Morning all,
Instead of the usual 2 weeks in the alps this August, we thought we'd give the Pyrenees a go.
We live in London, so will be doing a Dover/Calais ferry and driving down with a tent and lots of bikes.
'All Mountain' and long day rides are what we are after - some uplift to extend the amount of down we get would be nice, but we would generally prefer natural terrain and we're not afraid of riding up. The occasional bit of DH will be good for me, but most of the people I'm going with are on the tame side (blues/reds rather than blacks).
Does any have any recommendations for must do routes/resorts or good places to stay?
We are only at the preliminary planning stage, so any advice welcome.
Cheers,
Dave :o)
Start on the France/Spanish border at Hondarribia. Lovely town and do some biking with www.basquemtb.com. Head along the pyrenees to Valle de Roncal in Navarra, beautiful, good food, good wine.
http://vallederoncal.es/btt
Then head to Andorra for some lift assisted action.
http://en.vallnordbikepark.com//index.asp
after that, not sure, but a friend of mine did a similar thing a couple of years ago and is putting together some recommendations for me, i'll let you know if interested.
Camping du lac, Matamale near Les Angles both lifts and all mountain, ace place.
Vallnord and Grand Vellira (sp?)for lift stuff, good for all levels. Camping up the valley from Ordino and also towards Pal
Guided or unguided? If guided, speak to Ian at Altitude Adventures. He'll sort you out.
Good links guys, keep them coming.
Almost definitely going to be unguided, we've always been fine in the alps on our own and I don't think the mixed group I'm going with would get the most out of a guide.
Dave
I would heartily recommend the pryennes older link here
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/pyrenees-holiday-recommendations-bikingwalkingclimbing
but Luchon is great went last year see aqr hols very good guiding. I did a mix of road, and mtb just a tremendous area. This is the place I would go, big mountains good town good access to other areas if raining, just fab way way better than Morzine imho. Lift is open in town in the summer I believe but the ride to superbagneres is great, you have col de perysoude and then some nice trails off, port de bales is a great road ride, so many pryactif also operate in the area
The Basque country is also fab went there in 1996 Hondribba and then Biarritz area 2004 really developed now........the guiding seems well recommeded. Try ST Jean de Pied that was good but we were walking.
The area around Canigou/Prades is my second spot just a great area with loads of trails and a well established VTT group who are really helpful. Loads of forest trails and stunning views, for lifts you need to go up the valley to ski station again another company in the area around olette i think.
Final place is ax les thermes and foix a friend used to live out there and was thrilled by it all, moved due to work, worh looking at.
All the places have good vtt signs and trails.
Try Luchon though, singletrack article somewhere on it!
Enjoy
another recommend for Ian and Ange at Altitude Adventure, if you're looking for the good natural stuff, I reckon you definitely need a guide. and if you're going to do Vallnord, also give La Molina and Les Angles bike parks a go. both awesome and both within a short drive of their place at St Pierre del Forcats. There's a camp site there too
BTW, don't be put off from going to the bike parks, although you'll see plenty of locals Riding Stinky's in full facers and body armour (most of whom are laughably useless from what I saw) The blues/reds are easily doable on a trail bike.
I would recomend the pacific coast side in or around Biaritz, the beaches are fantastic and so are the girls.
and the riding isn't bad either.
The pacific as opposed to the baltic coast? 🙂
Sorry Atlantic, It's been a long day 😛
had a great time at AQR with kate & ian potter in Luchon. plenty of decent Cotic hire bikes, the hotel serves great food (large portions!) and the trails are ace.
I got everything, hotel, guiding and hire bike, but you can stay nearby and just use them as guidees for instance
We really enjoyed time spent in the Val d'Azun. Lots of DIY marked VVT (MTB) tracks.
Friendly campsites, great riding and duck stew to kill for (Garbure)
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[url= http://www.valdazun.fr/fr/a-faire-ete/activites-vertes/ridez-en-vtt/index.html ]Linky 1[/url]
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TM
Yum, duck stew... better make sure I ride up some hills if I'm going to be eating that sort of stuff!
Dave
Second for Les angles. Beautiful riding around there, good VTT routes through Pyrenees 2000.
What is andorra like for camping? are there any good places near the bike parks?
http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/en/europe/andorra/
We stayed at Borda de Ansalonga, decent site, bar and a pool 30Euro per night tent car 2 adults and a kid
We met some people who stayed at a site near Grand Valira just off the main road from france, not sure which one but cheap and nice
The one towards Pal seemed to have lots of bikers (nearest to the Valnord lift) but didnt get much sun.