The Pyrenees Trip 2016 : 24 June – 9 July

[woodsypedia]

Guys,

Could we shift this to early Jan? I'm going to struggle to make this sadly and it would be great to see Julian and others too. Don't worry if not, please do crack on and I'm sure I'll get the notes later

Cheers

Chris.

[Steve Gibson]

We had our planning sesh. All the ideas are scribbled on Bruce's pad, so he'll be along later with a summary. For the expedition, you'll need your sea legs, your driving legs and anyone else's legs you like the look of.

S

[Bruce Fielding]

Later...

So we have provisional plans. These take us very close to where Jean Pascal lives, so maybe he and some of his friends can join us. We ruled out the Alps section as the Pyrenees are brilliant and offer some of the same quality roads without the long haul across France. These are just provisional, as I say and open to suggestions.

There will, as always, be interesting stops along the way, and we'll try to get back onto the Pau Circuit at some stage if we can like last time. I haven't researched all that's available but will start now.

So here's our first pass at the route:

Day 1: Ferry from Portsmouth to Santander

Day 2: Still on the ferry...

Day 3: Early morning arrive in Santander and off to the Parador Olite - probably stopping for lunch in Pamplona.

Day 4: Head across the Pyrenees to Andorra - lots of twisties on the way...

Day 5: Drive some stunning roads in Andorra staying at the same hotel

Day 6: Head north west across the Massif Central, staying somewhere near Molssac

Day 7: Head to Cap Ferret for great food, great beaches, and great driving

Day 8: Stay and chill in Cap Ferret or drive some lovely swooping roads

Day 9: Head to La Rochelle

Day 10: Head to somewhere around Chateaubriant

Day 11: Stay somewhere around Chateaubriant and drive some of the roads in Brittany that we've discovered on previous trips

Day 12: Head towards Caen to catch the fast ferry

Day 13: Take the early ferry to Portsmouth

Alternatively...

Day 12:Head to St Malo to catch the slow ferry in the evening

Day 13 arrive Portsmouth early morning

Any suggestions and comments welcome

[Andrew300]

Just run through google maps for all the pit stops and it's going to be a epic road trip....

[Alex Brandon-Smith]

Looks superb but I query the single day route from Parador de Olite to Andorra. Assuming you're taking the most direct, fun and twisty route, that's a hell of a lot of road to cover in one day on full on twisties. Might that be worth a reconsider of length? Have done similar on the bike and anything over 200 miles is really pushing it on that terrain. It's pretty manic driving and you stop enjoying it after a while as there's no let up due to pressure of reaching the next stop. Maybe break it into two legs?

On a personal note, I won't be able to do the whole thing but am maybe looking at doing the Spanish leg and then returning back down to Santander for a return home rather than going north. Need to try and work it out as there is quite a danger I may not be able to join as the route doesn't stay in one area (say the Pyrenees as I'd maybe expected). I'd be pretty gutted to say the least...

Great route though....

[Steve Gibson]

That's not a bad idea, Alex. We have the time, so we could put a stop halfway between the Parador and Andorra.

S

[Alex Brandon-Smith]

[quote="Steve Gibson"]
That's not a bad idea, Alex. We have the time, so we could put a stop halfway between the Parador and Andorra.

S
[/quote]

If that does prove to be the case, it'd probably work better for me as well as there will be more days in that region for me to cut off and head back. As Bruce says, might be worth taking Pau into account too...

[GraemeW]

I was on that N260 this year.  One place I can recommend near Sort on the way to Andorra is below.  I don't know how many there are of you (this place takes 12) or what sort of accommodation you want, but this is a rural B&B in the mountains which we booked to make a change from hotels.  Great hospitality and food in a peaceful and beautiful part of the Pyranees. He seems to have catered for many car and bike tours before.

http://www.elvilar.com/public/en/index.php

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1072494-d3179300-Reviews-or10-Borda_El_Vilar-Sort_Province_of_Lleida_Catalonia.html#REVIEWS

[Steve Gibson]

Thanks, Graeme. I'll have a look into that one. However, it might be a squeeze, I think we could be 14 or thereabouts.

S

[julian]

Sounds good to me, gets a bit difficult to find something different when you have done a few Euro trips.

My input on this one would be not to arrive at lunch stops too late to find nowhere open. Then to depart with a ridiculous amount of miles to drive after lunch to arrive pissed off and *ucked, so keep the afternoon drives short or straight as an option, after all it's a holiday.

Julian

[Steve Gibson]

Hulio,

We're hoping to avoid those kinds of marathon drives. Wherever we saw a long drive, we put an overnight stop in the middle. And I think we can check ahead for potential lunch stops, instead of crossing our fingers, which is what we sometimes do.

One of the reasons we chose to come back via Caen or St Malo is to get rid of that slog we often have to Calais to make the Eurotunnel. It costs to get the ferry back, but we'll avoid a 330m drive north-east (and one hotel stay) by doing it.

We've tried to make this a 'seaside, pretty countryside and mountains' trip, rather than a 'mainland and mountains' trip.

S

[Steve Gibson]

I'll give this a few more days and then if there are no objections we'll announce the boat out and boat back bookings to be made.

S

[julian]

Looking forward to this.

[Sir Nick]

I've got some issues that will not resolve before first week of February so can't book till then.  Sooo wanna do this, fingers crossed!  Thanks for all the planning guys.

[Steve Gibson]

Just realised we can't call it the Alps trip anymore, given that we're not going near them. It's really The Pyrenees Trip, until we come up with a catchier name.

Nick, I think you'd be fine to book in early Feb, if you're going to come. I imagine you'd still get the crossings you want, six months in advance. If you couldn't, you'd be able to get crossings very close to the ones we choose.

Anyone know if it's possible to change a thread title on here? I don't want to cause any confusion with Stuart's trip, if I can.