A Pyrenees route from Tourenfahrer-Motorrad magazine

I only locked it briefly, as I had (somewhat stupidly) started the opening paragraph of post #17 here and posted it.... then to nip over to the magazine to snap the pictures... then go to Tapatalk to load them up. I didn’t want some bod saying, “You forgot the pictures” whilst I hunted about.

What I should have done is created all the post in Tapatalk.

The thread is open and will stay open.

Richard

All hail the German liberator, it's ok there's no need to explain yourself :D
 
Now that we are chatting again, would it be better if nobody posted any routes or ideas from third parties at all?

We could do away with differentiating between countries. The stickies could go, the ideas on how to find hotels, the miles of GPS routes could all be scrapped. In fact we could get away from the sub-divided regional sections, there never used to be any. There could just be one section, dealing only with real life, hands on, bums on saddles, which would sort of roll along. Interesting threads would stay at the top, less interesting ones would die.
 
Keep them coming Wapping ,nothing wrong with some guidance to somewhere you've never been before :beerjug:I printed off the adac one you posted last year and this one .Cheers :beerjug:
 
Thank you, I will.

I try to avoid too many of the ‘Here’s a great route right through the mountains’ as there are now more than enough of those already.

What I try to do now is find alternatives, particularly to places reasonably close to home, that people might ignore or simply not know about. It’s what I did with the suggestions about Heidelberg yesterday, along with (I hope) ideas and suggestions how bods can do the same to create their own holidays. I tried to do something similar with a set of routes based only around Munich, only because I know some fellows only have enough time for a fly-drive. If they find it useful, great. If they don’t, that’s life. If they know of something better, sing up, just as Rasher did. If they just think it’s all crap, well that’s fine, too.
 
The route looks good. It may be in the write-up but the biggest issue with this route is the sheer weight of traffic in the summer months. The other is the weather in the Pyrennees. Put the two together and it can become a recipe for an unpleasant ride.


I did part of the N260 with Arsey and it was "OK". I had to peel off early, sadly, so he knows more. The following year I wanted to do it the other way around, from Cadaques west in May (I think). What stopped me was the weather on that occasion. The forecast was terrible and I ended up going to stay with family in Jaca with a view to doing at least that part again. The next day I had to route south to avoid the worst of the rain, then north to the coast. I got well and truly soaked both days and would have continued to Asturias but as I came around a corner in the pouring rain just west of Bilbao, on the A8, I almost ran into a huge pile up of cars on a bridge. The drivers were just getting out of their cars and putting on their day-glo's so had I been a minute ahead I might have been thrown of the bridge and fallen 100 ft down as the smash covered most of the bridge width and lengthwise.

Its at times like these when one wisely decides that it isn't worth "pushing on" and I came off the A8 and found a hotel in the next village.

The following year I wanted to do something similar but yet again I was thwarted by the forecast and decided against it.

I also organised a 4 day tour up there to see Canfranc station in April last year and not only did we get soaked (again) but we had to ride in snow and hail.

The issue of traffic is, for me the far bigger issue, however. I'm sure that Simon 100 will correct me where I err but July-Aug is worth avoiding. In fact one could say that about almost the whole of Spain. Sunday drivers and sightseers on mountain roads are just the bloody pits!!!

Now, I'm not trying to throw a downer on this but I think that if anyone is thinking of going to the Pyrennees, they need to have a plan B which might involve staying in the French half. At the very least one needs be ready to go without a plan in a different direction on the day. On the other hand, if the weather is good, and it isn't either spring/autumn weekend or Jul-Aug, great rides can be experienced.
 
Some of the best rides I've had in Spain or France in the vague area of the Pyrenees have avoided the high passes. If what makes a great ride for you is hilly and twisty roads, you can get all of that without breaking 1,000 metres. Ride in Catalunya and you can get the very best of Alpine-style roads but instead of spending an hour riding up a pass and an hour riding back down, you go uphill for 10 mins, downhill for 5, uphill for 15, downhill for 20 etc etc etc. You're much less likely to to encounter poor weather and the roads tend to be much less busy.

And after a few hours or days on twisty roads, it can be great fun to get onto something faster and sweepier. The road from Tortosa to Lleida, for example, is a stunning ride that probably wouldn't get a second look.

I get what Timolgra is saying about beign less rigid with plans and investigating as you go. Anyone with that approach is unlikely to be reading bike mags (German or otherwise) looking for route suggestions. But loads more want to have some route suggestions to ensure they don't miss some great roads. As an example, I went on a trip to France back in 1999 that was unplanned and just a long weekend away. It was a good trip, but we ended up centering the few days between Charleville-Mezieres and Reims in France. Nice enough scenery but not outstanding. If we'd turned North from Charleville, we'd have been among some excellent roads and scenery in the Ardennes within 30 minutes.

Personally, researching and planning the routes for a holiday helps spread the enjoyment beyond the two weeks (or whatever) that you're away.
 
Personally, researching and planning the routes for a holiday helps spread the enjoyment beyond the two weeks (or whatever) that you're away.

Indeed, passes the working week quite nicely too ;-)

I often have several routes for each day, a preferred route and maybe a slightly longer one if there is a worthwhile detour than could be taken (weather and mood permitting) a slightly shorter one if we are feeling like an easy day and often a "wet route" which just gets us to our next destination if the Weather is crap.....

...and even then I might just take a route I make up on the day, the beauty of all this planning is that you actually have a plan to deviate from - and enough knowledge of where you are travelling to alter your plan rather than blindly sticking to the magazine route as you have no idea what the other options are.
 
.....rather than blindly sticking to the magazine route as you have no idea what the other options are

Nobody has ever suggested that anyone has to follow any pre-made route, whether it comes from a mate, a magazine or the pages of UKGSer in response to: “Me and my mates need....”

The simple truth though is that lots of people want to be told where to go, how to get there, often with places to see, things to do, cafes to stop at and those all important ‘Biker friendly’ hotels, sometimes over a thousand miles of travel. The pre-made routes from the like of ADAC, where (due to the huge area they cover) the user does have to do some work, are a reasonable compromise. When though the user cannot (or will not) work out how to get to the ADAC route’s chosen start point is another matter entirely, which brings us neatly around to the opening paragraph.

There is a lot of snobbery * attached to the use or non-use of pre-made routes. People are very quick to say “RiDE’s routes are for idiots” but then extol the virtues of ‘Motorcycle journeys through the Alps’, maybe just because it’s a book as opposed to something off the second shelf of WH Smith. Odd, as the book is nothing more than a large series of routes, broken up by a load of words.


* Almost as much as is attached to the “...The GS is the only bike to ride up the cols, you can’t tour on a sports bike”.
 


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