Good tip, Torla is a lovel place and actually not as 'touristy' as you might think given that the Ordesa is the most visited location in the Pyrenees....
And there you have the start of your problem, Markyboy or your first solution, we really cannot tell.
You have been given a good suggestion of Torla, as an attractive place, with a nice restaurant (name unknown but apparently obvious) and hotels. Torla is a large village / small town, about 120 km south southeast of Pau. I said Pau only as it’s the place you mentioned as entering the Pyreneees.
As luck would have it, the ADAC map I linked you too, does have a suggestion that would take you through Torla. That in itself is not to surprising as the bods at ADAC probably know it’s a nice place, so have gone to the trouble to bring it into their route(s) of reasonably easily driveable roads, suitable for anyone with a driving licence whether they are in a family saloon with a dog and three children or mounted as you will be on an awesome Adventure (with a capital A) steed. They really may be your best overall guide over a huge area, as they are specifically designed for just the sort of jaunt you plan on making. Do they have goat tracks? No, as that would just be stupid. You wanted some off-road, get a decent map and find some. Do they bring in good roads that’ll guide you A to B and still have fun? Yes, without a doubt. Might they miss out that special little road that only some bloke on UKGSer knows about but can’t quite remember where it was or can’t be arsed to show properly on a map? I guess it might but it won’t ruin your holiday and who knows, you might find your own.
The next lucky bit is that you are going from Pau to Alicante, so Torla is at least roughly in the right direction. You’d be in a right pickle if it wasn’t.
Now the tricky bit:
1. If you’d like to stay there, can you do the extra 120 km from Pau (or wherever) to Torla and be there in time to check in, have a quick scrub up, a beer and into the restaurant. Yes? Great. No? It’s useless.... or maybe not....
2. If, having read about Torla as ‘the place’ not to miss, can you find a way to work it into your itinerary if only to pass through for morning coffee or lunch or afternoon tea or just so that you can say you have been there to ‘scope it out’, to use the popular vernacular? It’s on the ADAC suggested routes, which you might (or might not) adopt, so it might work; it’s really up to you.
Hopefully, this example shows how incredibly difficult it is to tell people how to go from A to D via maybe B and C, when the person asking the question really has no idea where they’ll be or even for how long, all over a huge area, when really their main target is to get to see their wife in Alicante which is miles away, having started on the Normandy coast and returning via Santander, all over two weeks which may (or may not) include the sea crossings and the journey from and to their front door. You can see that some bods are suggesting the French side of the Pyrenees, but Torla and it’s suggested roads eastwards is on the Spanish side of the mountain range. That’s the problem; everyone is right and wrong at the same time. Why? Because the Pyrenees cover a huge area, littered with good ‘must do’ roads and ‘must do’ places. You could spend weeks there, if you wanted to but you don’t have that luxury.
My suggestion now is that you sit down with your friend, some maps, the suggestions made and a couple of beers, your calendar, Google and TripAdvsor. You can then start to plot things out for yourself. Then return to UKGSer with the route you have worked out, the time you have set aside for it all and the places the pair of you intend to stop. Please plot it into something like Google maps (which is easy to do) so that you can show the bods here exactly what you have in mind.... they’ll then be able to give it the once over.
PS I really cannot stress enough how good the ADAC map is. If you look at the suggestion in this thread on the cols on the French side, you can find them (and more) on the routes. You can find Torla, too and that the Spanish side route brings in the popular Spanish ‘puerto’ passes. It really is designed to answer a question just like yours, as simply as possible. Use it with confidence. But wait, it suggests the N-260! Somebody in the thread said take it, somebody else said don’t.... there you see the problem. Just like, “Which gloves should I buy?” everyone has an opinion. Don’t worry, we see the same thing when it comes to the B500 in the Black Forest, so it’s not unique to the Pyreneees. The easiest solution? Find your own way.
PPS If you are serious about places to see and do and are prepared to do a bit of reading, the Michelin Green Guide to Spain (and its sister, France) is really very good. You can get the whole country books or the more regional versions very easily on Amazon or through any half decent bookshop or library. Besides giving you all sorts of information in an easy to follow form, they often include routes you might take. Again, the routes (just like those from ADAC, RiDE magazine) are inevitably some sort of compromise as they cater for a mass audience of varying skill levels, expectations and above all, time available.
Enjoy your holiday, you plotting it out is part of the fun and you’ll learn plenty. Trust me on that at least. It’s not hard once you get going. I created all this post on an iPad, lying in bed.... I’ll spare you the pictures.
Richard