Re: [ST] trip to Europe

["rs955" <rs955@xxxxxxxxx>]

Emile

Thanks for all  your help, that looks like a good route.
I am trying to have 4 days of riding so the longer route should work out. If 
you have the road numbers that would be great.

Looking at the pictures is starting to get me excited.... 11 months to go. I 
have always wanted to tour in Europe. This will be a warm up and hopefully 
in a few years I will be able to come back for a few weeks of riding.

thanks again
Darren
01 RS
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Emile Nossin" <Emile@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:41 PM
Subject: Re: [ST] trip to Europe


> >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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