Re: [ST] trip to Europe

["Emile Nossin" <Emile@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: rs955
>I think I will look at renting a cycle in Barcelona. (I have not been able 
>to find a place in Venice) and I was leaning towards the Pyrenees areas 
>before I asked for advise and you guys have confirmed that for me.
>Any suggestions on routes to take. accommodations, sites to see... etc , 
>would be appreciated Darren-

In Alquezar (this town: http://piloot.smugmug.com/gallery/228932/18/9211834 )
we stayed in a very nice hotel: http://www.villadealquezar.com
Now we were there end of September when the weather is bearable
and the town not too busy. Our canoying guide (dangerous stuff BTW)
said it can be very crowded there in the summer months. Book early
enough, there's not that much more accomodation there (and it's not
expensive anyway). The site's in Spanish, but I believe English
won't be a problem for them if you email them at info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx .
More acco around Alquezar: http://www.hosteriaguara.com

The route we took from there to Andorra was amazing, I'll try to refind
the exact route for you. Andorra itself is not very inspiring, merely a
very stinky and busy tax free shopping area. But the roads surrounding
Andorra are great. We stayed in a motorcycle hotel ran by a Dutch guy
there who organizes off road motorcycle tours through the area around
Andorra (rental as well I believe), which is very popular there. You will
also find lots and lots of tax free motorcycle gear shops. This is the
hotel there: http://www.hotel-aldosa-andorra.com , English no problemo.
The rooms there are very basic though, merely a practical base to dump
your snow and mud covered mc gear. Downstairs the "living room" is very
nice and homy though. If you want more luxury in your room I suggest
looking for other accomodation in Andorra.

What you could do is Barcelona - Alquezar on day 1 (250 km on the faster
regional roads), Alquezar - Andorra on day 2 (250 over extremely nice mountain
roads). On day 3 you could ride back to Barcelona (200 km).

If you have 4 days it could be nice to make a loop northwards from Andorra
through the French side of the Pyrenees. But the shortest and nicest loop
is 400 km long, way too much for a day on mountain roads (you'll find that
it will take you all day to cover 250 km there). The mountains are just too
high to build short cuts there. I happen to have stayed at a very nice Bed 
and Breakfast that's exactly halfway that northern loop, La Maison Blanche
(The White House): http://home.tele2.fr/lamaisonblanche/ 
So on day 3 you could go west and then north for the first part of the loop
(235 km). And on day 4 from Saint Giron (Maison Blanche) back to Barcelona,
just east past Andorra (long day, 277 km).

Above suggestion is visualized here in this map:
http://piloot.smugmug.com/photos/95985739-O.jpg

Point 1 = Barcelona
Point 2 = Alquezar
Point 4 = Andorra
Point 6 = Saint Giron
Point 7 = Back in Barcelona

Point 3 and 5 are there to make the route go the way I wanted. The route
from 2-3-4 to Andorra is the route I took (just north of the most direct
route), it was amazing. If you want I can give you more specific road
numbers. Some of these roads are hard to find even on maps. Al quezar
in Aurotoute 2006 is a town without any roads leading to it. Spain
and Portugal apparently are a bit behind in map data, also for GPS's.
You can have great previews though of the area in Google Earth though,
don't forget to tilt the map there for more effect :-)). Hope it helps,

Emile
www.piloot.com

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