So The West Coast Is Crap; What Alternative For Roscoff - Pamplona?

Is there a special barrier to use on the peage to avoid being timed between stations, or are they all equally risky? If you pay the same as a big lorry can you go quicker? Is it OK to limbo under the window so the geezer doesn't know you are there? I'm very worried about it all....
 
Is there a special barrier to use on the peage to avoid being timed between stations, or are they all equally risky? If you pay the same as a big lorry can you go quicker? Is it OK to limbo under the window so the geezer doesn't know you are there? I'm very worried about it all....
Line the inside of your helmet with tinfoil, that always works for me.
Nanu Nanu.

Sent from a OnePlusX
 
By Jove, through this tread I have discovered an hithertoo unknown quality of the pound of butter in my fridge. Not only does it repel all elephants (my primary concern) and guard against theft of awesome steeds, it also renders non-existent all payage barrier ticket inspections by the French police. Not just for me but for everyone I know. This is a marvellous discovery. This is a great site and well worth the £12 annual subscription.
 
Unless you're specifically going to Pamplona for the San Fermin Festival (Running of the Bulls, 6th - 14th July annually) avoid it on those dates, it's rammed and accommodation in the area is booked out from year to year. If you are going to the Festival, it's great craic but don't wear your biking gear, local tradition is to soak everyone in cheap red wine and you'll end up smelling like a wino. Beats me why they don't just drink it :confused:
 
Unless you're specifically going to Pamplona for the San Fermin Festival (Running of the Bulls, 6th - 14th July annually) avoid it on those dates, it's rammed and accommodation in the area is booked out from year to year. If you are going to the Festival, it's great craic but don't wear your biking gear, local tradition is to soak everyone in cheap red wine and you'll end up smelling like a wino. Beats me why they don't just drink it :confused:

Nope. No interest in bulls or wine. :rolleyes:

I have a mate living near Pamplona, and am hoping/planning to overnight there (night 2) as our launch pad for the trip proper (Spain & Portugal).

Just waiting for a time window where I can get playing with Mapsource.
 
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Going to Spain. Going through France. :thumb

Keener to get to Pamplona than to drool over yachts. The yachts were just a kind of if-we're-heading-south-along-the-west-coast-of-France-anyway-we-might-as-well-try-to-fit-in-a-bit-of-a-drool-over-some-yachts-on-our-piss/coffee/sleep-stops idea.

But maybe we'll just keep our eyes on the prize and just rip on for Pamplona in the two days, and accept that it'll be a bit dull. Surely that'd still be better than two ferrys (IRL-UK-FR)...


Yeah, good plan, and it won't be dull. You could still drop in to a west-coast marina on the overnight - but hopefully not like that French moto journalist on the FJR!
If you're departing Cork on the ferry the RCYC (crosshaven) is only round the corner if you want to admire the cut of a few jibs.
 
Yeah, the whole SW of Ireland is great for boats of all types. Worked on west Cork coast for 4 years, including a year on Cape Clear island - real treat to see the sailing & motor yachts come & go.
 
A bit late to add... the decision is: do you want to get to Pamplona
a) as quickly as possible (conceivably one long day on motorways - 550 dull and expensive miles)
b) reasonably quickly with a little motorway but mostly on decent roads (two days, allowing about 350 miles a day)
c) stopping off at the ports - the suggestion of Ile de Re, La Rochelle are good, as are Noirmoutier and Oleron. On the south coast of Brittany, consider Quiberon, Guerande and maybe even St Nazaire (allow three days)

But if it's answer b, I'd head to Rennes, Angers, Poitiers as fast as possible, on to Bellac on the edge of the Limousin and then go south on the more interesting roads through the Perigord and Lot/Garrone (picking up towns like Brantome, Bergerac, Aiguillon), then head out past Mont de Marsan, Orthez and St Jean Pied de Port to cross the Pyrenees to Pamplona. You'd probably want an overnight stop somewhere around Perigueux - just over halfway in terms of miles, but the fastest roads would be the ones between Roscoff and Bellac, so you'd end up with two manageable (but still substantial) days in terms of time.

Edit to correct place name
 
Not too late - trip unlikely to happen till summer 2018 unless fortunes change. The idea for the trip was a kind of 50th birthday (2018) event for me & mate. :thumb

I like the whole research & planning thing. :rolleyes:
 
For anyone interested...

We flipped the direction of our trip, ultimately traveling home northwards through France from Pyrenees to Cherbourg via west coast.

For me, the 2-day ride through France almost ruined the trip. The straight boring roads were depressingly monotonous and ubiquitous.

We did put more effort into creating/finding/using great roads in Spain & Portugal, but I found it very difficult to find good roads from SW France up to Cherbourg.

West coast of France will be avoided in future trips.
 
In a few months you won't be allowed to go to France or Spain so start planning on Wales or N. Ireland, and maybe Scotland for another year or two before they rebuild Hadrians wall and (re) join the EU.
 
For anyone interested...

We flipped the direction of our trip, ultimately traveling home northwards through France from Pyrenees to Cherbourg via west coast.

For me, the 2-day ride through France almost ruined the trip. The straight boring roads were depressingly monotonous and ubiquitous.

We did put more effort into creating/finding/using great roads in Spain & Portugal, but I found it very difficult to find good roads from SW France up to Cherbourg.

West coast of France will be avoided in future trips.

Whilst it’s certainly true that there is no guarantee that there are always ‘great roads, mate’ between A and B, let’s see what we can do to help you. You had two days to travel what was near enough the length of France. If you tell us the specific roads you took, bods will know which to avoid, whilst others might be able to suggest alternatives.
 
Will do.

Perhaps if we'd done the trip in the direction originally planned we'd have done the France slog first and then been impressed with Pyrenees/Picos/Portugal/southern Spain.

Bin, no dramas or tragedies - just dull riding, particularly after the fantastic roads we'd been on for the preceding 2 weeks.

Perhaps the looming end-of-the-trip was causing a depression or negative vibe which may have affected us, and the French section was simply not great, rather than crap.

Basically the whole section from where the westward part on the northern side of the Pyrenees turns north - 90% dull. Maybe we were just unlucky.

We had created a route that was a mix of our own, RiDE routes, and TET. But we had to amend things at short notice (and on-the-fly) cos matey boy hurt his back just before the trip. And we got "lost" a fair bit, but often found spectacular roads in the process...


Planned route:
MA50 Cripple 8.jpg


Actual route:
MA50 Actual.jpg
 
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On your shortened holiday route, if you’d gone roughly: Auch, Bergerac, Limoges, Tours it might well have been better.

From the longer holiday route you’d hoped to do (ending a the eastern end of the Pyrenees) we can see that you were determined to hit the western coast / western side of France, irrespective. If you’d have planned on roughly a diagonal line: Perpignan, Limoges, Tours and onwards to the ferry it might well have been interesting.

Something broadly along the lines of this from Kurviger:

97294114e8559b38e0092723b1dd2d6d.png


ViaMichelin’s suggestion is pretty similar:

d75e3fe1a87013942aecebf41f1d5aa5.png


Both of those websites are free and very useful to give you an idea of:

i. The direction you need to take

iI. The distances involved

iii. Roads to maybe ride along, which can all be amended to suit your purposes

Irrespective, it’s all down to:

Where you start from, A

Where you need to end up, B

The distance A to B

The maximum / minimum time available to ride A to B

Any other plans you might have for things to see and do between A and B

——

There is a very good Michelin map 726, useful for plotting journeys A to B across a very large country, France. It strips out all the fine detail, leaving just the main roads, nicer smaller roads, the sensible link roads and shows the Bis ‘Tourist routes’, all which will avoid the motorways. Get it.

45ab7168a8e490aa5329f8eb5019383e.png


222bcc58010177eb9e5684adf485748a.png


Are they always ‘Great roads, mate’? No. But eventually, if you want to go A to B, within time period X, you sometimes have to compromise. That’s life.
 
Wappings route is the way I go to the Pyrenees... via Swiss Normandie and Bergerac.... it’s a great ride

Sadly the way you went missed some of the better roads....
 
There's some amazing prehistoric cave art to be seen in France, most of it well inland from Atlantic. Would make good destination to break up the journey if doing a long haul and of course if such things are of interest.
 
Not followed this thread in detail, whatever, we try to go to a music festival in Albi every year in early July but even if you can’t make it then, Albi is a lovely town,really worth visiting.
 


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