Pyrenees & SW France Road Trip Advice Please!

[mikey k]

I'm planning our next euro hoon in the V8V for late summer next year.
Already decided to do a loop
Dunkirque
Pyrenees, zig zag down them
SW France Carcassone, Milau Bridge, Mont Ventoux, Monaco
Several days doing some Alpine passes
Vosges
Dunkirque

I'm after some tips & recommendations for Pyrenees East Spain and SW France (please )
We are more interested in great driving roads & stunning scenery

[A4069]

i was in the pyrenees in mid-september, it is stunning. the famous cols are the aubisque, solour, tourmalet and aspin which you can drive in one neat line, though it's always better to do the route both ways if you can. but there are loads of cyclists and, on the tourmalet especially, some of them get carried away and seem to think they own the road. so be careful because if you hoon around you could well flatten one of them. go as late in the year as you can. i'd imagine that it is a nightmare in august, but it was very peaceful by mid-september with glorious weather.

there are equally stunning roads off the main route of the big four cols, and because they aren't famous tour de france climbs they are almost void of cyclists. the D173 south of Aragnouet is awesome and was empty when i was there - have a peek on Google street view, there must be dozens of others like it. the D173 leads to the spanish border, but i didn't like the spanish side of the pyrenees and wouldn't go back there.

we stayed in bagneres de luchon on the eastern edge of the pyrenees. perfect french town, and the acta luchon hotel was very good.

some photos of the solour, aubisque and tourmalet:

mikey k said:

I'm planning our next euro hoon in the V8V for late summer next year.
Already decided to do a loop
Dunkirque
Pyrenees, zig zag down them
SW France Carcassone, Milau Bridge, Mont Ventoux, Monaco
Several days doing some Alpine passes
Vosges
Dunkirque

I'm after some tips & recommendations for Pyrenees East Spain and SW France (please )
We are more interested in great driving roads & stunning scenery

Edited by A4069 on Friday 9th December 18:58

[mikey k]

Great start thank you very much
BTW nice log in name as well

[G Man]

Check out this vid http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa7ezp_cancellara...
Stage 7 tour de France 2009
Route in the roads wiki

[mikey k]

Found a few places to add to the route! :drive:
Any one got any more suggestions?

Ordadour Sur Glane (WW2 ghost town)
La Roque Gageac (cliff village)
Rocamadour (cliff village)
Gouffre de Padirac boat trip in caves
Roncevaux Pass
Col de la Pierre
Col d’Aubisque
Col du Solour
Col du Portalet
Col du Hautacam & Luz Ardiden
Col de Tentes
Cirque du Gavarnie highest warerfall in Europe
Cirque de Troumouse
Col du Tourmalet
Col D’Aspin
Barousse Valley
Siurana
Andorra
Castellfollit de la roca (1 hour)
“Road of the Year” 365 bends in 12 miles Gi682
Gorge de Galamus
Gorges De Tarn from the Millau Bridge
Cassis
Monaco F1 circuit, Casino Square & tunnels
Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road & Sculptures

[donna180]

The N260 is really good - from Jaca all the way to Olot. (Includes a lot of cols...!)

The D118 from Carassone to Puigcerda is a good route into Spain.

Edited by donna180 on Saturday 17th December 19:56

[cerberaperv]

mikey k said:

Found a few places to add to the route! :drive:
Any one got any more suggestions?

Ordadour Sur Glane (WW2 ghost town)
La Roque Gageac (cliff village)
Rocamadour (cliff village)
Gouffre de Padirac boat trip in caves
Roncevaux Pass
Col de la Pierre
Col d’Aubisque
Col du Solour
Col du Portalet
Col du Hautacam & Luz Ardiden
Col de Tentes
Cirque du Gavarnie highest warerfall in Europe
Cirque de Troumouse
Col du Tourmalet
Col D’Aspin
Barousse Valley
Siurana
Andorra
Castellfollit de la roca (1 hour)
“Road of the Year” 365 bends in 12 miles Gi682
Gorge de Galamus
Gorges De Tarn from the Millau Bridge
Cassis
Monaco F1 circuit, Casino Square & tunnels
Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road & Sculptures

Just found this thread and I`m also planning a euro trip this summer. I`m going to try and work it out, but how many days does the above route take?