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España Francia - 2019

Picos to Provence

A two-week tour across Northern Spain, through the Languedoc in France, to the Côte d'Azur.

1600+ kilometres from Santander, across the Pyrenees, through the Cevennes and Haut-Provence, to Éze

Tour Outline

We cruised by Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Santander on the northern Spanish coast. After our early evening arrival, we took a short autoroute hop to Castro Urdiales for a couple of nights, not least so we could spend the following day properly exploring Bilbao as we'd missed this on our previous Picos Tour in 2017.

Leaving Castro, we skirted the eastern edge of the now familiar Picos de Europa range en-route to the Basque and Navarra regions of Spain, arriving in Jaca after a long, first day's ride. The following morning, we picked up the fabulous N260 route that skirts the southern slopes of the Pyrenees all the way to the Mediterranean.

We stopped overnight at La Seu d'Urgell, enjoyed a fabulous paella, and the following morning, after more terrific N260 almost all the way to the frontier town of Puigcerda, we crossed the Pyrenees into France.

Soon, we were riding the Gorges de St.George - one of France's crazy balcony roads - that tracks the Aude valley all the way to Quillan. After a hearty lunch, we cruised a gentler but much faster route to the ancient, fortified city of Carcassonnne for our next overnight stop.

Embalse de Yesa, close to Jaca in Navarra

N260 between La Seu d'Urgell and Puigcerda

From Carcassonne we tracked north across some fabulous open, Haut-Languedoc roads towards the spectacular Millau viaduct which carries the autoroute over the Tarn valley. Once through Millau itself, the valley road leads through the amazing Tarn Gorges, en-route to Florac for our overnight stop. Aside from the viaduct itself, the highlight of the ride was the small detour we took to Point Sublime, high up on the rim of the Gorge for unbelievable views of the Tarn valley.

From Florac, we climbed up on to the Cevennes plateau to ride the Corniche des Cevennes before dropping down towards the ancient, roman Pont du Gard. We were keen to visit, but time was pressing so we crossed the mighty Rhone, spiralled upwards to the high point of northern Provence, Mont Ventoux. We ended our day at the medeival, citadel gateway town of Sisteron on the River Durance, arriving in a torrential summer thunderstorm, thoroughly wet.

Viaduc de Millau

Mont Ventoux, alt . 1909m

Our bikes and kit

We took the same Triumph Street Triple, the same KTM 690 Duke 3, but the KTM RC125 from the 2017 Tour of the Picos had now been replaced with a Suzuki SV650. This trio of middleweight bikes were well matched for this tour with ample performance and were all surprisingly comfortable.

All the video footage was once again, captured on our two GoPro action cameras, with mountings either on the front forks or the visors of one or more of the bikes.

With the benefit of hindsight, we should have set the frame rate on the GoPros to 60fps so that video footage captured 'at speed' would have been crisper. However, even at the default, 30fps, 12 minutes of video created a 2.2Gb file so large capacity micro-SD cards were essential. Ours were 128Gb, and we had several. We edited the footage using the GoPro Studio app on a MacBook Air, and created the video clips using GoPro Quik on a 64Gb iPad.

N260 between Pobla de Segur and La Seu d'Urgell

Our routes

Routes Overview

With more than 1600km to cover in a week, the riding days were long, and with hindsight, we missed opportunities to rest a bit and explore new places. A better plan would have been to have allowed 10 days for the route from Santander in Spain to Éze on the Côte d'Azur, so that even if we had been on the road every day, some rides would have been shorter. For example, the long from Florac to Sisteron didn't leave time to visit Pont du Gard, the awesome Roman aquaduct close to Avignon, which was a pity, but is there for another day.

N260, close to La Seu d'Urgell (Day 4)

Mont Ventoux - just before the thuderstorm (Day 7)

Day 0:

Departure Portsmouth 17:00, Brittany Ferries

Day 1:

Arrival Santander -> Castro Urdiales - 66km

Day 2:

Visiting Bilbao

Day 3:

Castro Urdiales -> Jaca - 320km

Day 4:

Jaca -> N260 -> La Seu d'Urgell - 301km

Day 5:

La Seu d'Urgell -> Carcassonne - 193km

Day 6:

Carcassonne -> Florac - 255km

Day 7:

Florac -> Mont Ventoux -> Sisteron - 305km

Day 8:

Sisteron -> N85 Route Napoléon -> Éze

Days 9-14:

Côte d'Azur Villa at Éze - 189km

Day 15:

Éze -> le Puy-en-Velay - 447km

Day 16:

le Puy-en-Velay -> Blois - 415km

Day 17:

Blois -> Ouistreham - 271km

However, we had spectacular weather for the week's riding with the exception of Day 7 which brought unbearable heat by midday near Avigon, and a very annoying thunderstorm as we descended Mont Ventoux and approached Sisteron. A navigation error didn't help!

The longest hauls were the homeward rides ,with a huge Day 15 of mostly Autoroute from the Riviera to the Auvergne. The A7 along the Rhone valley in high, mistral winds was hard work, especially on the lightweight Duke which tried to tip itself and its terrified pilot into the countryside several times. We were all pretty tired on arrival at le Puy-en-Velay. Day 16 was nearly as far, but with better weather and more interesting roads, was more enjoyable.

our routes

Picos Tres Mares? Na - Picos Tres Motos!

Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrival SANTANDER, to Castro Urdialies

We arrived at Santander late in the afternoon, disembarking the ferry for a short, autoroute ride along the coast to Castro Urdiales for a two night stay at a Spanish 'Pension', right on the harbourside. It was fairly cheap, but cheeful enough with a great view from the small balcony, and was only a few steps from the old town and a great variety of pinxos (tapas) bars.

On Sunday, we took the bus into Bilbao to explore the city and to give the Guggenheim a proper visit this time. At least from the outside - the majority vote was that the entrance fee was a bit steep and exploring the old town was a better option. Maybe the minority will get to visit properly another time.

Day 1 ride = 66km; Pension La Marina, triple room: €140 (two nights)

Breakfast in Castro Urdiales

Guggenheim, Bilbao

Route map

Day 3 - Castro Urdiales to Jaca

After a decent breakfast at Castro, we meandered up into the coastal hills to the south-west of Bilbao in the general direction of Vitoria-Gastiez. We didn't stop to explore, as today's ride was a long one, so pressed on across the wide open plains, farmlands and Rioja vineyards of the Basque Country and Navarra.

These are open, empty, free-flowing roads, and breaking only for a good lunch at Tafella, we headed towards our destination of Jaca, the fortress city that was to be our overnight stop. This was a long, first day's proper time on the bikes but a good opportunity to get into the flow of riding in Spain again - fast and fun.

We stayed at the Skipass Hostel in Jaca in a very comfortable, reasonably priced room, and once rested, demolished a huge table of pinxos on the hotel's terrace.

Day 3 ride = 320km; Skipass Hostal, triple room: €60

Photo-stop: Street Triple at the Embalse de Yesa, not far from Jaca

Castro (and Bilbao) to Jaca pt1; Music: 'Aki' - The Truffle Tribe

Plains of Navarre; Music: 'Disco Ulysses'

Route map

Embalse de Yesa (Jaca); Music: 'Douha' (Mali Mali)

Tafella: lunch stop

Day 3 Gallery

Itinerary

N260 close to Castejon de Sos

N260 photo stop - close to La Seu

N260 pt3: Broto to Ainsa; Music: 'That's Alright' - Laura Mvula

Paella in La Seu d'Urgell

Route map

Prullans, approaching Puigcerda

Carcassonne

Carcassone Express; Music: 'Marrakesh Espress' - Crosby, Stills & Nash

Route map

Day 4 - Jaca to La Seu d'Urgell: the N260

The legendary, N260 starts just outside Jaca and winds its way through the foothills and sourthern slopes of the Pyrenees all the way to the Mediterranean. It is reputed to be one of Europe's best biker roads.

From just outside Jaca, we rode the best part from Biescas to Broto in the morning, continuing on through Ainsa to El Pont de Suert for a lunch stop. Fully replenished, (both us and the bikes) the road soon climbs back into the mountains for another amazing section of twisties, hairpins and faster sections to find its way to La Seu d'Urgell where we stopped overnight.

The oldest amongst was now knackered, physically but especially mentally as concentration levels had to be high on this road. With hindsight, we probably rode too far for too long, and would recommend anyone tracing our steps to consider splitting this amazing road into smaller chunks with longer breaks.

Our stay at Hotel Andria in Le Seu was very comfortable, and we enjoyed all the frivolities and traditions of a local Catalan festival as our evening entertainment throughout our dinner of a huge paella.

Day 4 ride = 301km; Overnight stop: Hotel Andria triple room: €131

N260 pt2: Beiscas to Broto; Music: 'Starry Night' - Peggy Gou

Day 5 - La Seu d'Urgell to Carcassonne

Today was 'Cross the Pyrennees' day, from Spain into France.

After a hearty breakfast at Hotel Andria in La Seu, we hit the road for our last blast on the N260. This was an altogether less demanding ride but great fun with long sweeping curves and fast straights as the road climbed towards the frontier at Puigcerda.

On the French side, we quickly dropped downhill towards the Gorge de St George in the Aude valley. It was a ridiculously narrow, poorly surfaced and winding local road that demanded as much concentration as yesterday's twisties on the N260. But the scenery in the gorge was unrivalled - or so we thought until we were to meet the Tarn Gorge the following day!

After lunch in Quillan, the roads were smooth, open and quiet, all the way to Carcassonne for our overnight stop right in the heart of the old city.

Day 5 ride = 139km; l'Auberge de Jeunesse (youth hostel) €61.50

Hotel Andria, La Seu d'Urgell

Itinerary

Day 6 - Carcassonne to Florac

Today we headed back into French uplands after a great breakfast at our Carcassonne youth hostel accommodation. Once clear of the city, we headed into the Haut-Languedoc National Park, and once through the small market town of Mazamet, we picked up the terrific D622 all the way to Saint-Afrique.

But this was to be a day of jaw-dropping sights and vistas. Approaching Millau, the pin-sharp Viaduc de Millau came into view, the tallest and longest bridge structure in Europe. A truly magnificent blend of engineering and elegance.

The best was yet to come however, and once through Millau, we headed into the Tarn Gorges on the D907. Riding the route upstream, the river valley became narrower and deeper, with the sandstone cliffs on either side glowing in afternoon sunshine. A 12km diversion up onto the rim of the gorge to Point Sublime provided stunning views from the cliff-top café - well worth it!

Back in the gorge, our long day's ride finally ended in Florac, the administrative centre of the Cevennes region.

Day 6 ride: 255km ; Grand Hotel du Parc, Florac, €85 for a triple room.

D32, above Lacaune, Haut-Languedoc

Tarn Gorge

The Bridge; Music: 'The Trip' - Still Corners

Tarn Gorges; Music: 'Ultimatum' - Disclosure

Viaduc to Gorges; Music: 'Southern Freez - John Rocca

Route map

Tarn Gorge

Viaduc de Millau

Day 6 Gallery

Day 7 - Florac to Sisteron

Today was the last, long ride. From our overnight stop in Florac we climbed out of the town to the D9, Corniche des Cevennes, for a superb early-morning ride across this wide open, upland, national park. Dropping down to the valley, we headed on to Pont du Gard, intending to view the amazing roman aquaduct, but sadly with so many km still to cover, chose to press on rather than visit.

Once across the mighty Rhone at Avignon however, the tour-de-force of today's ride was the lofty Mont Ventoux. Climbing steeply from Malaucène to 2000m, the view from the summit stretches over 100km south to the Med. What we thought may have been snow, turned out to be limestone scree.

But the stiflingly hot day had brought thunderstorms, which together with a navigation error, saw us finally arrive at Sisteron thoroughly soaked, but happy.

Day 7 ride: 305km; Hotel Citadelle, Sisteron, €77 for a triple room.

Corniche des Cevennes

Mont Ventoux

Cevennes to Mont Ventoux; Music: 'Ten Thousand Years' - Quasi Bonsai

Route map

Day 7 Gallery

Day 8 - Sisteron to Éze

Riding from Sisteron towards the Med we explored another 'must ride', the N85 'Route Napoléon. The Emperor took this route on his return from exile on the island of Elba to retake Paris. This southern section stretches from the coast at Cannes, to Grenoble in the foothills of the Alps. From Sisteron, the N85 screams across the Provence countryside towards Dignes-les-Bains and Castellane, where we were to return later in the week to raft down the white water of the Verdon canyon.

The N85 was now the D6085, and at Le Logis-du-Pin we took a left to ride the famous supercar test route of Clue de Gréolières, a collection of tunnels and balconies on a road carved into the rocks. Sadly, were caught in rain showers, which although only light, prompted prudence! Eventually dropping down into Nice, our route followed the famous Grand Corniche to the cliff-top village of Éze, close to Monte Carlo, to find our villa, home for the following week.

Day 8 ride: 189km.

D4085, Col des Lèques

N85 Route Napoléon

N85, Route Napoléon, Sisteron to Éze; Music: 'Bodysnatchers' - Radiohead

Route map

le Jardin Exotique, Éze

Days 9-14 - Villa at Éze, Côte d'Azur

Our reward for 8 days biking and over 1500km along some fabulous roads that crossed an amazing variety of landscapes and sceneries, was a week's R&R in a superb villa on the Côte d'Azur at Éze, between Nice and Monaco.

Villa Isla was a modern house in a small gated development with a shared pool and a lovely south-facing terrace with delightful views of the Mediterranean.

Éze, and the Riviera

The village of Éze, on the Moyenne Corniche, was interesting and quaint, if a little touristy, but with the bikes parked up for the week, our rental car provided a welcome alternative for exploring the locality too.

The ceremony of Monaco with the glitter of Monte Carlo one day, rafting in the Canyon du Verdon the next, was balanced with plenty of 'time out' from being on the road, spent around the pool with great suppers on the terrace.

Gorge de Verdon

The villa was perfect, with sleeping for up to four in two spacious bedrooms, a comfortable open plan living area and just the right amount of outside space.

It was a tidy walk to the village, but once there, les Jardins Exotiques, right at the very top of Éze, which itself was perched on the cliffs high above the sea, was lovely, and provided spectacular views of the whole coastline. In the other direction, Neitzsche's path (after the philosopher who made a home here) was almost a scramble down the cliffs to the beach below.

The Casino at Monte Carlo

The Palace at Monaco

Day 15 - Éze to Le Puy-en-Velay

The third Saturday of our time away saw us heading homewards across France south-to-north in time for our ferry home on Monday.

The first leg was the longest, mostly Autoroute (which did our tyres no good at all), and frankly, hard work, especially battling a Mistral (wind) all the way up the Rhone valley. We were all knackered at the end of it.

The reward was a quiet but comfortable youth-hostel overnight stop in the interesting, Auvergne town of Le Puy. It was a pity we had no time to explore.

Day 15 ride = 477km! Auberge de Jeunesse, Le Puy-en-Velay: €61

Route map

le Puy-en-Velay

Day 16 - Puy-en-Velay to Blois

The second day of our trip home was nearly as long as the first, but the biking was better, not least because we mostly stayed away from autoroutes, preferring to stick to fast, Route Nationales across this wide open landscape.

With hindsight, finding time to explore Clermont Ferrand and it's brooding, black cathedral would have been worth planning for, but with distance to cover, this time, it wasn't an option. We arrived in on the banks of the Loire at Blois, for our overnight stop at another, virtually deserted youth hostel.

Day 16 ride = 403km; Auberge de Jeunesse, Blois: €63.

Route map

Chateau Royal de Blois

Day 17 - Blois to Ouistreham

With less distance to cover on our final long haul day, we were able to take a slightly more leisurely pace after an early start to make our ferry at 16:00.

Now into Normandy, the landscape felt a little more like our own home ground of Hampshire and the South Downs although these RNs were mostly straighter and faster.

Another regret was not to have time to visit the Le Mans race museum, but with ferry check-in time approaching, we had to press on.

Day 17 ride = 289km;

Route map

Port de Ouistreham

Trip summary

The bikes were amazing. The Suzuki SV650 was just bulletproof and for a 16-year-old bike with 26k miles on the clock, still went like a train. The Duke was perhaps the least suited to the tour, but it was surprisingly comfortable on even the longest of rides, although it was genuinely terrifying in the very windy conditions on the first long-haul home day, not least due to it's light weight and tall profile. The Street-Triple just screamed, as they do, and was the only bike to have had a minor mishap, with the stand spring dropping off on the first day. We fixed it with an inventive use of a bit of bungee cord and a plastic clip- it worked.

On reflection, we rode too far on most days on the Espana-Francia first part of our trip, as we arrived at destinations tired and with little time to properly explore. Taking perhaps two rest days to break this part up a bit would have been more prudent, and may also have encouraged us to use the bikes more once we were at our villa rather than leave them parked up and tour around in the rental car, comfortable as it was.

The best roads were undoubtedly the N260 across the foothills of the Pyrennees, although in its twistiests bits, did require high concentration levels to get the best out of the road and the bikes; and also the N85 Route Napoléon from Sisteron down to the coast which was fast, well-surfaced and mostly empty of traffic. But also, the Corniche de Cevennes from Florac was a lovely ride, and the blast across the Haut-Languedoc from Carcassonne to Saint-Afrique was also pretty awesome for the most part, not least with the reward of the spectacular Viaduc de Millau at the end of it.

For our next Grand Tour, we're thinking of the Iberian peninsula again, on to the Mediterranean Islands of Sardinia and Corsica, and a route home through Italy and the French Alps - perhaps in 2022.