Generic Touring Thread

I booked about 2-3 weeks in advance. I guess I'm out of peak season and there's greater availability. Next time I'd book earlier to get a cheaper price.

May is still borderline if you plan on going into high mountains (Alps, Dolomites or Pyrenees), depending on how the season goes there might still be snow (like this year).

Spain is a good shout, one idea could be to ride the Pyrenees from Girona to San Sebastian, then continue along the north coast and make it all the way to Porto and Lisbon.

Balkans is also a great option in my opinion.

Or just spend the whole time traversing dolomites and alps..

Depends what you are looking for in your trip in terms of route and culture

I can't remember if you're on or off road?

I'm lazy so I mostly copy other people's routes/ideas unless it's a race. I've loved Transiberica and Transpyrenees and off-road stuff near Amposta and Ernesto / Vacant Mountains from https://bikepacking.com/routes/montanas-vacias/ and https://bikepacking.com/routes/altravesur-bikepacking-route/

Also off-road El Piri is a tough but stunning route/event by @skinny start/finish in Girona. Badlands down south was cool - Sierra Nevadas are your southern lumpy options (Granada)

https://www.transandalus.org/#!/
https://bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-transnevada-southern-spain/
https://montanasvacias.com/xl-eng/ (various routes, mostly around Tereul)
https://granguanche.com/audax/audaxtrail/ (Canaries road/offroad routes)
Raid Pyrenean http://www.ccb-cyclo.fr/en/raid-pyreneen.html
Offroad https://iberica-traversa.com/
https://bikepacking.com/routes/iberica-norte/
https://raceacrossseries.com/en/race-across-spain-2025/

Anyway, just look at some of these for pictures and routes and see what tickles your fancy based on what you like riding.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17568795/

road only

Then, personally, I'd bash over the Pyrenees. I've been talking about another go, as a tour with the missus for a while. Maybe doing it from San Seb towards the east instead this time. Steal the TPR route or http://www.ccb-cyclo.fr/en/raid-pyreneen­.html route.

But equally, the area where the Vacant Mountains routes are still has plenty of roads so you could make some really nice, low-traffic routes down there.

I rode from Biarritz to Barcelona over the Pyrenees last year and it was wonderful. Would recommend.

If you do the Raid Pyreneen, then id definitely recommend the longer, Touristique version. It avoids more of the valley roads and takes you into some of the wilder parts of the Pyrenees.

I seem to have nicked both options. I don't know how close these are to any "official" RAID route. I guess I just went looking for RAID on RWGPS and these two options popped up.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/5475902

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28973200

TPR was mostly on the French side on the east and into Basque country by the west. These RAID routes stay further north in France. Maybe these are both the Touriste versions? I dunno. The Touriste version seems lumpier, more like TPR.

Hi, sounds great. Would be keen to see the route if you can share it?

I took it from here:
https://bikelondonbarcelona.com/
I emailed the guy on the website to say thanks for the route. Don't think he's on here.

I finished up work on a Thursday and got the train to portsmouth for the ferry; rolled off the ferry at Caen Friday AM into the darkness and onto some impressively quiet and or beautiful roads all the way down to Barcelona. Used booking.com and airbnb on the day to find a place to stay. I took a detour to Le Mans, not recommended, should have kept to the route. Nice climb between Albi and Carcassone, after which the seasonal weather went from Autumn back to Summer in southern France. Later on there is a good climb up the Col D'Ares over the pyrenees, would have been fantastic if the weather wasn't appalling.

Found out this week you can take a bike by Channel Tunnel
https://chunnel.co.uk/bicycle/

Although cyclists cannot cycle directly through the tunnel

Would be fun.

Froome rode it a few years ago didn't he? It'll be on youtube.

Another option - kromvojoj

We nicked and rode some of this route around Catalonia: https://www.kromvojoj.cc/

Modified to go to some new places as well as a cycling hotel I found on Google and then rerouted the southern section totally when torrential rains were forecast. Weather for the week was "interesting" and days were short. Google "DANA" or "Cold Drop".

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We rode through Le Boulou from that route, but heading west along the Pyrenees. I'll have a look at that route. Could be an interesting tour one day.

I think those are the two official versions, run by the Cyclo Club Bearnais in Pau.

The classic is meant to be the faster traverse, as you have, if memory serves, 4.5 days to complete it in, so it has fewer cols but includes many of the more well known cols used by the Tour. The Touriste version is longer, and goes off the beaten path much more. I think you have 10 days to complete it in. It dips into Spain very briefly, for about 10 kms as I recall.

I have some free time in Feb (gc) and would like to do a point to point ride in spain but ideally not go as far south as I have been before because I am hoping to take a train or coach to the start/finish. any recommendations that will still be likely sunny and warm? I was thinking of doing some of the Camino de Plata, although this plan involves flying to Seville. I would then leave the camino route near Leon to head east towards a train, maybe Burgos or Pamp, or even Girona, or potentially a ferry at Santander. I think I want to do a mix of road and gravel. Bike packing has some amazing looking stuff but it’s mostly loops or south. hmm.

Wow, great picture.

@Oliver Schick

Behind every great picture there's a great artist smartphone digital processing workflow.

Thanks. I'd like to say it made up for all the pissing rain but I'd be lying.

Hot tip: don't plan 150-200k days in the mountains in November if you haven't ridden a more than a piddling UK hill since June.

Behind every great picture there's a great artist smartphone digital processing workflow.

It's a compressed image and you sat on the phone?

Here's some powerlines in the mountains.

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Also really lovely.

Yeah, this route through France was enjoyable, could be done at any speed, slower with all the vineyards. If you ever choose a different route from England to Spain, post it I'd love to see it.

Hey everyone,
I’ve got two options for over wintering for a few months. The first is near Alamiada in the south of Greece and the second is near to Orgiva in Spain.

Does anyone have experience cycling in these places as that’s probably what will sway me one way or another.

Anecdotal but I hear Spanish drivers are better behaved

PS can I take the option you don't pick? Cheers x