Duration: 7-9 days • Distance: 1395-1710 miles • Average daily ride: ±5.75hrs

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The ferry to Spain is great – but it's not cheap. Especially for the round trip. So this tour aims to halve that expense by using it only in one direction. Jumping on the boat in Plymouth gets you quickly to Spain, straight onto the good stuff… you maximise your time on some of Europe's best biking roads, riding the Spanish Pyrenees before taking a good run across France. 

 

Don't dismiss that run across France, either. Our nearest Continental neighbour isn't an inconvenient landmass to be crossed to get home: it's an essential and exciting part of the tour. Europe's largest country is packed with dramatic landscapes and amazing roads, so the return run keeps to top-drawer tarmac to deliver thrills and grins on every day of the trip. 

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What are the highlights? The focus of the trip is the Spanish side of the Pyrenees – and if you can take more time, the Tour Pack includes two daytrips there to let you get even more out of the mountains. Crossing France, the route passes the medieval marvel of Carcassonne and the modern masterpiece of engineering that is the Millau Viaduct – with fabulous riding through the Tarn Gorges and the Avergne, before heading up through the Morvan Hills.   

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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 seven days? The basic tour is timed to fit in with the ferry schedule to Santander: sailing from Plymouth on a Sunday to land in Spain on a Monday. After seven days, you'll be on a Sunday afternoon Eurotunnel back to the UK. But you're not tied to that ferry: there's an alternative route to tie into the Portsmouth service –  and if you can take a bit of extra time, the Tour Pack has two extra days' riding in the Pyrenees.

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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 first night for this tour is the same location as the last-but-one night of the new France to Spain tour. I planned them together to make sure they use different, complementary routes. THis means you can pair them up for a full two-week Pyrenees tour.