Picos Routes advice

Rasher

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Messages
4,228
Reaction score
44
Location
Oxford, England
One for those in the "Know"

I have a trip to the Pyrenees planned, out from Bilbao on a route heavily based on Route Des Cols mainly riding on the French Side, then head back along the Spanish side with a spare day near the N260 (Sort Area)

From there we could head back on good roads to Pamplona and have a spare day whizzing around the Cols to the East of Pamplona, but if we put up with a longer day and 3-4 hours of Motorway we could get a day in the Picos.

Ride Magazine has a "Laredo Loop" route and we could fairly easily fit that in, or with a bit more motorway bashing get further West and ride the "Potes Triangle".

The question is are the routes equally good or is one by far the better, and then I have to decide is it is worth losing a pleasant day riding back along predominantly nice mountain roads in exchange for getting a day in the Picos.

To a degree it might be a moot point as I could be steered to one or t'other based upon the weather, but assuming it is going to be nice in Pamplona and Laredo / Potes is it worth swapping two good days for a boring and excellent one.

Thanks in advance.
 
Personally. If you have not been to the picks before, spend at least 3 days or longer. Or better still make it your primary destination.
 
Save the Picos for another trip. There are some nice roads north and east of Pamplona.

Pick a route to spend a night or two in San Sebastian, wandering from bar to bar scoffing pintxos
 
That’s not enough time to do it justice. Pico’s aren’t huge, but you’ll regret not spending longer there.
 
That’s not enough time to do it justice. Pico’s aren’t huge, but you’ll regret not spending longer there.

Same goes for every trip - this is primarily a trip to the Pyrenees so I am not asking if the Picos are a good idea for a day trip, but is it worth diverting off to get a day here, I am up to about 10 Alps trips now and still have a lot more to do, the Pyrenees is "unfinished business" and I reckon even if I spent this entire 8 days of riding in them I could easily still argue I needed more time, but hoping to of covered a fair chunk of the Pyrennes after this...

...and maybe next time will do a week in the Picos instead.
 
I had a couple of days riding in the Picos which I reckon was just enough for that area alone
I would concentrate my time in the Pyrenees and save the Picos for another trip and include the roads further west of there as Arsey details in his ride report.
Thats what I had provisionally planned until I saw the weather there in late October !
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/464169-Asturias?highlight=asturias
 
Go with the weather. There are great roads in the Picos, but given a choice between 10/10 roads in the rain and 9/10 roads in the dry, I know which I'd choose!
 
Hi

we spent ten days in Picos in mid Sept this year, Touching 30 degree everyday, i went west towards Cudillero for a change and then worked my way back to Potes over the holiday,Such a contrast in the different areas that we were riding was very noticeable,to tight turn rock strewn overhangs to open flowing riding, Couple days in picos would not really be enough for me and possibly not enough for you either.unless its just for a recon for future trips

Dave:thumby:
 
Hi

Couple days in picos would not really be enough for me and possibly not enough for you either.unless its just for a recon for future trips

Pretty much, plus you never know what the future holds in store, but basically swapping two days in the Pyrennes for one day in the Picos - but definitely worth a detour if it means sun Vs Rain.
 
I’d go, have a look and see what I thought.

There again, I could just do it by looking on Google Street View and watching a few videos if the weather was duff
 
Other than the road from Sort to Vielha which is stunning, I much preferred the Picos area. Weather did influence this mindset though.
We had 10 days in Spain and did three around the Picos before moving over to the Pyrenees and needed every one of them.
 
We rode down from eurotunnel through France into the Pyrenees for two weeks last year - and tagged on two nights in the Picos and a night on the coast before heading home.

We really didn’t do the Picos long enough.

Maybe next time we’ll stay longer and the travel south.
 
I think we are going to decide based on Weather, we might even find much of the French side is still a bit snowbound in which case we may have to do a bit of a U-Turn on several routes, but if the high passes are clear they should be very scenic with snow all around :)
 


Back
Top Bottom