[Closed] Anyone toured the north Spanish / Basque coast?

Spain is the 2nd most mountainous country in Europe, it's very hilly even in the "flatter" areas.
Maybe look at the Camino for ideas?

Galicia is stunning, Asturias too. The seafood is sublime.

Oh - and can I have a moon on a stick as well please?

Criteria for the tour are direct flight from Edinburgh, not too many hills, not to much traffic, lots of scenery and sunshine 😉 good food

Did it in the car with family in 2008 - camping - loads of good campsites - glorious scenery - mountains and sea - but not flat. Well worth the effort especially if you can find some quite back roads - the main coast road was ok in parts for cycling - but a lot of fast unpleasant dual carriageway for most of it. Went as far as Santiago - great place.

Galicia is stunning, Asturias too. The seafood is sublime.

an adventure! Great, great landscape. Endless mountains. Steep uphill stuff.

Clearly nothing for:

We are really wanting a softies tour

I would define this tour more: great mountain bike adventure tour.

We had a couple of weeks bike camping years ago - just checked and it was 1993 so not very current info and I can't remember exactly where we went....

We sort of spent 2-3 days with lots of climbing on little roads heading roughly south west from Bilbao. I think to Aguilar de Campoo / Cervera de Pisuerga. There was a wonderful view of the Picos somewhere near there then a long downhill to Potes. Few days in the Picos then back along the coast. Sorry that I can't remember anything in enough detail to recommend (we were young and on a budget so not eating out etc). Scrapbook says 380 miles. Quite green round there so expect a little rain.

Looking at google earth the actual road nearest the coast often is a tiny road with no traffic.. I don't care about a direct route just a scenic one

Last summer we did two "hard work" holidays especially our main one ( 70 plus miles walking thru fisherfield and torridon plus 20 miles canoeing then later a week canoeing down the dordogne). This year we want a cycle tour where we can wander along thru the scenery stopping for a nice lunch then a seista. Don't fancy all day flogging uphill with camping kit.

We have done a low countries tour before - this year we want sunshine. We have also done alpine tours with 4 hour climbs

I know I want a moon on a stick but sun. scenery, direct flight from Edinburgh ( or Glasgow or manchester) but no 4 hour climbs
Any other ideas?

your Cantabria tour, fun place, close to the Picos:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potes

In the area: fantastic hiking, fantastic biking, always steep, sometimes VERY steep, (endless distances...perfect for wild camping), beautiful little villages

to be avoides when the Madrid people make summer vacation. They flood the area...

town Potes: was so fun and neat we stayed a couple nights

we did similar a few years back. Boat to Santander (nice town, lovely beach) and camped along the coast at Comillas (marvellous place, weirdest cemetery I've ever seen, Gaudi stuff and as above the seafood!) then quiter places nearer the Picos (place called Poo I think). The coast road is reasonably flat, but there is a range of hills landward, then the biggies of the Picos. Thats where we headed and oh my, they're proper hills when you've got tents and stuff. No idea about further west but I suspect similar sandy/cliffy/harboury coast.

The whole of Galicia and Asturias is seriously undulating, with proper mountains a short distance inland. And it's on the Atlantic coast - it's green for a reason. But it's a brilliant part of Spain.

Don't overlook Mallorca - accessible, easy to cycle around, yes some climbs in the Tramuntana but once you're up them you can ride along the tops easily enough. Lots of flatter country to the east.

totally different direction, but also from Bilbao:

direction Aragon / small town JACA (or a bit further to Ainsa)
But don't take the main road from Pamplona to Jaca.
All other roads: endless. Just great. Big distances so.

But Pyrenees peaks still might be very, very cold in June.
If you stay south of the Pyrenees peaks: great places for adventure mtb biking. But very remote.
"Out of Pyrenee peaks, June": great time to bike there.

Valleys into the Pyrenees, from spanish side: extremely, extremely beautiful. But they go up very quick.

Jaca: fun place to stay a couple nights.

I've been to the Algarve for Christmas the last few years & thats fairly flat along the coast with quietish roads & dirt tracks.
Also been the Linz & Perg in Austria on business & riding that part of the Danube is popular with sedate tourers stopping off for mucho wine tasting 😉

I know what you mean about hard work holiday - we did a tandem camping tour of mid Wales. Once. Never again 🙂

Any flights to Switzerland? Then get train to start of River Aare bike route (could start in Meiringen to avoid the hilliest bit at start).

Flights to Copenhagen or Gothenburg then up the Swedish West Coast (Bohuslan)? Great sea food but weather can be changeable.

Ta chaps

Gothenburg then up the Swedish West Coast

beautiful: the small islands NORTH of Gothenburg.
but, indeed: this is the BAD WEATHER area of Sweden...

And: bugs, bugs, bugs

@tjagain

did this quite some time ago:

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/400-km-beginners-mountain-bike-route-gtj-jura-mountains-france

Very relaxing. Beautiful.
June maybe a bit early for it as well.
Best if you prepared to camp "somewhere".
Just an idea...

I take it you mean road bike touring? I'm sure it would be lovely but the nicer roads are hilly. Avoid August because the roads will be busy and you would need to book really ahead for accommodation. Not my area of expertise! Off road touring, you have the big cycle path, it's part of the backbone of Europe, which runs from Irun to Pamplona and from there you have the Camino or you can do the Camino aragones in reverse into the pyrenees which would be cool. There is also a very cool via verde (cycle path thing, same as irun-Pamplona) which goes from at least Lekunberri down to the coast again. It could make a cool round trip. There was a cool article in bike packing.com about a route using that, Google basquemtb bike packing and I think it comes up.

Like Mike we went in 1990s a bit later I thinj. We got the Ferry to Santander and then headed West. We covered I think a bit over 600 miles in 3 weeks. So very much a holiday with bikes. We got as far a Cap Finnistere and which was spectacular. Almost every where seemed quiet. We also visited the Picos De Europa and Santiago. To fit it all in we jumped 2 sections by train

Apart from one lobg off road day in the Picos it wasn't mad hilly, like the tour we did from Malaga. That was insane.

Roadbikeish. Not averse to some green lanes type riding infact I would welcome it but it will be MTB tandem with trailer with full on comfy camping kit. tyres to suit route chosen I just don't want too many days of hard work.

Whats our odds of getting a tandemand trailer onto trains?

Fly to Budapest and loop around to fly back from either Bratislava or Vienna? I don’t know much of the area other than along the Danube, which would be a bit tame I suspect. However, when my wife and I cycled the Danube, it did appear that the area around that part looked inviting. It certainly was hot and sunny, with the advantage of being cheap. (Probably best to get recommendation from someone who knows the area better, don’t go on my account and then hate it 😉 ).

Tj just no idea on trains.

I remember piling 4 bikes and 8 paniers into the narrow gauge coast train. But it's 20 years ago now

On the Basque trains? Rules almost certainly say no but I guess if you’re lucky the conductors won’t care. Most trains have a big bike space.

Not sure if there are other direct flights but there are a couple a week from Edinburgh airport to Santander when I looked a few weeks ago loosely planning a summer cycle.

I have had a wee look at doing a bit of the Basque coast from Santander into France then following the Eurovelo route to the north of France.

Lot valley in SW France? Loads of camping, flat in the valley, hilly in the hills to the sides! Possibly combine with Dordogne or Tarn valley, Cevenne?
Don't know about flights, but Bergerac and Bordeaux not too far away.

We have been to the dordogne / massif central / tarn valley several times now - it keeps raining on us everytime we go so further south this year for sunshine ( I hope)

this was us after 3 days walking in the rain in central france
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4654/39780121212_9e9a0b24e9_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4654/39780121212_9e9a0b24e9_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/23Bew7Q ]Image1[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/25846484@N04/ ]TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr

ah shame, its a nice area when the suns out. It p****d down on me in the Picos if that helps?

Ok you need to check a rain map of Spain. North Spain can be very wet. We were lucky....

[img] [/img]

It’s massively seasonal and generally localized on the Basque Coast. Down by Pamplona (40mins) it can be totally dry if it’s raining on the coast. And most rain is winter and early spring obviously. You can be unlucky, especially if you don’t have transport, of course. I wouldn’t even worry about it for a touring holiday you would have to be unlucky.