Isle of Man to Catalonia Spain in 2011. Advice please

[Scoop]

Hi to all of our European members!!
My wife and I are thinking very seriously of a grand trip in 2011.  We would like to fly to England (probably London) and rent a bike.  Our objective would be to get to the TT at IoM for a few days, then head to France and south to Spain for the GP in Catalonia in the middle of June.  
We would love any assistance and travel tips in terms of where to rent, routes to take and other local info.  
Thanks much.

[Orson]

IOM Ferry crossings are the big bottleneck (not to mention hotel rooms). Ferry bookings can sell out a year in advance  

Contact my friend Bill at Bike Tours UK. He leads groups over every year and can sort out the ferry,hotel & bike rental bit. Top bloke. Hotels charge an arm and a leg during the fortnight, so be prepared to pay for what might be spartan quarters. Most Brits bypass the gouging by camping.

Cut France in half between north & south. Everything south of the line is full of deliciously twisty tarmac   Alternately, there are ferries from Plymouth (I think) that sail to Bilbao on the north coast of Spain. Ferries are a nice break. You roll on, get a good night's sleep, and when you wake up, you're almost in Spain  

The Duero River that cuts east to west through the middle of Spain was the front line between the Moors and the Christians for about 100 years, so the river is dotted with spectacular castles.

I try to avoid big city traffic. They don't take prisoners, and if you don't know where you're going, it can be unpleasant   I don't know if it's a problem to take a UK rental bike out of the UK. Ask Bill. He would know   In any case, flights within Europe are amazingly cheap. You could easily fly to Barcelona and rent another bike.

[FJR-UK]

Orson managed a lot of info in few words! My 2p:

I have seen hire bikes on the channel tunnel train and the only London bike hire place I looked at (Google) offered bikes for European tours.

I've taken the ferry from England to Spain. It's an experience. I prefer Brittany Ferries. The floor show they put on at night was excellent. The expense is offset by how much you would have spent on a night (or two) in France, plus petrol. Having said that, I had my fairing cracked when my bike was lashed to the bulkhead and have taken Le Shuttle (channel tunnel crossing) ever since. It's quick, you don't have to worry about weather, but it's more expensive than a ferry on the same route.

http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/
http://www.poferries.com/tourist/content/pages/template/routes_routes.htm
http://www.eurotunnel.com/ukcP3Main/ukcPassengers/

If you leave London about 7 am and take Le Shuttle, you can easily get halfway down France by 5 or 6 pm. Towns for a first stop that I would recommend are Reims, Troyes, Orleans, Tours, La Rochelle. Towns on the return I've been to (and would return to): Rouen, Amboise, Dijon. When you get near the Pyrenees, Toulouse and Montpelier are excellent places to visit. (I like cities.)

Do not under any circumstances attempt biking to Paris, unless you have beaucoup skill, nerve and insurance. Even near Paris is madness. A wide berth is recommended. (And I love Paris. I just take the train to get there.)

I did a tour of the Pyrenees a couple years ago: http://www.jerryrdavis.btinternet.co.uk/

Girona is near the Catalunya race and probably cheaper, definitely less hectic than Barcelona, although Barcelona is a terrific place to visit.

If you took the ferry, the north coast is Spain isn't called the Costa Verde for nothing. The Picos de Europa would be a nice tour. San Sebastian and Bilbao are great towns. Salamanca and Santiago de Compostella are probably too far west for your trip.

Lunch calls. More as it occurs to me. Have you been to England before?

[Snowdog]

I have seen hire bikes on the channel tunnel train and the only London bike hire place I looked at (Google) offered bikes for European tours.

Raceways will let you take their shafties out of the counrty.

have taken Le Shuttle (channel tunnel crossing) ever since. It's quick, you don't have to worry about weather, but it's more expensive than a ferry on the same route.

It varies greatly with time of day, if your prepared to cross in the wee small hours it can be pretty cheap.

[Scoop]

We haven't been to England before.  Greece and Amsterdam are our only European landfalls to date.  We were actually thinking that we would take Le Shuttle.  We will probably get enough of ferries at IoM!  And, we did plan to avoid larger centers, just as we do in the US:)  Looking for secondary roads where practical.  
Orson, I will contact Bill.  I have seen his mention before.  
Thanks
We are open to all info!

[Orson]

Not to sell Catalunya short, but you could stay in the UK and have a great trip too   There's Scotland & Wales & the Lake District & the Cotswolds & Somerset & Devon   In my opinion, the UK is the most underated motorcycle destination across the pond. Quaint villages, fantastic scenery & friendly pubs. You just have to get over the idea that you will be rained on at some point. Once you get over that, it's great  

Staying in the UK would be more relaxed as having to get the rental bike all the way back to the UK from Spain could lead to a mad dash, where as staying in the UK, you can get the bike back to the rental shop fairly easily.

Don't forget the North West 200 race in Northern Ireland is usually a couple of weeks before the TT  

[FJR-UK]

England. I could recommend a route from Liverpool to Folkestone: cross the Mersey and take the M53 to Chester. You'd be speeding past industrial parks and oil refineries to get to a a town with a beautiful old town centre (walk the town walls if you have time). Then, you could take it easy heading south along the Welsh borders via Wrexham, Oswestry, Shrewsbury. (If you have lots of time detour into Wales. Beautiful country.)

Ludlow is a beautiful black and white village (the well-heeled stay at The Feathers). Head east at Leominster to Bromyard, Worcester (sauce and cathedral), Pershore, Evesham to Broadway. Now you're in the Cotswolds, famous for the stone buildings, houses and thatched roofs. A tip, stay here: http://www.burhillfarm.co.uk with a very nice couple in their B&B and walk the 1.5 miles through the pastures and forest (take a torch so you can find your way home) and visit the pubs in Broadway (the Crown & Trumpet on Church St. was my favourite and the first one you'll come to). We stayed in the B&B three nights and will return. It's 1.5 hours from London, but a world apart.

The Cotswold villages are beautiful (and very popular with tourists) so you might explore around before you head to Chipping Norton, Woodstock (stop for tea) and Oxford. I'd hit the motorway at this point. M40/M25 South/A21 to Royal Tunbridge Wells (posh), Lamberhurst, Battle (1066), Hastings (typical seaside), Rye (very nice), Dymchurch, Hythe and Folkestone.

This route takes in some of the nicer scenery England has to offer and scoots you around the busiest urban part. The M25 can be a car park if you hit it at rush hour, though. (I live in London and it is one of the world's great cities. End of plug.)

France. They have a marvelous Autoroute system, but charge a toll on most stretches. Believe me, after you've gone 50 kph through farm town after farm town you will be tempted to pay the toll and make time. 130 kph posted limit and very light traffic except near the cities. The more interesting riding is in the south of the country, as Orson said.

[Gaw]

Hi Scoop,

How many days are you planning staying in Spain?

IMO, in Spain I will visit Picos de Europa and Pyrenees, both are very nice place for riding your motorbike and enjoy the landscape.

You can take a ferry from England to Santander and visit Picos de Europa, after that you can go following the coast and then cross all the Pyrenees from west to east and finally go to BArcelona.
This route takes you more or less one week.

If you need more info about Sapin or the south of France, don´t hesitate asking me

[Scoop]

Thanks for the info, as we plan this out I will be asking for much more
We are thinking 3 weeks total for the trip.  A week (roughly) for the IoM leg and a couple of weeks for France and northern Spain.  But, we have much to research and much to learn yet!

[Gaw]

No problem ask all you need.

Two weeks it´s enough time for visiting a lot places in Spain and France. In France I recommend you Cataros Castles zone, it´s very pretty and it´s near to Spain and you don´t need spend a lot time crossing France

[Orson]

We are thinking 3 weeks total for the trip. A week (roughly) for the IoM leg and a couple of weeks for France and northern Spain.

Just my opinion but, 3 weeks would be just about right if it were a one way trip. Having to get the bike back to the UK throws a wrench in the works. You'll have 4 ferry crossings to contend with. 2 to the Isle of Man and 2 to France or Spain. That's going to eat a couple or 3 days right there.

I would think about splitting the trip in two. Save Spain or the IOM TT for another year.

Not that it wouldn't be great fun. But having to rush would suck   There's so much to see  

[Smurfslayer]

I am going to echo what a previous poster said and re-emphasize - if you want to actually get to IoM for the TT, you had best get cracking.  I just made reservations on the steam-packet ferry last week and got stuck with basically an entire week there.  I really only wanted to catch the Superbike & sidecar races but it was just a major league PITA to coordinate all that stuff together.  Check out the IoMTT website forums for lodging.  There are still hotels available for about 130 gbp per person, per night        And there are some B&B houses available.  

I would suggest don't overdo it.  Divide your respective itineraries into "must see/do" and "can do next time if we have to".  I went for 17 days in '08 and managed 7 on some bikes.  Started & finished in Munich and we had an absolute blast.      

[Orson]

I just made reservations on the steam-packet ferry last week and got stuck with basically an entire week there.

I wouldn't look at it as being stuck  

The Isle of Man TT is a once in a lifetime event.

Enjoy and savor every moment  

[Scoop]

I am going to echo what a previous poster said and re-emphasize - if you want to actually get to IoM for the TT, you had best get cracking.  I just made reservations on the steam-packet ferry last week and got stuck with basically an entire week there.  I really only wanted to catch the Superbike & sidecar races but it was just a major league PITA to coordinate all that stuff together.  Check out the IoMTT website forums for lodging.  There are still hotels available for about 130 gbp per person, per night        And there are some B&B houses available.  

I would suggest don't overdo it.  Divide your respective itineraries into "must see/do" and "can do next time if we have to".  I went for 17 days in '08 and managed 7 on some bikes.  Started & finished in Munich and we had an absolute blast.      

Were you booking for 2010?  We will have to get cracking if we want to get good reservations for 2011.

[yotes65]

No problem ask all you need.

Two weeks it´s enough time for visiting a lot places in Spain and France. In France I recommend you Cataros Castles zone, it´s very pretty and it´s near to Spain and you don´t need spend a lot time crossing France

Sorry for the   ...


Whats the Cataros Castles zone?

[Gaw]

Hi,

Castillos Cataros or Cathars Castles in English, It's a zone in the South France with several castles and fortresses built by Cathars, a medieval nation. It's located in the area between Carcassonne,Albi and Toulousse. It's a very interesting area, you will find a lot of info in the web, for example:
http://france-for-visitors.com/languedoc/cathar-castles.html

[yotes65]

Hi,

Castillos Cataros or Cathars Castles in English, It's a zone in the South France with several castles and fortresses built by Cathars, a medieval nation. It's located in the area between Carcassonne,Albi and Toulousse. It's a very interesting area, you will find a lot of info in the web, for example:
http://france-for-visitors.com/languedoc/cathar-castles.html

Thank you very much...