Advise first time tourer from Scotland to Spain

Hi

My wife and I are hoping to go from Scotland to our house in Pinoso Spain. We have done some research and prefer the Euro Tunnel route then through France.

We are looking for some advise on best routes, places to stay, places to avoid etc..

Many thanks

Mark

Hi

My wife and I are hoping to go from Scotland to our house in Pinoso Spain. We have done some research and prefer the Euro Tunnel route then through France.

We are looking for some advise on best routes, places to stay, places to avoid etc..

Many thanks

Mark

On a bike?

Hello and welcome. If you are doing that trip on a bike I’d avoid the autoroutes and take the back roads through France and stay in the auberges and local hotels. But you don’t say how long you’ve got to do the trip.

Hi

My wife and I are hoping to go from Scotland to our house in Pinoso Spain. We have done some research and prefer the Euro Tunnel route then through France.

We are looking for some advise on best routes, places to stay, places to avoid etc..

Many thanks

Mark

I've done trips like that many times.i generally take the ferry from Hull because, although it looks more expensive than the tunnel, it is easy to get there in a day and includes overnight accommodation. If you want to use the tunnel it is very easy, once you've made it down to Folkestone.

The distance and route from Zeebrugge is pretty much the same as from Coquelles and from there it depends what you want from the trip. If you have a comfy bike with good wind protection and you don't want to take too long getting there, you just need to follow the signs for Reims, Dijon, Lyon then Barcelona & Alicante. 130 kph all the way ! If you want to make the trip a bit of an adventure and see a bit of real France and Spain, you'll need a satnav with "avoiding motorways" selected - but be aware it will take much longer and there will be times when you feel you're just going from traffic light to traffic light through towns and villages. A compromise, again if you have a satnav, would be to select "avoiding tolls", that way you will get a mix of motorway and non-motorway roads.

Accommodation is generally easy to find, not too expensive in France and noticeably cheaper in Spain.

Good luck, hope you enjoy the trip !

In addition to my earlier post, a piece of advice for the first-time UK rider travelling through France :-

AVOID PARIS !

This website calculates the total cost of Tolls for a given route: https://www.autoroutes.fr/en/routes.htm?itiFrom=Calais&itiTo=Pinoso%2C+Spain

Might come in handy.

This website calculates the total cost of Tolls for a given route: https://www.autoroutes.fr/en/routes.htm?itiFrom=Calais&itiTo=Pinoso%2C+Spain

Might come in handy.

Yes, a very handy website.

If you use it to calculate time versus cost for a motorcycle trip from Coquelles to Pinoso, the difference between the Michelin recommended route and the economical route is approximately what it would cost for the extra day or so to get there.

So, a clear choice - if you want to get there quicker and don't mind fast motorways, go motorway. If however you want to see the towns and villages, travel at a slower pace and you have the time to get there, take the "economical" route. The total price will be very similar and, either way, it can be a great trip.

I look forward to reading a report of how it goes !

Yes we are on a bike.

We are planning on taking our time to get there giving ourselves between 5-7 days there but shorter on way back.

Thanks for all the advise, we was looking at going through Paris but was unsure now

I would try and get as far south of Paris as quickly as possible on the first day.. and then slow right down, taking each day as it comes. decide where you want to cross from France into Spain and aim for it roughly, using autoroutes only as a way of cutting the time between points of interest (cutting out any boring bits I mean). Thats it really.

If it were me, I would head for the uplands of the Massive central and cross into Spain on the Mediterranean side (languedoc).. and avoid as much as possible the french med coast.

When we went to the south of france a couple of years ago.. our first overnight was at Avallon in Burgundy. a loveely little town. on the northern edge of the Morvan.. from there we headed south and east towards our goal, Millau. But for Spain.. or that direction i would head next towards the Volcanos in the Auvergne. we saw it from a distant and it looked great.. maybe one day we'll go there.

Yes we are on a bike.

We are planning on taking our time to get there giving ourselves between 5-7 days there but shorter on way back.

Thanks for all the advise, we was looking at going through Paris but was unsure now

Never go through Paris. Road signs or satnav will take you around Paris on the Peripherique (ring road). This can be perfectly OK at quiet times (e.g. 07:00 on a Sunday) but when it's busy, i.e. most of the time, it's hectic. Filtering on a bike is accepted and expected, but the locals will want to filter much faster than you. Great fun if you're into high-risk motorcycling.

If you're going down the Autoroute du Soleil, go via Reims instead of Paris, and if you're going down the West side of France, go via Rouen. Either way it adds a few miles versus going around Paris but doesn't add much time. Your chance of survival is higher too

Taking 5-7 days on the way down should make it possible for you to enjoy the trip and by the time you're heading back you should be in the swing and finding it all easy. Enjoy !!

If you really want to go to Paris follow sat nav to a hotel with underground car park and then visit on foot or public transport. Riding or driving around Paris is not much fun. If you want to just go round Paris use the Peripherique outside the rush hour and keep your wits about you. But there are M'ways that go round Paris eg the A86 and then head for the A6 Autoroute du Soleil or down the A20 past Limoges towards Spain or further west go down the A10 towards Bordeaux and then towards Pau to cross the Spanish border through the Pyrenees. I have done all these routes and they all have advantages and disadvantages. It depends on where in Spain you are heading for and how long you want to spend doing it.

Just found where Pinoso Spain is. It really doesn't matter which route through France you take, they are all good for where you are heading for.

Don't forget your Crit'air Sticker

Don't forget your Crit'air Sticker

this is a distraction.

You only need one of these if you intend entering any of the following cities and pass one of these signs.

Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Lille, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Chambery, Marseilles and possibly Bordeaux and Rouen.

autoroutes that pass through these cities aren't part of the scheme. so, every year we pass through central Lille on the A25 and we don't need one.

The OP does mentions Paris

The OP does mentions Paris

But only as a potential route - not a great idea for a Scot on his first bike trip on the Continent.

I would not recommend going to Paris in a car never mind on a motocicle

Infact I wouldn't even recommend going round that ring road either

As they have said above, I avoid Paris whenever possible - especially on a UK registered bike - the Parisian’s don’t take prisoners.

You might like to consider the Portsmouth - Cean route. It’s a longer ferry crossing but does put you further south avoiding Paris. It will put you back on the Michelin preferred route on the A28, just north of Alencon & Le Mans.