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

Am planning on taking the whole Spanish thing a step further by doing a loop of the country (Santander/Valencia/Andalusia/Avila/Santander. Have routes in Basecamp if

Rgds,
Steve

Very interested in seeing what you come up with as I and a mate have got a ferry booked to Santander mid Sept next year and looking for ideas for a meandering route down to his apartment on the Costa del Sol and then back for return ferry mid October.


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Very interested in seeing what you come up with as I and a mate have got a ferry booked to Santander mid Sept next year and looking for ideas for a meandering route down to his apartment on the Costa del Sol and then back for return ferry mid October.

Davisonstuff has kindly shared his proposed routes with me. I’ll take a look at them, tidy them up (if they need it) and host them on UKGSer, probably in a fresh thread.
 
Hi Simon,
Thanks for the tip. I was aware of the L-4011 but couldn’t fit it in in the time I had. I opted instead for the direct route to Sant Llorence via the L-401 which was fantastic. I’ll add the L-4011 to my list for next time. It looks like you could get really remote which I love.

If you’re in Tremp then you’ve hit the absolute motorcycling jackpot. Smack bang in the middle of the lot. And the X-Country Challenge (or X-Challenge?) in your pics doubles your fun as I see from your other stuff you have going on that you spend a lot of time off road now. I’m extremely jealous. I wish I’d known you were there, we could have done a little ride out. You could have saved me getting lost at the Mirador del Pirineu just north of Ager :). What a great place. And it's not just the roads, the countryside (as we call it) is beautiful. Maybe next time.

The N-260, although a back-bone, really is a great road and I shouldn’t undersell it. I think there was only 1 stretch that 1 would say was unenjoyable, the short run between Campo and Castejon de Sos. When I was there it was bumpy (they were fixing that), very busy and tight. After Castejon it was great again, particularly the section right after it up and over the Port de la Creu de Perves.

I’ve updated my list to include the following:
A-139 (Santaliestra to Bonansa)
HU-V-9601 (Campo to the A-1605)
N-230 ( N-260 to Embalse de Caserca just before the Vielha tunnel)
N-260 (El Pont de Suert to Senterada over the Port de la Creu de Perves)
N-260 (Sort to Adrall over the Puerto del Canto)
BV-4031 (Collada de Toses to La Pobla de Lillet via Castellar de n'Hug)

Can't believe I didn't put the N-260 from Urtx down to Ribes de Freser over the Collada de Toses but the truth is I kept getting wet and the surface was only a 4 out of 5 :) so my recollection was clouded in misery :). I'll include it now though. If they ever get round to re-surfacing that run (it's nowhere near as bad as this may read) it would would have to be the greatest sport riding road in Europe.

Feel free to add any other gems you know of.
Rgds
Steve

Yes, Tremp is indeed an ideal base - and a biker paradise to live here, although when we bought our place here waaaaaay back in 1987 I though I'd packed in biking for good a few years earlier, besides, back in those pre-EU funding days the roads here were truly appalling - a day our from Temp to Sort, for example, was a day's adventure rather then the half hour drive it is today!

Talking of bases, I wouldn't choose Berga as I find it rather a depressing town full of abandoned textile factories and a lot of local poverty (although in my experience the people from Berga are very warm and friendly) plus the C-16 trunk road north to the expensive Cadi tunnel and south to Vic is absolutely horrible, whereas I like to be based in a town on a viable crossroads like Isaba (Izaba), Ainsa, La Pobla de Segur and Ripoll to name but a few. I think Ripoll is a great alternative to Berga as it's a pretty town with plenty of accommodation and if you want a bit of a day off your bike - maybe a concession to your passengerr :) - there is a great scenic railway route up and down the main line (as well as the rack railway at Ribes de Freser of course), ditto for Jaca and la Pobla de Segur/Tremp.

I'm glad to spotted the 'Mountain Circuit' over from La Pobla de Lillet but I'm not so sure about your A-139 (Santaliestra to Bonansa); a much better way to get to Bonansa is either on the A-1605 from Graus or the newly rebuilt HU-V-9601 from Campo, which I always seem to end up when heading west form Tremp! In July I made a bad move deciding to follow the N-260 up from Campo to Sos as the entire ravine section was in major roadworks, leaving be boiling to death waiting a for the 'down' traffic at one of the numerous one way working sections, that is until a kindly road worker waved me through the whole lot - the last time I did this I just ignored the road block and went through anyway stopping to say 'Hello to the road workers heading back to Campo for lunch; they kindly told me that all of the Dynamite had already been detonated for the day so I was OK to go on!

dynamite.jpg


Thanks for the heads up about trail riding and maybe meeting up. Actually I don't do so much these days after a rather unnerving accident a few years ago that brought home to me how vulnerable you are when alone ... I still do ride trails, especially when I have company , but usually on my little 200 cc Beta Alp.

aprehiss2.jpg


But the X-Country - the Challenge is too much for my legs! - is a perfect bike for exploring Spain's back roads, many of which are hardly more than trails - and in some cases in the deep interior they are trails!

I did month long tours of Spain, including a bit of Portugal, back in 2011 and 2012, again basing myself at several strategic locations and even then I've hardly scraped the surface!

cape-tarifa-poster.jpg


lamancha31.jpg


molina1.jpg


@ Wapping, I haven't forgotten dmy/our plot to write a guide book to the Pyrenees - and subsequently other parts of Spain if all went well - but something else cropped up which is taking all of my time - and intelligence quota!

Regs

Simon
 
Good thread this is developing into.

Thanks, Simon.

I am building myself a bit of a job but, I’ll seek to add your suggestions / amendments into Davidonstuff’s, to create one, ‘Must do’ version. Then lay it over the top of the ADAC’s file route. My only fear is that it might look a bit ‘busy’ or an explosion in a spaghetti factory. There are ways around that if it does. Anyway, it will be fun.... sort of.
 
Good thread this is developing into.

Thanks, Simon.

I am building myself a bit of a job but, I’ll seek to add your suggestions / amendments into Davidonstuff’s, to create one, ‘Must do’ version. Then lay it over the top of the ADAC’s file route. My only fear is that it might look a bit ‘busy’ or an explosion in a spaghetti factory. There are ways around that if it does. Anyway, it will be fun.... sort of.

Ha ha, that sounds like a good project now that another lockdown is imminent! :)
 
Davisonstuff has kindly shared his proposed routes with me. I’ll take a look at them, tidy them up (if they need it) and host them on UKGSer, probably in a fresh thread.

Richard, did you do this? It would make a good basis for a future Pyrenees trip
 
Here's a Santander seafood restaurant I was recommended by a local on another forum. I looks fantastic. Might be worth popping it in the sat nav just in case you find yourself with a couple of hours to kill before boarding the ferry. It's called Vivero and is in the Fisherman's Quarter, near to the ferry terminal.

https://goo.gl/maps/zeU787dUhMvpHW798
 


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