Its not just about speed...
To the Pyrenees and beyond...
September seemed an awfully long time away when we first talked about going on this trip last February. Must be an age thing - to quote Groucho Marx:-
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
I digress. The start of August came around very quickly and all we'd done was book the boat - well, Richard did that. With only three weeks to go, it was time to get some routes organised. Bobby just wanted to get off the boat and ride, no surprises there, but we should probably have a rough idea of how we're going to make this happen in any shape or form, if its going to work at all. We met up one night then at the start of August and thrashed out a route that would take us down through France, over the Pyrenees, through Andorra and ultimately - wait for it - over the Millau bridge. Then home.
So, with the help of Tyre we sat at the computer for several hours and plotted some great roads averaging 300 miles per day - some days more, some less, but it all seemed do-able. A few minor tweaks with the guidance of http://www.bestbikingroads.com/ helped relieve the tedium of endless péage motorways and to fluff out what looked to be an awesome trip.
Only time would tell....
Route Map
Day 1, Lisburn - Rosslare : 201 miles
Time 08.30 hours, rendezvous point (practising French already, monsieur) was at Sprucefield. Rain threatened but kindly waited until we were well south of the border before it fell, and believe it or not, we wouldn't see any for the next 8 days.
Traffic was light and progress rapid down the M1, through the first of many toll stops, and onto the M50 at Dublin. We timed this well missing the rush hour, and reaching the town of Avoca just before 11 for a leisurely stop at Mount Usher Gardens, a decent cup of coffee and some monstrous scones and Rice Krispie buns.
Continuing on south around noon time, it was still getting brighter and warmer when we reached Rosslare harbour just before 2.00pm. Our ferry, the Oscar Wilde, was already there waiting for us, and after a cursory glance at passports and tickets, we were on the quayside, row 13 and right at the front, ready to board. Forty five minutes later we were first onboard and by the way, strap your own bikes down, lads. Quite a few bikes on board given the time of year, surprisingly so, and seriously crammed in nonetheless.
Berths were small but comfortable, and the boat largely explored before we'd even left dock, but the crossing was very smooth and food onboard was average, so no real complaints there.
Day 2, Roscoff - Niort : 291 miles 
As you can imagine, with a gentle rolling motion in an inner cabin with no window, it's quite dark and the distant hum of the engines gently lulls you to sleep.
Richard and I both slept soundly and after getting a sunrise photo around 6.45am, I fully expected to bump into Bobby and Ian somewhere on middecks but alas, no. We went to breakfast at 7.00am when the restaurant opened but still no sign of them. Twenty past seven, they both hastily appeared, Bobby having slept in. On a boat? Bobby slept in on a boat. To quote a guy we ran into from Navan later that week on a Pan European, "How the heck do you sleep in on a boat?!" albeit not quite so politely.
Bobby must have been that bit nearer the engine room than we were , that's all I can say...
We didn't dock until 11 o'clock and disembarked nearer 11.30am; a shame to be starting so late in the day but all the more reason to get some miles in before evening. Roads south were initially busy, but the boat traffic soon dissipated, and we were left on lovely undulating roads passed fields of artichokes, sunflowers and maize towards Quimper and the N165 motorway. It was cloudy but warm, and we made good progress past Vannes and Nantes where we met some heavy traffic coming north from the end of the French holiday season. Eighty odd miles of péage motorway for the princely sum of €5.70 seemed reasonably good value were it not for the hassle of taking off gloves, punching your ticket and setting off again before the barrier came down (times four). Still it was a recipe oft to be repeated in the coming days.
TomTom took us right to our first choice hotel in Niort on the Place de la Breche around 6.00pm that evening, however, as it was almost at capacity, we opted for plan B and tracked down the Hotel du Moulin which was pleasantly up to the job.
A quick shower and turnaround, we were off downtown on foot to find something to eat. It didn't take long to settle on a little spot "La Boucherie" , translating as the 'Butcher's shop'. You can probably guess their fayre, and well tasty it was too!
"I'm not a vegetarian but I eat animals which are..."
(another of Groucho's - where'd we be without him?)
Day 3, Niort - Pau : 246 miles 
A great continental breakfast selection got us off to a pleasant start on Sunday morning. A brief hunt for fuel found a Carrefour petrol station open, and we were back on the road again. A reasonably long haul today on the A10 péage south, but great for eating up miles.
Sun was warm at this stage, skies blue and 24°C. Mid-afternoon we came off the toll roads, and throwing caution to the wind, plotted a route to our next overnight stop avoiding motorways. We were only about 50 miles out from Pau, what could go wrong? Well, nothing actually - I can guarantee though that we saw roads and landscapes that we'll never, ever be able to find again. We passed through some beautiful off the track villages, including Pomarez with a bull ring at the heart of the town. 20 miles or so from Pau, we got our first sight of the Pyrenees off in the distance. I could tell Richard was excited by the fact that he had to ride up beside me and frantically point them out.
Late Sunday afternoon isn't a bad time to arrive in any city centre, and without too much trouble we found the Best Western Hotel Continental bang on the edge of the pedestrian precinct in Pau, with its own private underground parking. Couldn't have been better.
A quick pit-stop and we went walkabout downtown. This was a gem of a city, buzzing with market stalls and people, old churches, and brimming with history including the beautiful royal residence and birthplace of Henry IV, King of France and Navarre. Marie Antoinette was also frequent visitor here in later years.
Views over the Pyrenees in the late afternoon sun were stunning.
The French, it seems, delight in eating later in the evening, so by 7 o'clock when all the restaurants opened, our tongues were practically hanging out. The lucky venue tonight was to be Restaurant L'Etna where we dined al fresco at one of the street front tables. Food was pleasant in lovely surroundings, Pau is one spot probably worth coming back to for a city break - if you can get here that is!
Day 4, Pau - Lourdes : 225 miles 
Just an average breakfast this morning - don't get me wrong, it was fine, but not quite up to yesterday's yardstick unfortunately. We got away early, but Bobby was pleasantly reprimanded by the receptionist when he went to check out, telling him that he had to try and speak French. And do you know what? I think she left her mark on him, 'cos thereafter he did just that!
Traffic was light as we headed south on the N134, onto the D934 and on to some 3rd gear hilly forest roads. It was beautiful in the early morning sunlight but progress was a little tardy until we reached Arette and picked up the D132 south, up and over into Spain through the Col de la Pierre St Martin (5,774 ft). Road surfaces were terrific, with little to no traffic, save for random cattle wandering everywhere - consequently, beware of the 'brown tarmac' on corners, invariably deposited bang on the racing line, so to speak...
A few miles further on we also witnessed some Griffon vultures soaring over us above the road, almost within reach - these things was massive.
Coming down on the southern side of the mountains was definitely a few degrees warmer, with stunning views over the valley de Belagua and seemingly endless hairpins; local villages (strangely devoid of people though) had narrow, narrow streets, cobbled in places, with front doors that opened out onto the road, and dogs that just wandered aimlessly, yawning - time has forgotten places like these, thankfully.
It was almost noon when we hit the N240 east towards Jaca. Stopping off for some cheap petrol and a bite to eat, it was 30°C in the sunshine and nice to get the bike gear off for half an hour or so.
Picking up the N260 north at Sabiñánigo, we headed back towards France, fighting some fairly strong early afternoon side winds along the way. Crossing back into France past the disused customs post at Montagne d'Aneu, and huge swathes of tarmac used for winter ski car parks, the road meandered gently back down the valley towards Larun, where we picked up the D918 east towards Eaux Bonnes.
This was the start of an 11 mile climb to the Col d'Aubisque (5606ft) featuring in no fewer than 45 Tour de France passages over the summit since 1947 (including 2012) and making it the second most visited mountain in the race's history. It is classified as 'hors catégorie' a term used in cycle races to designate a climb that is 'beyond categorization', so an incredibly tough climb. Glad I'd an engine beneath me! At the next col, Col du Soulor, we turned left onto the D126 and headed down, down, and down some more - I could smell my brake pads long before we got to the bottom.
TomTom then in its inimitable style took us on the fastest route over the last 14 miles to Lourdes, as it was getting well on towards evening. Fastest, it turns out, isn't always the quickest, or easiest, or smartest, and the whole exercise was a huge lesson in faith - knowing that when you're utterly lost down some farmyard lane with this little electronic device as your get-out-of-jail-free card, takes a whole lot of faith! Quite apt probably as we were soon driving down the main thoroughfare in Lourdes, straight to the front door of the Hotel Alba, and home for the night.
This was a seriously busy bustling town as might be expected - hardly surprising though for a town with a number of hotel beds in France, second only to Paris.
On current experience, it didn't appear to be somewhere to go for quality French Gastronomie, however, we didn't starve by any means!
Bed came early today - so we'd only covered 225 miles, but that took in 3 mountain passes and approximately 8-9 hours in the saddle. No excuses needed in my book tonight.
Day 5, Lourdes - Soldeu : 198 miles 
This was to be another day of mountain passes. An easy departure from Lourdes soon found us on lots of uphill switchbacks as we first reached the Col de Tourmalet (6,939 ft). Roads were resplendent with years' worth of Tour De France graffiti, spanning from Stephen Roche in the early 80's, right up to Wiggo and Cavendish this year; mind you, it was hard to stay upright and read the road at the same time. Full credit to those dozens of cyclists we passed on the way up the 19km slog - we take our helmets off to you.
Stopping in Arreau mid-morning for a coffee and chat with some fellow 2-wheeled travellers, the next pass was to be the Col de Peyresoude (3080ft) before we dropped down into Spain again. Heading for Vielha, we then picked up the C28 towards the town of Sort, travelling over some wonderfully surfaced and secluded roads with zero traffic and stunning scenery. Oh to have this on your doorstep. Joining the N260 again as far as Seu d'Urgell, we picked up signs for Andorra and Barcelona (tempting though the latter may be). Traffic was considerably heavier than we'd been used to, but this after all was the main artery between Spain and Andorra, so we shouldn't have been surprised. A lot of road building was going on, so traffic was slow and heavy in the afternoon heat. Frontier posts in Andorra were still manned by police and customs officers, but no-one seemed too bothered and traffic was tediously filtering through.
First impressions of this principality were lots of cars, busy roads, CHEAP petrol, dozens of filling stations, and it was all uphill. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but we were glad to reach Soldeu and a stop for the night in the 3 star Hotel Naudi. Rooms were small and functional, but with views over the mountain and ski lifts from our own balcony, it was hard to complain. This was clearly a winter destination so prices were extremely keen to say the least - €55 for a twin room including breakfast. Dinner that night was a 3 course set menu for €13.20, and the steak wasn't half bad for that either.
At 5610ft altitude, the evening was a tad parky so it wasn't one to go for a serious walkabout - not that there was anywhere to walk to, everything was pretty much shut.
Day 6, Soldeu - Rodez : 266 miles 
A fresh start to the morning and a terrific breakfast got us on the road well before 9 o'clock. Staying on the CG-2, we took the Tunnel d'Envalira under the mountains rather than over for a change, and probably saved 45 minutes as a result. Already in France now, another long set of sweeping switchbacks brought us down into the valley on the N20, through Ax-les-Thermes and north towards Toulouse. A newly built McDonalds en route was the perfect stop for that second cup of coffee of the morning; the place was absolutely spotless, so full credit to them there.
We were back on toll roads on the peripheral motorway around Toulouse, and picked up the A68 towards Albi. There was still a lot of traffic about until we got onto the D999 towards Millau. Lots of villages en route but also quick, quiet and well surfaced roads lined with fields of 'little sad people', sunflowers beyond bloom which were now drooping and ready for harvest. Richard really felt for these little guys, stopping at one point to give them a hug for morale. Stories of a long distance rider huh? Personally I think he was just dehydrated - like the sunflowers.
Round a corner then and the Millau bridge, suspended on 7 piers and higher than the Eiffel Tower, promptly came into view; it truly is a colossal and imposing structure, so credit to Bobby for putting this on our map (metaphorically speaking of course). We drove down into the town of Millau for a view from afar before heading south out of town and joining the A75 north again and back over the bridge. Our Pan-man from Navan had told me in Niort that they'd been quickly moved on by the police the previous year when they stopped on the bridge for photos, so we chose to pull into the official lay-by just at the end of the bridge, in order to get a few shots instead.
From here, we'd another painless 50 miles or so to reach Rodez, arriving around 5.30pm. Another quaint old city well off the beaten path, we settled for the Hotel de la Tour Maje right in the centre of town. Slightly dearer than we'd been used to, the rooms were recently renovated and very comfortable with air conditioning, so worth the little extra. The heart of the city was the plaza around the cathedral Notre-Dame , so we ate at a restaurant just in front of this on the Place d'Armes. Local specialities were clearly an acquired taste from all reports, but yet again, we managed to not starve. 'Trois Jus de Pommes et un Orangina si'il vous plait..." went a long way.
A wander round the old town then found beautiful old, quaint and narrow streets dating back centuries; how some of these buildings were still standing and even vertical proves that gravity just doesn't exist in France - how else would those cyclists get up all those mountains? A pleasant end to a long day.
Day 7, Rodez - Tours : 325 miles 
And so started another long day, as we'd planned to stay off the toll roads as much as possible. Our route followed the D901 north west past the mediaeval town of Conques, and some stunning views over the Auvergne.
Continuing on through the Limousin region, we did see plenty of cattle; not much pottery or porcelain about as we traversed Limoges though…Poitiers also came and went, and as we approached Tours on the D910, there was more and more evidence of the once rich chateaus and vineyards that the Loire valley is famous for.
Filling up with petrol about 5 miles out, we hit rush hour as we headed into the city centre. As anyone with a boxer engine knows, 27 °C air temperature, and long slow queues of traffic don't make for a happy biker; add to that the fact that TomTom had been temperamentally (not) charging all week, and at this point was almost dead, the ante was raised a little on getting to our hotel before the charge ran out. Almost in the centre of town, we found the Hotel Moderne on a little back street; as it turned out, it was really anything but, still, we weren't too bothered, it was clean, had beds and showers, and somewhere to park the bikes, even if it was in the laundry round the back!
This was another very pretty town with clearly a lot of history. The main pedestrian precinct was a bit of a building site as they were installing a light rail tram system, but don't let that deter you visiting. Main eating points seemed to be in and around Place Plumereau, surrounded by centuries old Lilliput Lane type buildings, mostly converted to cafes and restaurants - all were pretty busy too, given that we were well out of summer season, and the food was indeed good - but then it always tastes better when eating outdoors.
Day 8, Tours - Roscoff : 291 miles 
Down for breakfast at 7 o'clock, we were on the road at 8.15am. We'd a hard stop that evening in Roscoff at 4.00 pm, as the boat home wouldn't wait for us I'm sure, so we wanted to allow plenty of time for any eventualities.
Picking up the D938 towards Le Mans, we shortly found ourselves cruising along the Mulsanne Straight, much to Richard's excitement! I had noticed the wide tarmac road and Armco barriers but hadn't twigged on to the significance - this was part of the semi-permanent 24-hour Le Mans circuit. Another nearby superb McDonalds coffee stop around 10.00am allowed us to watch the multitude of bikes arriving for the 24 hour FIM World Endurance motorcycle race the following day. That was one we'd certainly missed out on when planning!
(For the record, Kawasaki won the event for the third time in a row, covering 2194.77 miles in 24 hours by the crew of the SRC Kawasaki team - I'll do the maths for you, but that is an average of 91.44 miles per hour!)
Jumping onto the orbital ring road around Le Mans, we picked up the A81 toll road heading west for roughly 2 hours, pulling off at Rennes to get petrol and lunch. Following the N164 on an empty dual carriageway to Rostrenen, we'd only another 30 miles before reaching Roscoff, arriving there around 3.30pm. Couldn't have timed it better. Some cars were already lined up, but as usual, bikes get their own check-in lane, and we were back to the front of the queue, onboard, strapped down and up on deck by 5 o'clock. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon with a nice sea breeze, so the crossing promised to another pleasant one.
The Oscar Wilde hadn't changed much in the last 2000 miles since we rode off it, even the crew were the same - and the chicken curry in the restaurant was still decidedly average. Another early night, but this time more due to ennui than being overcome with tiredness.
Day 9, Rosslare - Home : 201 miles
Bobby didn't sleep in this morning; how could he, after the abuse he took after last time? He was even up before the sun and took a photo of it to prove it to us!
The boat docked safely in Rosslare at 11 o'clock or so, and to be expected, the bikes all made pretty good progress up the N11 towards Dublin. We stopped just before Gorey for fuel, but didn't hang around and pushed on north, round the M50 and onto the M1, pulling in to the Applegreen services for a decent cup of coffee, some lunch and a toilet stop.
Still 80 odd miles from home, this was, as ever, the symbolic end to the journey, the 'breaking of the fellowship' after 9 pretty intense days in each others' company. We split up just around Hillsborough, reaching home around 3.30pm, 199 hours and approx 2300 miles after leaving. The circle was complete.
This trip had been pretty ambitious from the start given the distances we had planned, and absolutely no contingency or down time anywhere, but this was our agreed modus operandi and the basis on which we all set out; it couldn't realistically have gone any smoother - blessed with weather, safety, and health throughout, we were definitely being watched over from above.
Better get TomTom's charging problems fixed before next year huh?
Full photo gallery can be found here.