I am/was planning to cycle from Porto to Lisbon this spring, but three days ago, Portugal changed their restrictions and now Canada is not on the list for non-essential travel. At this point, I cannot go.

As an alternate, I am thinking to either go to 1. Madrid and cycle an out-and-back loop, or, 2. Toulouse and cycle toward the Med then south to Barcelona.

Does anyone have any opinions either way on my second option?

Thanks.

If you’ve never been to Catalonia, I’d bike from Barcelona to Toulouse.  It should be beautiful in the spring.  We might see you there - we’ll be biking east from Barcelona in mid-March.

Hi Brent

  Toulouse is our nearest big city so it's an area I know reasonably well.

  You'll have a lovely ride south to Spain. The obvious way is to cross into Spain near the coast on the main road that shadows the autoroute, over the col de Perthus. I suggest you don't follow it, though, because it's busy even with the autoroute taking the strain and the French side of the Pyrenees is always steeper than the Spanish and contending with a busy secondary route over a mountain lacks something.

Further east, you can follow the winding road that runs close to the Mediterranean. That's feasible but you may have to watch out for trucks and caravans taking the corners too wide and too fast.

Far better is a col that nobody knows and which has no traffic because, the last time I was there anyway, the couple of hundred metres over the border and therefore the summit were contested by both sides and stay unsurfaced - fine for bikes , though you may have to walk, but an obstruction for cars.

Look for the village of Maureillas-las-Illas. From there, the D13 runs southwards. There's a campsite, a naturist one, before the climb starts. You could get that far and start fresh in the morning.

The climb is a climb, yes, and I remember a sudden wall as it turns left. But you've been up worse and it's not so very long. I didn't walk anywhere. And it's quiet because for traffic it doesn't go anywhere.

There's a popular picnic area when you get into Spain and from there the road is wider and smoother.

Many of the larger roads heading south to Barcelona either have good bike lanes if they're busy or routes off through bypassed villages.

Be careful about riding into Barcelona, though. The two obvious routes, including what looks like the quiet one, are 160kmh Hell's Highways with no shoulder and even a wall alongside the right-hand lane. I tried it going north and soon gave up and took the coastal railway as far as Blanes. You might consider doing it in reverse, riding to Blanes and taking the light railway into the centre.

If you decide to cross the border at Puigcerda, just east of Andorra, you'll have a main road with a good shoulder and an endless descent. BUT... on that road somewhere - I can't remember where but a search will find it - is a long and busy tunnel. I chose not to ride it and so do many cyclists. It may be shorter in distance but I'd worry that it was life-shortening as well. The only way to avoid it is to take a long and admittedly pleasant climb up into the mountain through which the tunnel runs.

I hope that helps. Anything else I can tell you, please do ask.

happy days

léo

Did my reply help?

Sorry for not responding - yes, it was. I immediately went over a map to plot out a possible route. I have had a number of work projects pop up so havevhad little time for planning, sadly.

Hi Brent, 

I don't know if you are interested in touring with others and how committed to touring in Spain. 

      At the end of March, I am flying out to Naples, and am planning on touring across Sicily, southern Italy and ferry over to the Pelopennese region of Greece and returning to Italy, tour back to Naples, ferry over to Sardenia and return.

If you have any interest/ any question(s), check out my profile/  and let me know.

Brian

Hi Brian

Your tour sounds great and I thank you for the offer. It would appear that restrictions in Portugal were modified to allow Canadians to enter. Furthermore, it appears some additional restrictions will be relaxed in the coming weeks. So, it would appear my original tour is back on.

B

Hi, léo.  We’re planning on crossing through here ourselves in about a month.  When I first read your comment I discounted it because we did something quite similar back in 2018 on our ride from Ceret to Figueres and didn’t care for it.  In fact, Rachael insisted she’d never ride that way again, so this time we’re planning the coast route.  On our ride we started south from Maureillas-las-Illas and enjoyed a beautiful, quiet climb until reaching the border, following the EV8 route.  The ride was excellent until we crossed the border into Catalonia at the Col de Panissars, but after that it was pretty terrible for the next two miles until we bottomed out near the N-11.  The video in the link gives a good feeling for the descent, and reminds me that I agree with Rachael’s assessment.  I wouldn’t do it again either.

When I look again though, I think we may not have done the same thing.   The EV-8 follows D13C, not D13.  Could you detail a bit more about what you did on the Spanish side?  From the map, it looks like you may have crossed over at the ‘monument a Lluis Companys’ and then dropped down to Agullanas?

Cheers,

Scott