Pyrenees Trip 2016 - Advice

First topic message reminder :

Fatcat and I have begun to plan our big trip for next year and have booked the Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry which arrives in Spain on Tues 31 May.  I know, how organised are we?

Ok, only that organised as we have got no further with the planning as yet.  We are thinking of staying 3 or 4 nights on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees before heading north through France and maybe...just maybe gatecrashing BC 2016 on the way up the road.

So, for now we are looking for any advice or tips you guys may have for accommodation and must do roads.  I would really like to go through Andorra at some point and also over the Millau Viaduct (might have to blindfold Fatcat for that one!) but otherwise open to suggestions.

Greta pics, words and tips there Bobh

Gillybaby wrote:Thanks Bob, that's exactly the sort of thing we are looking for, a great read.  I'll pm my email address as I'd be very interested to check out your route through France.

Those roads and pictures look great, really can't wait to go now and will try and use some of those routes in my plans.  Thanks also for the tips on Millau.  That's exactly what I was kind of looking for.  I had heard there was road right beneath the bridge too which could give an interesting view.  It was more seeing and photographing it than riding over that interested me.  Will add the railway bridge in too as that looks amazing.

Nice to hear that it might be cool in temperature too.  We picked that time of year in the hope it would be a good compromise as neither of us cope with heat very well, we are from Scotland after all :lol:

Files sent.

Yes, looking at the photos again makes me quite "home"sick!

You're right about the road that runs under the Millau viaduct. If you drop down towards Millau on the old road from the south, go straight on at the "MacDonalds" roundabout at the bottom instead of turning towards Millau town itself. It's the D992, signed St Affrique, I think - there's a visitor centre where it goes under the bridge, after a few Km.

Temperatures could be almost anything, though probably not below freezing. For example, on my way north a month ago it was t-shirt weather at Millau, then a bit further on we got into cloud and as well as the dampness the temperature dropped into low single figures. Fortunately, on the A75 there are plenty of exits, (though not too many rest areas) so if there was a sudden change like that and you did need to quickly add/subtract a few layers in a hurry there'd be somewhere to pull in.

The photo of my Divvy900 on the Spanish border was taken in early June (some years ago), in a temperature of 30+. But on the trip down a few days earlier it had been cool enough that I'd needed to keep the linings in my suit most of the way. By contrast, a couple of years earlier but at the same time of year, it was hot all the way down, and I got badly bitten at a campsite in the Sologne, which is a low-lying area of woods and lakes between Orleans and Bourges. But I guess that would make you Scots feel quite at home!