Along the Pyrenees and back again. ADAC map and GPX file

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Lots of bods ask for a route or routes through the Pyrenees. This ADAC map, lifted from their series of dedicated motorbike and car touring route maps, does a pretty neat job of answering that request.

The good things about it are:

1. It shows two ways of going west to east or east to west, so you could ride one set of roads in one direction and another set on the return leg. This would give you quite a nice circular route.

2. There are suggested cut through roads, enabling you to shorten either of the routes should you chose to.

From experience, the roads chosen by ADAC for their suggested touring routes maps are pretty good, rideable on anything from a pushbike to a FireBlade. Use and enjoy with confidence.


60e1001c4549ece8e89c8de907d535e8.jpg


b26b91850b57ef21d4a2ee83f22590c9.jpg



Find the original here:

https://www.adac.de/_mmm/pdf/TK_13_Pyrenaen_2018-04_210812.pdf

NOTE: THIS LINK NO LONGER WORKS, AS ADAC HAVE CLOSED OR MOVED THE MAPS TO SOMEWHERE ELSE. Richard 23-Nov-23

NOW FIND IT HERE INSTEAD:


As the image in the link is the original PDF it is very clear, making it easy to zoom in and out or to save / copy onto a PC or something similar, like an iPad.
 
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Hope to be doing something along those lines (ha ha, did you see what I did there) next year. I'll devour with interest :thumb

Hope to criss cross the Pyrenees from France to Spain and vice versa herringbone fashion, over every possible pass :D

Good one Richard ... thanks :thumby:

:beerjug:
 
Excellent. I hope you and others enjoy them, Micky.

I'll knock the routes out in BaseCamp and share them here as a .gpx file
 
Thanks...I'm planning next year and looking at the northern side of the Pyrenees. I like paper maps though so will try to find an original pamphlet....did you get one or is your fine work all off the interweb? Stanfords perhaps?
 
All off the internet but....

1. You may well be able to order a map from ADAC. They hand them out free in ADAC shops, present in many larger German towns and cities.

2. You could maybe open the PDF and then print it on a good quality printer on decent A3 paper, which should produce pretty good results. If you can't access a good A3 printer, it's often possible to send the PDF file to one of the high street copy shop places. A4 should work OK on a decent printer, too.

3. Trace the lines out onto a decent Michelin or similar map with a highlighter
 
Can anyone explain how to save a thread on here?
 
Can anyone explain how to save a thread on here?

Please, is the word you are missing but hey.....

There are lots of different ways.

Highlight the full web adress of the page, then copy it and save it into a document, in notes, in an email or wherever you fancy.

Or try: http://www.visualsteps.com/computertips/300.pdf

Or Google something like, how to save a webpage address

Anyway, it's now a sticky so all you'll have to do is remember that it's in the Pyrenees section and go from there.
 
Please, is the word you are missing but hey.....

There are lots of different ways.

Highlight the full web adress of the page, then copy it and save it into a document, in notes, in an email or wherever you fancy.

Or try: http://www.visualsteps.com/computertips/300.pdf

Or Google something like, how to save a webpage address

Anyway, it's now a sticky so all you'll have to do is remember that it's in the Pyrenees section and go from there.

Apologies for my manners slip, and many thanks for this exellent thread.:thumb2
 
Hope to be doing something along those lines (ha ha, did you see what I did there) next year. I'll devour with interest :thumb

Hope to criss cross the Pyrenees from France to Spain and vice versa herringbone fashion, over every possible pass :D

Good one Richard ... thanks :thumby:

:beerjug:

Micky PM Simon Rice AKA 'The Spanish Biker' he has lived in the area for years and knows every road and has mapped most trails - top man to boot :beerjug:
 
I'll knock the routes out in BaseCamp and share them here as a .gpx file

Job done.

It's a BaseCamp .gpx file, hosted in Dropbox.

All the five separate routes were created using map version City Navigator Europe NTU 21017.2 in motorcycle mode, with all preferences (except U-turns and unmade roads) turned off.

All the intermediate waypoints, I have converted to unannounced shaping points.

The two separate routes west to east and east to west routes I coloured dark green.

The two separate link routes I coloured bright green.

The separate short excursion route in Andorra, I coloured red.

I haven't checked the routes for any oddities where BaseCamp / Garmin might take little detours to cut a corner but they look reasonably OK. Any I spotted as I went along, I corrected. Similarly, I haven't checked that all the shaping points are exactly on a road, though I didn't spot any bizarre changes in a direction. If and when I ever tidy them up, I'll update the GPX file via an edit.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8y33kqj48vh3qfj/Pyrenees ADAC 2016.GPX?dl=0

Richard
 
IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT TO DO NEXT

When making the GPX files I looked at the routes ADAC offered up, they really are not bad. Are they the 'only' and the 'best' ways to get from A to C via B? No, someone else may always have their own ideas or know a 'must do' road to take you from A to D via B and C. By all means use and fine tune the ADAC suggestion to create your own versions. Not least ADAC, though working hard to give suggestions, are catering for a mass audience embracing anything from bods in a family saloon car to a bloke on an R1 to the full on Adventure (with a capital A) bikermate on his GS with huge panniers - carrying everything imaginable and more - through to matey with just a bungee'd on bag with one change of T-shirt. So, whilst they have done their very best to cater for a broad church of users, they'll probably not have lobbed in that special gravel road you and your six mates will want to raise clouds of dust down. Their routes might well though take you past some, so just dive off and ride them, when and if you fancy.

Have a look at alternatives, including suggestions posted up in this forum; enter the single word 'Pyrenees' into the search box and see what it throws up. Google something along the lines of 'motorcycle Pyrenees' or 'best biker roads in the Pyrenees' or just about any phrase or group of words you think will lead your search engine to suggest sites for you to look at. For example, here is RiDE magazine's pretty good guide to Spain:

http://www.ride.co.uk/routes-1/the-ride-guide-to-spain

Scroll down and have a look at their proposed tour of the Pyrenees. If nothing else, their suggestion (it is nothing more than that) breaks down the routes into days, which might give bods ideas on how to break the ADAC routes down into chunks if you decide to use similar distances as a guide.

Want a map? Look here: http://travel.michelin.co.uk/spain-146-c.asp

Do you want to dive down a bit more with the map? Look here: http://travel.michelin.co.uk/spain-159-c.asp

Want 'Biker friendly' accommodation? Easy, just Google something like 'Biker friendly accommodation Pyrenees' or 'motorbike accommodation Pyrenees' then surf down and through the websites the search engine throws up; you'll find something to suit you.

Want to see the GPX routes in Google Earth? Easy, use the view function in BaseCamp. Don't know how to or didn't know that you could? Easy, ask Google something like, 'view BaseCamp in Google Earth' and have a look at the suggestions it throws up. Here's one:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/797dbfr6xGM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

You don't like the video? Easy, choose another one. You don't use BaseCamp *? That's OK, just ask Google how to view Mapsource (or whatever route plotting and viewing software you favour) in Google Earth. If it can be done, someone will have posted on the web how to do it. Trust me.

Want ideas on things to see and do? Easy again, just Google something like, '10 best things to see and do in the Pyrenees' or buy a guide book.

Use the same methods to create your own holidays, anywhere from Scotland to Norway to Germany to Australia. It's relatively easy and it can be fun. Not least, it gets easier every time you do it. The really great thing is that you really cannot break anything, so play about. It's free and they can't touch you for it.

Richard


* You should maybe think about it. It's becoming increasingly powerful and can do lots of things Mapsource (and other Google maps based software) cannot do. I did it, so it really can't be hard or impossible, trust me again.
 
Micky PM Simon Rice AKA 'The Spanish Biker' he has lived in the area for years and knows every road and has mapped most trails - top man to boot :beerjug:

Thanks Dermott. Good topic this, the Pyrenees are endless ...

In fact I've avoided riding them over the last few years as I want to come back with a fresh vision - believe it or not you can get nbored with anything - well i can ...


But next year I'm planning to spend a lot of time running up and down the range, on my X-Country for road routes and my tiny 200 cc Beta Alp for trails. The outcome of all this will be twofold;

1) a new set of HISS events following my new 'Challenge' and 'Big Tread' formats, i.e. hard core trails for the HISS Challenge and
a combination of easily rideable trails for big bikes and amazing roads making very long days possible, for the Big Tread - for both there will be plenty enough for all five days that the HISS events last for ...

2) the definitive guide book that would include snippets of history, nature, etc. and some 'must do' places to visit, recommended places to stay - that's twins or villages not specific accommodation. Plus all the routes of course all arranged in sections so as to make individual itineraries easy to devise - the HISS material works in the same way - and finally, or rather possibly, for folks who like to make things a bit more 'interesting' - a 'virtual' navigation event that folks can participate in by logging into a special web page (for a small fee ...) and getting a set of waypoints to find and record a la Horizons Unlimited HUMM :)

Regs

Simon
 
Lots of bods ask for a route or routes through the Pyrenees. This ADAC map, lifted from their series of dedicated motorbike and car touring route maps, does a pretty neat job of answering that request.

The good things about it are:

1. It shows two ways of going west to east or east to west, so you could ride one set of roads in one direction and another set on the return leg. This would give you quite a nice circular route.

2. There are suggested cut through roads, enabling you to shorten either of the routes should you chose to.

From experience, the roads chosen by ADAC for their suggested touring routes maps are pretty good, rideable on anything from a pushbike to a FireBlade. Use and enjoy with confidence.


60e1001c4549ece8e89c8de907d535e8.jpg


b26b91850b57ef21d4a2ee83f22590c9.jpg



Find the original here:

https://www.adac.de/_mmm/pdf/TK_14_Pyrenäen_210812.pdf

As the image in the link is the original PDF it is very clear, making it easy to zoom in and out or to save / copy onto a PC or something similar, like an iPad.


Good stuff...thanks for taking the time to post :)




.
 
Thanks for all the great info on here. The wife and I are off on our first ride out of the UK in july.
We have a week to meander down to the Prades area in the eastern Pyrenees where we then have a weeks stay booked. After that we have 2 week to take a convoluted scenic route home.
So this thread makes great reading :)

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for all the great info on here. The wife and I are off on our first ride out of the UK in july.
We have a week to meander down to the Prades area in the eastern Pyrenees where we then have a weeks stay booked. After that we have 2 week to take a convoluted scenic route home.
So this thread makes great reading :)

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


Enjoy your ride:thumby::)
 


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