Post by teffort on Jun 30, 2008 12:19:46 GMT
Arrived home from my two week jaunt to the Pyrenees and "Landes" area of South Western France late on Saturday night. I did the journey home in one hit leaving Pouillon where we stayed at 8.45 on Saturday morning and arriving home just after 10pm the same evening after a total of 821 miles. I crossed the channel via the tunnel and was fortunate to only have to wait about 25 mins before boarding. There were only about 20 cars and 3 bikes on the whole train so it was very quiet.
My trip started on Fri 13th June. We rented a large villa with 6 bedrooms and a private pool with 4 other couples (all non-bikers) some of whom were staying for 1 week and others, like us, 2 weeks. My wife would never have managed a journey of that length as pillion so she took a flight to Biarritz with one of the other couples and she was able to get a lift in their hire car from the airport to where we were staying. I stayed with my sister near Canterbury on Friday night and that journey from Thame to Canterbury through Friday rush hour traffic around the M25 wasn't pleasant but I got a good night's sleep and left at 4am on Saturday. The tunnel crossing was fine and I took the peage motorway route to Paris and around the Peripherique before picking up the A10 for the long journey to Bordeaux. My TomTom satnav (a GO520 with a bike mount) was a big help around Paris and the weather was generally good with just a bit of rain in Northern France.
Again the TomTom was a big help in negotiating the local roads when I finally left the motorway and did the last 40 miles to our villa. I arrived just after 5pm on Saturday, about 1 hour after my wife who had taken the flight from Stansted that left at 12.15. This is where we stayed:
The week before we arrived, the area had seen unusually high levels of rain and there was a lot of water about and the rivers were very swollen and fast flowing. We saw rain over the first couple of days but then the sun came out and it was very hot most of the time. Over the two weeks I did several long trips out on the bike, some alone and some with the wife. Other days we spent on trips with friends in their cars or lazing and drinking by the pool. We had one disappointing trip where we went up into the Pyrenees on the bike planning to cross into Spain via the Col de la Pierre St Martin. As we got to about 1500m in height the weather closed in and we were in cloud. I got up to the ski resort near the summit and it was raining heavily and visibility was very poor - you could barely see 20m ahead and that's no joke on tight hairpin roads. We decided to turn back and got down the mountain thoroughly soaked. All the other trips were great though with stunning views and warm sunshine. Here are just a few of the highlights:
Biarritz. A stunning resort with sandy beaches and rolling Atlantic waves, great for surfing. Also a natural harbour built into the rocky coves to the South of the beaches.
The Col d'Aubisque. Stunning views and fantastic roads. There was a huge cycle race over the mountain while I rode up and I felt like an outrider escort in the Tour de France! The village of Laruns was a great place to stop on the way up and enjoy coffee and local ham & cheese.
St Jean de Luz. Another lovely seaside resort near the Spanish border. Not as glitzy as Biarritz but still some lovely beaches. Had a great meal of local mussels and chips near the sea front there. Here is a view of the harbour:
Lac d'Artouste. A stunning glacial lake at over 2000m high. You get there via a combination of cable car and then a small train that runs around a mountain ledge with sheer drops to one side. We saw wild marmots at one point near the train.
The route over the Col d'Ispeguy is another stunning road between France and Spain with fantastic harpin bends and more breathtaking views. No more than a single track road for most of the way, the border is marked by a concrete post and a small cafe. I also had a stunning view of eagles gliding on the descent.
There are a load more pictures here: s166.photobucket.com/albums/u97/teffort/Pyrenees%20June08/
This is a lovely part of France and well worth visiting. There aren't many places in Europe where you can be less than an hour from both beautiful sandy beaches and stunning mountain scenery.
The only downside was the high cost of fuel in France - mostly around 1.60 Euro per litre and with an exchange rate of 1.20 Euro to the pound at best it works out expensive. In Spain the cost is nearer 1.25 Euro per litre but we were too far from the Spanish border most of the time to benefit from that.
Coming home on Saturday I should have chosen a different route that didn't involve the Paris peripherique. I got there about 4pm in the afternoon and the traffic was horrendous. I did about 20 miles of filtering through queues which requires a lot of concentration on a fully laden bike trying to dodge cars and work out which turning you want. I had one dodgy moment where I was trying to look at the satnav in bright sunshine and didn't realise until late that the traffic in front of me had stopped. Grabbed a handful of brake and just stopped inches from the bumper in front of me. Apart from that the riding was all quite pleasant and uneventful.
Total miles travelled in all (on the bike): 2845
Still nursing a slightly sore backside and stiff shoulders today but it hasn't put me off more similar trips in the future!
My trip started on Fri 13th June. We rented a large villa with 6 bedrooms and a private pool with 4 other couples (all non-bikers) some of whom were staying for 1 week and others, like us, 2 weeks. My wife would never have managed a journey of that length as pillion so she took a flight to Biarritz with one of the other couples and she was able to get a lift in their hire car from the airport to where we were staying. I stayed with my sister near Canterbury on Friday night and that journey from Thame to Canterbury through Friday rush hour traffic around the M25 wasn't pleasant but I got a good night's sleep and left at 4am on Saturday. The tunnel crossing was fine and I took the peage motorway route to Paris and around the Peripherique before picking up the A10 for the long journey to Bordeaux. My TomTom satnav (a GO520 with a bike mount) was a big help around Paris and the weather was generally good with just a bit of rain in Northern France.
Again the TomTom was a big help in negotiating the local roads when I finally left the motorway and did the last 40 miles to our villa. I arrived just after 5pm on Saturday, about 1 hour after my wife who had taken the flight from Stansted that left at 12.15. This is where we stayed:
The week before we arrived, the area had seen unusually high levels of rain and there was a lot of water about and the rivers were very swollen and fast flowing. We saw rain over the first couple of days but then the sun came out and it was very hot most of the time. Over the two weeks I did several long trips out on the bike, some alone and some with the wife. Other days we spent on trips with friends in their cars or lazing and drinking by the pool. We had one disappointing trip where we went up into the Pyrenees on the bike planning to cross into Spain via the Col de la Pierre St Martin. As we got to about 1500m in height the weather closed in and we were in cloud. I got up to the ski resort near the summit and it was raining heavily and visibility was very poor - you could barely see 20m ahead and that's no joke on tight hairpin roads. We decided to turn back and got down the mountain thoroughly soaked. All the other trips were great though with stunning views and warm sunshine. Here are just a few of the highlights:
Biarritz. A stunning resort with sandy beaches and rolling Atlantic waves, great for surfing. Also a natural harbour built into the rocky coves to the South of the beaches.
The Col d'Aubisque. Stunning views and fantastic roads. There was a huge cycle race over the mountain while I rode up and I felt like an outrider escort in the Tour de France! The village of Laruns was a great place to stop on the way up and enjoy coffee and local ham & cheese.
St Jean de Luz. Another lovely seaside resort near the Spanish border. Not as glitzy as Biarritz but still some lovely beaches. Had a great meal of local mussels and chips near the sea front there. Here is a view of the harbour:
Lac d'Artouste. A stunning glacial lake at over 2000m high. You get there via a combination of cable car and then a small train that runs around a mountain ledge with sheer drops to one side. We saw wild marmots at one point near the train.
The route over the Col d'Ispeguy is another stunning road between France and Spain with fantastic harpin bends and more breathtaking views. No more than a single track road for most of the way, the border is marked by a concrete post and a small cafe. I also had a stunning view of eagles gliding on the descent.
There are a load more pictures here: s166.photobucket.com/albums/u97/teffort/Pyrenees%20June08/
This is a lovely part of France and well worth visiting. There aren't many places in Europe where you can be less than an hour from both beautiful sandy beaches and stunning mountain scenery.
The only downside was the high cost of fuel in France - mostly around 1.60 Euro per litre and with an exchange rate of 1.20 Euro to the pound at best it works out expensive. In Spain the cost is nearer 1.25 Euro per litre but we were too far from the Spanish border most of the time to benefit from that.
Coming home on Saturday I should have chosen a different route that didn't involve the Paris peripherique. I got there about 4pm in the afternoon and the traffic was horrendous. I did about 20 miles of filtering through queues which requires a lot of concentration on a fully laden bike trying to dodge cars and work out which turning you want. I had one dodgy moment where I was trying to look at the satnav in bright sunshine and didn't realise until late that the traffic in front of me had stopped. Grabbed a handful of brake and just stopped inches from the bumper in front of me. Apart from that the riding was all quite pleasant and uneventful.
Total miles travelled in all (on the bike): 2845
Still nursing a slightly sore backside and stiff shoulders today but it hasn't put me off more similar trips in the future!
