Trip Abroad

[loftyjohn]

Hi Gang
I am taking the @ to the continent this summer.
Any of you know to safe B&B's or Hotels in any of the following towns:

Pamplona
Andora
Millau
Annecy
Moulins
Tours

Web sites, Phone numbers, addresses or emails will be great.

As you have guessed by the places, we are taking the Ferry to Santander from Plymouth, travelling through Spain into Andora, over into France and up to Caen for the Ferry home. 12 nights all in.

Any help or advice is welcome, its our first trip.

[Larry Biskit]

Hey

I camped through France whilst riding there last summer so cant help with B&B's/Hotels, but Annecy was absoutely rammed full of people so when you get the name of B&B's etc book ahead if you can mate. It was well safe everywhere we went, campgrounds and all.

Have fun

[RuftyTufty]

Hi Gang
I am taking the @ to the continent this summer.
Any of you know to safe B&B's or Hotels in any of the following towns:

Pamplona
Andora
Millau
Annecy
Moulins
Tours

Web sites, Phone numbers, addresses or emails will be great.

As you have guessed by the places, we are taking the Ferry to Santander from Plymouth, travelling through Spain into Andora, over into France and up to Caen for the Ferry home. 12 nights all in.

Any help or advice is welcome, its our first trip.

Why should you feel "unsafe"? France is a much more civilised country than the UK. They dont have hordes of English football hooligans and shaven headed thugs running around.

You dont need campsites - just camp wild. Why pay for rock hard ground, noise and someone's screaming brats?

[Whealie]

Pamplona gets very booked if you are thee for the bull-running festival. I'm very jealous if you are as going there by bike remains an ambition for me - I've been 11 times, but not for many years now.
Can't help with accomodation though, camped once then slept in the street or befriended locals and slept on their florrs/spare beds.
Can give loads of advice about the festival though - you'll have a great time but probably be robbed at some point so leave a spare credit card or cashpoint card or source of funds somewhere else whenever you go out.
I woke up one morning to discover I'd been drugged while asleep (happened again to someone I knew a few years later) and the buggers had knicked my rucksack. I was naked in a sleeping bag and had to borrow a pair of shorts to walk barefoot to the police station, where they already had my rucksack waiting for me. Only my passport, wallet and a few items of clothes missing whihc, when you are naked, seems like a very good deal - ooh look underpants, T-shirts, important things.

[BobA]

LoftyJohn

You will be covering roughly the same ground that I did last year when a few friends and I popped down to MotoGP in Barcelona.

On the way down, we got separated. I ended up spending an evening in Issoire at the Etap hotel, which is close to the E11, has excellent rooms, and a Buffalo Grill next door. There are plenty of other hotels (Ibis, Campanille etc) close by.

http://www.leviaducdemillau.com/index.html

In the morning, I left Issoire, rode south on the E11 taking in the amazing Milau bridge (they were still renovating an old house just below it on the north side which I believe will be a visitor centre/restaurant). If you ride reasonably slowly (I rode on the hard shoulder) and stand on the pegs looking through the perspex side panels the view is very dramatic.

Anyway, as I say, I rode south via Beziers, Narbonne then cut west inland again on the E80 near Carcassonne, where I rendezvoud with my mates again in (E09) Foix (nice!) and we then took some gravelly tracks through Andorra etc. These were great for me and my BMW (1150/1200) mates, but a bit tough on the one fella riding his R1 !!!!

I reckon if you are doing this route roughly in reverse, you could leave Andorra and have a nice day's ride as far as Issoire, with time to take in Millau and other sights along the way. If you are leaving Pamplona and heading this route, Issoire would be a VEY long day's ride, pressing on all the time and not giving you much time to see things.

Incidentally, after you have crossed the Milau bridge heading north, keep your eyes open and looking to the left. There is another stunning (arched Iron) bridge (railway I believe) just to the west of the E11. I believe it is near Lair (D909).

Have a great trip


Bob

[BobA]

LoftyJohn

The main thing I also forgot to mention about the Etap hotel on the E11 at Issoire is, it has an enclosed compound parking area which is locked at night. So your bikes will be VERY safe.


Bob

[loftyjohn]

Thanks for the replies lads

It sound like we are in for one hel of a trip.

ps. I like the bit about the R1

There are 5 bikes traveling in all. My @, 1200 gs, 2 x 650 gs and an fjr1300.

Benny with the Fj gets pissed off when I take him round the back roads of Staffs and Derbys. A spot of off roading in Andora might be the final straw?