London to Barcelona Route

riding alone with just the backup of a good friend who volunteered to drive a support vehicle, but whilst most need other riders to help push them along, I am quite content plodding along at my own rate with my thoughts and memories for company. The ride will take place at the end of September 2012, which I thought would give me a reasonable chance of calm weather in northern and Central France, and more importantly, not too hot in Southern France or Spain. Given the fact that my stamina is not quite what it used to be, climbing the Pyrenees has been worrying me a lot, but despite the toughest climbs being in these mountains, there are still plenty of other climbs to deal with, especially in Central France, where the route skirts The Massif Central.

My main criteria was to get around my phobia of riding on busy roads, and to this end with the help of Ride My GPS and Google Street View, I have managed to plot largely exceptionally quiet D roads crossing France, avoiding major towns and junctions as much as possible. This has been painstakingly achieved over the past several months with each daily leg of the route downloaded on to my Garmin Edge navigation. Sadly, the route into Spain and the last day to Barcelona does involve lengthy spells on busy National roads. It was considered to complete the ride in just 10 days, but even I know my limitations, so a little more reasonable 15 days has been allowed. Nonetheless, this is one hell of a challenge, and a challenge that I have psyched myself up for, and am now looking forward to taking on. 

Itinerary