Advice on riding to Valencia next June

[JeffT]

Hi all,

Me, my old man and my brother are thinking of riding down to valencia to watch the moto gp next year.

Basically we are new to proper touring. My old man rides 15K + a year in this country but we have not ventured across the water on two wheels.

Basically I am looking for any advice people can give.

Places to stay, routes to take, things to avoid etc etc.

We are hoping to ride down over 3 days, stay the 3 days for the racing and then 3 days back.

We havnt decided whether to take the tunnel or night ferry yet (we live in Southampton), so pro's and cons of either would be appreciated too.

Cheers

Sloces

[R4nger]

My advice is take 4 days atleast getting down there unless you like French motorways and 400+ miles a day?

You basiclly have 2 options open to you...

1) Ride through Calais and through France.
2) Get a ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao and ride from there.

Option 1 will be 400+ miles a day and you would be using motorway most of the time. Not much fun in my opinion but whatever floats your boat. Most motorbike tourers do 100-250 miles aday in Europe to depending on various things and to go on the back roads and see the people, villages etc. Many people say touring is about seeing the local people. If you do go through France my advice would be take more than 3 days, this is not enough time. 4 days minimum, 5-6 days ideally.

Option 2 will take 30-35 hours to cross the waters which basiclly gives you 1 day to ride about 500 miles. Same thing as option 1. Take more time!

On autoroute from Southampton via Calais is around 1200 so expect it to be upto 1300-1500 each way. It could be upto 3000 miles in total. I would check your brakes, tires, spark plugs, oil, air filter before you go and make sure they will last the trip.

Because it is in June, it should be just outside the summer holidays which is great because more things will be less crowded and hotels, camping sites will accept later bookings. Children cause so much hassle

I would strongly suggest you read this thread.

[EuropeanNC30R...]

Agree with Ranger. Three days to get there is just going to be a lot of motorway-pounding. You can still do 300 miles a day easily on a-roads, and you might even have to use your phrasebook when you meet someone

I don't see the attraction fo the tunnel myself, it can cost 4 times the price of an early booked ferry, just for the sake of it getting you there half an hour quicker.

[Nath]

You could do it in 3 days without motorways, but they would be long and very tiring days that you wouldn't really enjoy. I managed to go from Calais to just a bit further south than Limoges in one day, but the following day could only manage a poxy 450km to reach the Spanish border. By all means blast through northern and central France, but once you get a bit further south it'd be a crime to rush through those excellent roads

You really need to give yourself more time. Four days riding in each direction would make a massive difference to your enjoyment of the experience, and if you could stretch to an extra day spent exploring the Pyrenees you will not regret it. See the thread linked in my sig for a few photos of the Spanish Pyrenees and an account of a trip down to Spain.
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[JeffT]

cheers for the tips so far guys, exactely what i was hoping for!

Keep em coming

[bambi101]

There are plenty of nice places and things to do when you are down near Valencia I have the contact details of a biker friendly (most are in fairness) hotel in a village called Pocul (just north of Valencia). It's run by a Spanish family so you'll need some basic phrases but Roberto is a head case on a bike. He knows plenty of routes in to the local mountains and is a regular on the circuit.

email: info@hotelesalba.com

Don't forget the party Friday and Saturday nights in Cheste village.

Ian.