road classification spanish roads

ollychristian

hello
a mate and i are planning a ride from barcelona to bilbao next may, up and accross the pyrenees.
ive been trying to look but cant find a deffinate answer as to what roads bikes are allowed on in spain.

are c,b and n roads ok?

anyone know any good campsites in and around the pyrenees?
our provisional route is north out of barcelona to les cabbenes, then east(ish)to lourdes, carry on down to bayonne, then along coast to blbao.
cheers

andymiller

Roads in Spain are classified by who has responsibility for maintaining them - so either the provincía, the region or national. Unfortunately this means the letters change: I'm assuming in your case that the region is Cataluña and the provincía is Barcelona. Most roads apart from motorways should be OK but I'd double-check anything that's marked as a major road - even if it's not a motorway.

megilleland

Rather than trying to explain the intricacies of the Spanish road system and its numbering you need to get a decent road map (Michelin/AA scale 1:400 000 or 1:300 000) of the area you are planning to cycle through.

Look at the map legend describing the road hierarchy - in most cases the bolder and thicker routes usually shown in red (national routes) and also in yellow and red (motorways & toll roads) indicate busy routes. You obviously are not allowed to cycle on these and you won't come across these in the Pyrennees only in Barcelona and Bilbao. For getting out of the cities use a decent street map. Assume you can cycle anywhere unless you see a sign which prohibits cycling.



The remaining roads are then coloured (varies from road to road atlas), but generally orange/brown primary regional roads, then green secondary regional roads, and lastly yellow or white local roads. All these roads are good for cycling on.

In the Pyreenes there are not many east/west routes as most roads cross the mountains south/north. Therefore the main east/west road the N240/N260 will carry some heavy traffic, but most of it will travel further south on the motorway via Zaragoza. The roads have a wide margin so I found them quite safe to cycle on. The roads on the French side look busier, ie the corridor from Bayonne to St Gaudans, but you can avoid this on minor roads.

For campsites both Spanish and French use:
Campings.net
Campinguia
Vayacamping