To the Pyrenees - Ferry or ride down

[bladerunner]

Ride down, Brittany ferry back

Young Kev and I did Porstmouth Caen ovenight with cabin, Brittany ferry back with cabin and it worked very well.

Always excited to be in ferry terminal at night ready to board.
Arrive Caen 07.30 ish fed and watered and you can make good miles even on non motorway. We were East of Limoges for late lunch without feeling knackered.
I have done Pyrenees in one hit and the excitement of starting the holiday is enough to keep me going. Also the weather improves as you go South (usually) so that lifts your spirits. I arrived near Lourdes by about 5pm.

Coming North it's the end of the jollies, the weather is getting worse and psychologically it feels a drag. I prefer Santander ferry, nice cabin. Leave 4pm, quick shower maybe beer, then watch film before very good evening meal (make sure you book early), bed, breakfast and you've arrived in Plymouth (albeit it will still take you 90 minutes to clear customs!

Ferry may seem pricey, but factor one night accomodation, petrol, tyres and tolls plus channel ferry and I think it's good value.

 

[Northern jock]

I did a mix last year, ferry to Santandar which was a grand trip, a couple of hundred bikes on it so the bar was lively - and a cabin for a good kip after then breakie and off onto the good roads without a square back tyre

Then a while later I got the ferry back from Roscoff which avoided the very northern part of France - by choice - it was a great ride from Geneva to there on some good roads

I would do that in reverse but by preference all the way through France one way and ferry the other so more miles in the hills

Enjoy either way, in the end it's a trip and whichever way you do it will be a good day out. Just book something and go, the rest will follow

nj

 

[Baz]

I'm hopefully doing a weeks trip to the Picos & Pyrenees in the middle of Sept.

Problem with the boats to spain are the sailing days.

I Will book the friday night Ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo. From there you can reach the Pyrenees easily in a day. Its about 50 miles closer by road than Caen.

Baz

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

says the man who lives next door to the tunnel or a stones throw from the ferry. .
one of the worse things i find is that awful ride to and from dover it spoils a good holiday

Fair point. Guilty as charged. I do take it for granted - weekend in the Ardennes is very realistic for me. I see it as payback for the over-crowded roads and ridiculous property prices.

The funny thing is, the ride to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to Spain becomes a real pain. Only a couple of hours on motorways, or a bit more on A-roads, and the whole biking holiday is about getting some serious miles in, but miles this side of the Channel don't count, somehow.

I'm hoping to go to the Picos and Pyrenees in September but we're riding down - one of our party suffers from serious seasickness, so in the spirit of solidarity...

 

[Ash]

Fair point. Guilty as charged. I do take it for granted - weekend in the Ardennes is very realistic for me. I see it as payback for the over-crowded roads and ridiculous property prices.

The funny thing is, the ride to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to Spain becomes a real pain. Only a couple of hours on motorways, or a bit more on A-roads, and the whole biking holiday is about getting some serious miles in, but miles this side of the Channel don't count, somehow.

I'm hoping to go to the Picos and Pyrenees in September but we're riding down - one of our party suffers from serious seasickness, so in the spirit of solidarity...

I'm sailing from Plymouth on Sept 21st and looking forward to the ride down .
i agree about the riding on the other side. it must be the strange way we think.

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

I'm sailing from Plymouth on Sept 21st and looking forward to the ride down .
i agree about the riding on the other side. it must be the strange way we think.

Some of it is undoubtedly in the mind, but some of it is an understandable reaction to the different circumstances: less traffic, better roads, fewer lane hoggers, something better than Ginsters from roadside stalls.

We're aiming to get to the Picos on the evening of Sunday 21st, with Monday 22nd set aside for a "no luggage" day riding round the Picos. The heading to Pyrenees/Spain/France depending on what the weather's looking like. PM me if you wanna swap mobile numbers.

 

[Trippy]

I'm looking to spend a week down there in October and was originally going to take the Santander ferry down and then ride back up through France and cross over from Cherbourg or Roscoff. I'm now wondering whether I would get more time down there riding the Spanish trails if we put the bikes on a trailer, crossed Poole / Cherbourg and got France out of the way in one hit, dumping the car for a week in Pau.

Cost, time and comfort makes it worth considering.

 

[BeemerBaz]

Rode there and back earlier this year, allow at least 5 days for that from your uk departure point

 

[Nasty1]

July this year we rode down for the HUMM. The plan was to ride from chunnel at 0700 (0300 start to get to chunnel ) and we had a day n half to get to the Humm. It was toll roads and M-way all the way averaging speeds of 70 to 90 on a KTM 640 ADV and a Aprilia Peg. It was bloody hard work with stops every 100 miles for fuel and about £50 in tolls plus overnight accommodation costs. Fuel prices were near there peak when we went so the petrol costs really bumped the cost of the holiday...a ferry would of been about £100 cheaper than riding.

OK a big beemer might be more comfortable but the m-way and toll roads are soul destroying & boring. Our plan for the trip back would of been different as this was supposed to be a 3 day casual ride back via Gorge de Tarn (Sp?) etc but things went a little pear shape while down there so we came back on the Bilbao ferry. A one way crossing was again cheaper than our fuel costs to get down and a damn sight more relaxing. The ferry is bloody expensive for food and drinks but then you spend as little or as much as you want when on there. Given the choice now of 48hrs slogging down a M-way in 25 degree heat and above or an overnight ferry trip putting up with a bunch of chavs and retards, ill still take the ferry and just mind me own business.

Adie

 

[Steptoe]

Simple - Early chunnel crossing (6am) and one days ride to the pyrenees where's the hardship or drama in that.

I'd rather spend more time riding than paying through the nose to sit in a tub on the sea.
Plus i'd rather be in charge of my own destiny rather than depending on the ferry staff/dock workers/ferry times/sea conditions/strikes/go slows etc etc.

 

[blueflame]

To the Pyrenees.....

I've ridden a number of different routes, Caen, St Malo, Calais (boat & tunnel) I think it really depends on how long you have, how much you want to spend & how much you enjoy sitting in the saddle, personally i would agree go to tunnel dont touch a motorway and dont use GPS which adds to the adventure.....whichever way you choose, i can highly recommend www.experiencethepyrenees.com run by Chris and Caty.....have fun

 

[Rod]

If there's two of you why not take the train from Calais to Toulouse. Pyreneese are a one hour ride away.
Leave Calais in the evening arrive Toulouse 6am. Overnight in couchette after a few drinks in the bar. Take own food & wine on board which you buy in supermarket in Calais.
Ride home. No time wasted.

 

[Trippy]

If there's two of you why not take the train from Calais to Toulouse. Pyreneese are a one hour ride away.
.

Because Dover is 250 miles from here and Poole is 50, the train is also very expensive. The problem with the Santander ferry is the sailing days and I want to do sunday to sunday hopefully riding the trails monday to friday. Still early days, maybe we should have an off road meet down there!

 

[peter wallis]

i had a month in the pyrenees in may 2008,i took the dover calais ferry, i got a route down from the observer newspaper which avoided the motorways,i followed the old route nationale,s via chartres ithink the road was rn500,istopped at terrascon-sur-ariege for two weeks on the french side and at jaca on the spanish side ,the spanish side was better roads you can only dream about if i did the pyrenees again i would just go to spain,i visited andorra forget it its crap,just base yourself in jaca its faboulous,oh by the way the route i took down to the pyrenees i didnt pay a penny in tolls

 

[Coolpan]

second that, been to Jaca 5 times, roads around there are fantastic, road from Pau to Jaca through Candancho is superb. also recomend a very small town called Sort good hotel great food all roads to and from Sort are excellent. the roads are so good we were there about 6 years ago and we passed a car that had padding and foam fitted to the wings so as you could'nt see the shape or form of the car, obviously used as a test area I believe because of the bends.

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

A word of warning: the main Spanish roads in and around the Pyrenees (and the Picos) had loads of police on them this year. Speed traps everywhere. I emerged unscathed, but one of my friends was stopped and fined twice. Speed traps were both on the open roads and in towns and villages.

I'm neither complaining nor crowing, but you should be aware.

 

[phooey]

Blimey, must be some posh Council Estates in Guildford. We went down in June and found the MV Pont Aven to be right smart and we really enjoyed the Trip.

Agree completely - went on her maiden voyage to Santander. Its a classy 'tub' and very fast. Saves at least 2 days and nights if you are doing a scenic route down through France or a marathon boredom stint on the autoroutes along with all that mileage and wear.

 

[PyreneesRider]

I would ride to Paris and take the mototrain to Toulouse - for all the times I have done it - it's the cheapest way, most civilised and restful - both for you and the bike

 

[Hman]

by train

i've never considerd the train down, can someone enlighten me........ , what about bike security, damage to the bike, conditions, noise ect. any ifo would be great.


Hman

 

[mrsroynie]

Agree with Hman entirely. Have had a couple of friends come down to stay with us (here in the Pyrenees) by train. Neither slept a wink and were pretty well zombified for the next 24 hours. I would always choose the ride over the ferry, but then I am usually coming from the London or Croydon areas and Dover is a mere 70 miles away. Have done London to Montréjeau easily in one day by bike, using the N154 and A20. Boring but quick.