eddierex

I want to bike from Madrid to Barcelona.
Am I naive about that trip? I don't see that ride posted anywhere, does that mean it's all highways and not doable by bike?

girona

I just replied to your other post. It's doable, of course, here is a possible route that someone has already done:
https://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=2276763
I guess it's not a very popular route for cycletourists.


I use wikiloc and bikeroutetoaster.com to plan cycling routes.

Cheers

eddierex

Very helpful, thanks. That's what I was looking for, a realistic take on that route, so thanks. I'll look up your links now.

I guess we'll ride along the coast out of Barcelona instead. Maybe doesn't sound as cool, but a couple of weeks on bikes in Spain sounds fun to me no matter where we start.

GoodyBlueShoes

Eddierex

Did you do the Madrid to Barca trip? We are doing a charity gig early 2014. Madrid - Barcelona - Paris - Bruxelles - Amsterdam - London.

We have done much initial scoping as we are attempting the distance in 16 days. Madrid to Barca is the unknown at present as little data is available. Do you have info?

Best regards

Goody

lucille

Barcelona, Barna, BCN. Never Barca, unless you're talking football. ;-)

eddierex

Nope, we didn't do that trip. When I researched it, turns out there's a reason few people do it -- it's all highways, it's really difficult to plot out a route that works well.

We ended up taking the train from Madrid to Barcelona, then biking along the Catalonian coast toward France -- and that trip was one of the best of my life. So beautiful, medieval castles, white beaches, amazing food, different culture, even the language is slightly different.

Again, the highways around Barcelona are difficult to navigate, so we ended up taking the train out of Barcelona a short ways, then biking, once we got to the road that hugs the coast.

Cannot recommend it highly enough. Tossa de Mar is phenomenally romantic and beautiful.

eddierex

Take the train out of Barcelona to Blanes, then there's pretty much one road along the coast, with a wide enough shoulder so it's not scary. Mild-to-medium rise and fall of hills along the Costa Brava ("Wild Coast"), perfect for a late beginner or early intermediate bicyclist. Gorgeous beaches, lots of hidden rocky coves, some sea caves, old castles. We went through all the towns: Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, Sant Filiu de Guixols, Platja d'Aro, Figueres. If you stay in Tossa, the Cap d'Or hostel is the absolute best, great food in their restaurant, too, up the hill near the castle is the best sangria I ever had. Inland from Tossa is the phenomenally beautiful Girona, I'd guess it's about 17km from the coast. Farther up the coast is Golf de Roses and Cap de Cervera, rocky areas, some beaches, no tourists right now, it's offseason.

lucille

Sounds wonderful, thanks. I'll make a ote for next time. :-)

fantom1 

Depends on how much off roading you want to do and how adventurous you want to be. You could take backroads, farm roads, etc. and probably never see a car. The highways that are smaller are still pretty dangergous for cyclists because most don't have shoulders.

pedalsimotxilla

I'm from Catalonia, and the catalan coastal route is really beautiful. Going from Madrid to Barcelona is not something I'd recommend, though. In summer you'll cook yourself to death and I can't think of a safe way of doing it, besides just looking for minor roads.

bikehog164

So it is doable, just difficult? might give it a go and see for myself.

naptimeguru

Eddie,


I am planning on doing a similar trip in a couple of months and I was wondering if you had a GPS file of your route. Also any other tips or advice you have would be great.


Thanks!