finally booked ferry to Bilbao..

petew

I finally summoned up the courage to just "do it" and have booked one way to Bilbao. Will be riding through Pyrenees, France to Calais (then home) with tent.
Basically, I haven't really planned this at all and I'm catching the ferry on Monday 6th. Due to not speaking Spanish I'll probably try and camp on the French side on the first night. After that I intend to make it up as I go along (with a list of stuff I must see).

I've done 1400km in the midi Pyrenees and area North East of Pamplona, but that was without camping gear (was youth hostelling).

Bike prep: new chain, cassette, rear mech, bottom bracket, compact chain set on order, panniers and rack.

Bike tools and spares: tubes, couple of spokes, oil lube, chain tool, allen keys, puncture kit, brake and gear cables.

Would it be worth taking cross tyres to play off road?

Is anyone going to be plodding around France in August?

I'm going to add to this post but I'll be happy to hear ideas etc.

andymiller

Watch out for voles

Johnny Ergo

When you're doing the mountains fully laden make sure you take the lower slopes real easy. If you are feeling good it will be tempting to push on. I would advise go much slower than you think you are capable of - you will really appreciate it as you ascend.
Secondly, don't worry too much about not planning enough. Some people I have known go way over the top and try to plan for every eventuality - you can't do it.
Listen, if something goes wrong you'll sort it out in the end and it's part of what makes touring a great experience. Sounds like you've taken sensible measures already.
I remember when I first sailed into the harbour at Bilbao - as the dawn broke you see these slate grey mountains towering up in the background (and that's not even the Pyrenees) and you think "yikes, what am I doing".
Anyway, I'll shut up now. Bon voyage.
(i'm dead envious)

xilios

About climbing, I would like to add, bring along enough water, also a couple of red bulls or something simular, really helps and take many breaks (before you're spent).
Enjoy the tour
cheers

nick hanson

Aside from the passport & travel tickets,if you pack the cash & plastic,you can take care of anything else!
I wouldn't worry about rushing to the french side,due to lack of spanish language skills,cash is king & am sure you will make yourself understood.( we had the same fears in the german speaking region of Switzerland,& we managed
Dead jealous

petew

thanks for the tips guys.

Johnny: the trepidation/"yikes, what am I doing" of the Basque hills has already set in. I figured the absolute worst is that I get injured through overdoing it and have to use the local trains to get back home. Not exactly a disaster as I can do some touristing.

xilios: Red bull?! surely that's not good for you? although I was thinking about taking energy powder for getting going out of the campsites I know what you mean about water, I drank 6.5 litres of water in one day in the Pyrenees last year.. it was awful and my lips were really dry still.

I'm aiming for ~7kg of luggage.

xilios

petew wrote:

xilios: Red bull?! surely that's not good for you?

Try it one time, a few kms before the climb. My wife and I drink it often, mostly on the last climb of the day when we are very tired.
You will notice the difference

petew

okay from your website I see you're definitely talking from experience

I've just been shopping and bought a Coleman Raid 2 Tent (approx. 900g) for £53.

I'm thinking of getting one of those snazzy Ti mugs for cooking with (130g) but £25 seems a bit steep! I could see it as an investment as I'll save some money by buying food from a supermarket to cook with.

petew

Loaded bike ready to roll -> http://warwick.ac.uk/~strcah/loadedrig.JPG

Me + bike = 104kg (with about 1.5l water). I've got a fairly hefty (600g) Coleman gas cylinder. I am 74kg. Bike+rack is ~10kg. So I've got about 20kg of junk in there. Seems an awful lot but I think most of what I have is useful. So I'm going to just go with it. Hopefully my 32 spoke 105/CXP22 wheels will cope although I can feel a bit more flex in my pedal stroke.

I'm quite nervous but already I've learned a lot of lessons for next time!

Tomorrow morning I ride to near Bicester (from Coventry), get a huge meal at my grandparents birthday party. Then will wild camp in between there and Portsmouth. Monday I ride down to the ferry and then I'm off.

I'm going to get out of Bilbao ASAP and hopefully not go through any cities or really touristy places at all (I know I picked completely the wrong month for this!)

If I'm not eaten by the voles I'll try and post some photos.

Johnny Ergo

Good luck, pete - have a good one. I'm not going anywhere this year so I'm dead envious.

petew

cheers Johnny, I'll try and have a bit of fun on your behalf

at least it looks like I won't get any rain in England..

hammerite

Good luck sir!

I've never done a tour but have been on the ferry to Bilbao. Enjoy the whales and dolphins, if you are lucky you'll see something special/rare.

simon_adams_uk

I've toured with a set of Ultegra/CXP22 wheels and they've stood up to a LOT of abuse. Treat them well with potholes etc and you'll be fine.

Enjoy!
S

petew wrote:

Loaded bike ready to roll -> http://warwick.ac.uk/~strcah/loadedrig.JPG

Me + bike = 104kg (with about 1.5l water). I've got a fairly hefty (600g) Coleman gas cylinder. I am 74kg. Bike+rack is ~10kg. So I've got about 20kg of junk in there. Seems an awful lot but I think most of what I have is useful. So I'm going to just go with it. Hopefully my 32 spoke 105/CXP22 wheels will cope although I can feel a bit more flex in my pedal stroke.

I'm quite nervous but already I've learned a lot of lessons for next time!

Tomorrow morning I ride to near Bicester (from Coventry), get a huge meal at my grandparents birthday party. Then will wild camp in between there and Portsmouth. Monday I ride down to the ferry and then I'm off.

I'm going to get out of Bilbao ASAP and hopefully not go through any cities or really touristy places at all (I know I picked completely the wrong month for this!)

If I'm not eaten by the voles I'll try and post some photos.

danieldwashere

i have just booked my ticket as well, 24th!

i hear this is a rough trip and i always get sea sick. but i love travelling overland rather than flying (i know ferrys go on water).

is it a rough one?

hammerite

I've been on this ferry in February and it's not too bad. I would say it isn't as choppy as a channel crossing because you are in open water, where a everything funnels into the channel.

It did feel quite weird when I got off the boat, for the next day when I stood it felt like the floor was rocking backwards and forwards!

john ponting

wrote:

Enjoy the whales and dolphins, if you are lucky you'll see something special/rare.

And if the sun is out, the rear of the sundeck (near the crew doors) can attract the Spanish crew in their bikinis (but female only).

And make sure you catch the setting sun as the ferry 'turns left' past Ushant and heads for the Bay of Biscay.

petew

hehe I'm back, it was great fun overall but wish I hadn't bothered with the France part (should have just stayed in Spain I think) and I've learned lots in the process.. thanks for all the tips in this forum, they helped a lot. 1163km on the continent at 21km/hr, 8 riding days.

I'll write a long boring report at some point with photos but..

1. I bought 3 bottles of nice wine but left it at Poole railway station (if anyone local wants to claim it, please ask for the lost property reference number as I won't be able to go and collect it)
2. Rained in England, Spain (just a bit in the Basque country) and France. In particular I had a whole day of rain
3. Horrible head and cross winds from about Royan upwards. Really horrible. Le Meteo said they were 60-70kph, felt like more on an un-aero touring bike.
4. 36 * 25 isn't really short enough for the really steep climbs (had to resort to pedal mashing)
5. My tent was too small (next time I will take a tent that is big enough to stretch, get changed in, cook in)
6. Cooking pot too small.
7. Took too many clothes and toiletries.
8. Wild camp and spend money on food = right idea
9. The middle of the west coast of France is a long boring beachy tourist trap.


Coming up in the next episode of "Peter goes bike touring":
-> bigger tent
-> bigger pot
-> shorter gears
-> less junk I don't use

petew

danieldwashere: have fun, it's great. How long are you going for? and have you got a rough plan?

Don't forget waterproofs.

If you don't like cities and are going east to the Pyrenees, my advice is to take the UNESCO world heritage blah de blah transporter bridge from Portugalette and miss out Bilbao. I did this and was climbing on semi rural roads in less than an hour from docking. The only other cities I went to were Rennes and St. Malo.

hammerite

Wow that seems to have flown by. Well done I hope you enjoyed it.

petew

thanks hammerite, yes I did! already musing over where exactly to go next I'm thinking a petite tour in the UK somewhere, long weekend perhaps.


Simon: my 105/CXP22's were flawless too but I did slow right down where I spotted the gorges in the French roads (I used to think that all French roads were nice and smooth!)