Duration: 8-10 days • Distance: 1520-1970 miles • Average daily ride: ±5.75hrs

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They Pyrenees are packed with great roads – but they're a long way off. So this trip is designed to let you have a great, relaxed – essentially motorway-free – ride across France to enjoy the mountains, but then you can save time by sailing back from Santander.

 

The run down through France keeps off the beaten track as much as possible, cutting through quiet corners of Normandy, the Limousin and the Dordogne before getting to the Midi Pyrenees. Then it's a spectacular run through the mountains – and if you have more time, the Tour Pack includes two daytrips to let you get even more out of the mountains. Then it's into Spain, with a bonus night in the Picos de Europa, before sailing back from Santander.  

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Sure, you can take the boat in both directions (see the Pure Pyrenees tour) but if you don't want to pay for the more-expensive round trip, this tour's single sailing is much easier on the pocket. 

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What are the highlights? The focus of the trip is the French side of the Pyrenees, including famous passes like Col d'Aubisque and Col du Tourmalet – but there's much more than just the big-name climbs. If you can take more time, the Tour Pack includes two daytrips there to let you enjoy even more of the mountains. But the ride down to the mountains has some stunning roads in the Limousin and, crossing into Spain, there's brilliant riding – even heading into the Picos de Europa for a night.   

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What’s included on the route? The tour includes recommendations for hotels at each destination and each day’s route has suggested coffee and lunch stops and planned fuel stops – as well as info about the places you'll be visiting.

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How long is each day’s ride? Each leg of the tour is planned to be a full day in the saddle. If you check-out of the hotel and hit the road at 9-9:15am, you should reach the next night's stop by 5-5:30pm. That's with coffee stops and lunch. They are full days but relaxed days. Saddle-time rating: six out of 10.

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Why eight days? The basic tour is timed to fit in with the ferry schedule: if you set off from Folkestone on a Saturday morning, you'll sailing back from Santander the following Saturday, landing in the UK on Sunday afternoon. The tour isn't tied to that ferry, though – and if you can take a bit of extra time, the Tour Pack has two extra days' riding in the Pyrenees to let you get the Monday ferry.

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When to go: Any time from the end of April to mid October should be good. It'll be very hot in the middle in August, but May, June and September would be glorious.

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How is it supplied? Everything downloads as a zip file: the basic seven-day tour contains an interactive eBook of notes plus separate GPX files for every day; the Tour Pack has the interactive eBook of notes plus printable tankbag notes, with separate GPX files for the seven-day touring route plus two daytrip routes to let you expand the trip – and it comes with hardcopy maps (posted separately). Or if you want to build elements of this tour into your own trip, you can download individual days.

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Sailing from Bilbao? Any trip can be adapted to run from Bilbao instead of Santander. If you need this, just get in touch.

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Don't want any ferry? The last-but-one night of this tour is the same location as the first night of the new Spain to France tour. I planned them together to ensure they use different, complementary routes, so you can pair them up for a full two-week Pyrenees tour.