.jpg

Considering I've done the Dijon to London bit about a million times between car and motorbike in the last few years, I'd consider an alternative if anyone has suggestions.
Happy to spend the first day putting miles on a motorway and get off it when roads are slightly more interesting (roads still fast enough to get the distance over the day, but that's what N roads are in France :) ).

Had a go in MRA (I'm finally getting the hang of it) plotting a route getting off the motorway after Troyes, as I usually do, and joining part of the route done in 2019.
Seems doable in a couple of days, maybe stopping around Clermont Ferrand on the first day and then following up on slightly more windy routes on the second day, and rejoining the motorway towards the second part of the day for a more direct route to destination.

Out of curiosity, I was wondering if there any suggestions passing west of Paris, or coming from Calais is too much of a faff, not worth it?
I'd avoid ending to close to Paris/periferique purely for journey times' sake.

I've done the west part of France by car only.


Thanks.


PS: is it me or the MRA embed widget does not work?
 
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Whilst the embedded MRA shows as blank, it does actually open up when you click on it
 
So many options.

I’d be tempted to stay west of Paris.
Something like fastest (auto)route to Tours or Limoges depending on how far you want to go on day 1.

IMG_2610.jpeg

Then day 2 you could go quickest way avoiding tolls/highways

IMG_2611.jpeg

Or a more scenic way via places such as Aurillac, Albi, Castres, Carcassone etc .

IMG_2612.jpeg

This took about 5 minutes so not much thought has gone into it . I’ll leave that version to Richard who will no doubt be along with War and Peace shortly
 
Thanks Arsey.
Stupidly I didn't consider going towards Bologne sur Mer but I started from the A26 or via Amiens.

Carcassone option is nice. I'll route around that. Thanks!
 
Thanks Arsey.
Stupidly I didn't consider going towards Bologne sur Mer but I started from the A26 or via Amiens.

Carcassone option is nice. I'll route around that. Thanks!

the roads south of Carcassone to the Spanish border through the Aude Gorge are lovely
 
Yep, I remember, done that bit by car a few years ago. I think that'll be the option, going through LeMans as Arsey suggested.


Full trip seems to be over 7000km. It's gonna be expensive. :D
 
When you come past Lyon, If you pass by Saint Étienne and Le Puy en Velay instead of Valence I’ll put the kettle on

I'd be happy to.
Seems I might take the "other side" for this trip, but I do run across the Dijon/Lyon route at least a couple of times a year, on two or four wheels, there's always time for a brew :)

Thanks!
 
Puy Mary and the Volcanes region in general is lovely, if you swing a little east of Limoges before getting to Aurillac.
 
Arsey's west routes are the business and the Portsmouth Caen crossing is the best. Are you specifically wanting to go into Barcelona?
 
I can see it perfectly, tapping on the embedded item.
I can see it too now.
I think it takes a while for the map previews to be rendered, or maybe they had a bigger queue yesterday afternoon.
 
Are you specifically wanting to go into Barcelona?

Yep.
I have family there, my uncle.

Plan is for me to travel to BCN over a weekend leaving Friday night after work and sleeping at my usual near Calais. Then Barcelona: I can work remotely a week from there, then friends from Italy are going to join (they are either riding all the way or taking a ferry if they can find any tickets, that seems tricky right now) and we head down towards Andalusia for ~10 days.
I'm also stopping to visit my sister that lives near Gibraltar.

Plan for the way back is either loop via Portugal, visit some friends near Porto and then shoot for Bilbao to take the ferry back to Pompey, or we loop back towards Barcelona and I ride back same or similar route.
 
From Calais, avoiding motorways, I’d go (very roughly):

Calais, Abbeville, Chartres, Limoges, Perigeux, Toulouse, Foix, Barcelona

Roads to ride? Would be dictated by the time available to go from Calais to Barcelona.
 
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The easterly route of Arsey's would be my choice.

For the top bit, I'd skirt Rouen and go via Forges-les-Eaux, Lyon-la-Foret and Les Andelys, because (a) it breaks up a pretty tedious autoroute section and (b) avoids inevitable traffic delays around Rouen.

I'd then go via Chartres and Blois.
 
We used to call it the Road to Ruin as coming from Dieppe we always got lost in Rouen! :)
 
avoids inevitable traffic delays around Rouen

Factoid: in the last couple of years of traveling up and down, I noticed that the traffic around Rouen is less heavy than before.
Years ago it was way more common to get stuck or find standstill conditions. They must have changed or improved something.
 
Factoid: in the last couple of years of traveling up and down, I noticed that the traffic around Rouen is less heavy than before.
Years ago it was way more common to get stuck or find standstill conditions. They must have changed or improved something.

the Rouen area was plagued with roadworks for many years replacing worn out roads & Seine bridges - maybe not the section you were on but causing congestion nonetheless

maybe some people found alternative routes and stuck with them or the newer roads are more efficient?
 


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