Transpyrenees 2019

I am thinking of touring the route in July, flights considered:

London to Girona
Biarritz to London

Seemed the most straightforward solution with direct flights.

Is there something I am missing?

Prices, availability, airline choice, departure airport, flight times.

I refuse to use certain airlines and prefer to fly from Heathrow because getting to the other London airports suck, so that can limit my choices.

it's basically checkmate for you

if you are feeling like adding some touring kms, the ferry from santander to portsmouth is a nice journey to sort out your tanlines

not a bad shout tbh.. would spare the hassle of packing the bike at the end of the trip

Holy shitballs Batman! Iberia actually answered the phone and I might have my bike box booked on my flight. Have to call back in 24hr to confirm though so that could take another month...

In other news...

Nice wheels brand!

"This mail is because some riders are asking these days about a bike box transport service from Llançà to San Sebastián.

As you know we don't provide this service...but we can help you to coordinate and organize it with a local agency.

If you are interested on it please contact us answering this mail with the dimensions of your box before 30/may. We've been asking some agencies and their prices could be around 30€ per person, depending on the final number of boxes."

This would be very useful. Means I could use my proper bike box and not worry about cardboard boxes.

Except it will also mean I'll probably have to tell the Iberia guys about the change... awkward :S

I can't get Air Nostrum/Iberia to confirm my bike box so I'm looking at train and ferry options:

Train involves a few changes and is 10h according to google maps. Ferry is an interesting option, particularly the midweek sailings:

Santander to Portsmouth sailing times
Three return crossings each week (24-32 hour crossing time)
Depart at 3.15pm on Monday and arrive in Portsmouth at 2.15pm on Tuesday
Depart at 8.30pm on Saturday and arrive in Portsmouth at 7.45pm on Sunday
Depart at 2.15pm or 5.15pm on Sunday and arrive in Portsmouth at 3.15pm or 8.45pm on Monday

Bilbao to Portsmouth sailing times
Two return crossings each week (24 hour crossing time)
Sail at 10.30am on Tuesday and arrive in Portsmouth at 9am on Wednesday
Depart at 3.30pm on Thursday and arrive in Portsmouth at 14.15pm on Friday

Do they serve beer on the ferry....?

https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/ships/onboard/dining-and-bars

It seems like a lot of faff to avoid flying back with Ryanair from Biarritz, sure getting home from Stansted takes less than the ferry

EDIT: you might as well cycle back to London at that point, two/three days and you should be home

Unrelated, I am going in 2 weeks for my touring traverse of the Pyrenees, haven't decided on a route yet, I'd like to see both sides, but crossing the border seem to be limited to few places only and boring busy roads rather than interesting high passes, perhaps some gravel.. I guess I was thinking of finding more old military roads like in the Alps

I'd booked the flights way back. I didn't realise the hassle w/ Iberia and bike box.
Also, riding back with bike box.. um..
I'm just going to have a nice ride, see as much as I can (save the first night) and then depending on when I arrive will see what my options are.

Hmm, my backup battery taillight appears to have eaten the batteries. Looks like it wasn't as waterproof as it should've been. Off to Halfords to buy another Lezyne

"Availability on our Bilbao-Portsmouth & Santander-Portsmouth routes are very limited; as such we very rarely offer foot passenger or bicycle passenger space on this. There are occasions were space may be released 7 days prior to departure; you will need to give our office a call to discuss this to see whether we have the space or not."

Good luck @hippy, @FourGreenFields and anyone else riding. Just seen record temperatures announced in France so hope it's not too hot!

Given how much @hippy has been moaning on Twitter about his journey to get to the start, we could be on for a classic.

Good luck to him, and @FourGreenFields , though.

G’wan Shane!

Expecting peak hippy on twitter for this

Good luck! I'm stalking for touring tips, so take loads of pictures!

It's freakin hot! Hotel wouldn't let the bike box in the room so had to assemble it in the garage - not a pleasant site after that. The heat is going to be an issue - i'm from wet and cold N. Ireland and this is not my default setting.

At least the temperatures are about 10 degrees cooler at the top of the hills.

Go @hippy and @FourGreenFields
Have fun!

I can't be arsed to dig because it's Friday and all. Any dot watching facilities for this? I've ridden the area much and would like to see what goes down for this.