Brainstorming Cycle Routes before Barcelona

Looks a great route indeed but 100kms per day is not for the casual cyclist :-).

Many moons ago I visited Andorra by motorbike and it's certainly a beautiful country to start the ride back down to the coast. Another idea might be to fly to Toulouse, take the train to Perpignan and pick up Bas Vredeling's route suggestion no6 https://www.strava.com/routes/2246976 ?

Btw, by traveling towards Andorra you mean public transport or by other means?

Hey there,
It is so cool that you keep Tour de Drupal alive. Unfortunately, friends from the US are coming the weekend before the Con to Europe and they will only stay this weekend in the area. I have to cancel for this time.
Next time I will be in again :-)
Good luck, I hope it will be a big adventure as last year!
Dagmar

@stefan, @dasjo: easy route on the last day sounds great. I'm not sure if I can do those climbs in three days (or at all) myself.

I've looked again at the Andorra route with somebody more experienced in cycling and the conclusion was that the Andorra route would probably too tough for me.

I think the best option would be the Perpignan - Barcelona route that Bas posted:
https://www.strava.com/routes/2246976

That route should be doable in 3 days.

My plan would then be this:

1. Fly to Barcelona at Thursday the 17th, arrive there around noon.
2. Put the luggage in a locker on the Barcelona train station.
3. Hire a bike in Barcelona.
4. Travel to Perpignan by train.
5. Overnight in Perpignan.
6. Travel to Barcelona in three days. Book accommodations on the route beforehand. Last day would then be about 50 km so we could arrive early in the afternoon.

The only thing about this plan that should be checked is if a bike can be taken from Barcelona to Perpignan by train.

I want to book my flight and accommodation in Barcelona next Saturday, so I hope we can come to an agreement this week.

I plan to book an apartment that is about 30 - 40 minutes walk from the conference center. The apartments that I consider all have room for 2 persons, two beds in the same room. Anyone interested to share a room?

Thanks Gaele, I've requested a quote (Dutch: "offerte") for taking a bike from Barcelona to Perpignan.

Unfortunelately, I discovered a new hurdle: I can't find a rent place in Barcelona that rents tour bikes (like the Batavus Yakima, which I have). I only can choose between road bikes (I found out that this means "racefiets" in Dutch), mountain bikes and city bikes. The road bikes and mountain bikes are not an option for me because they don't have a carrier for the luggage (I don't want a lot of weight on my back). I suppose the city bikes are not recommended to use for Perpignan to Barcelona.

An other option would be to take the Batavus on the train from Holland to Perpignan (which was my original plan a few months ago), though that bike has roller brakes and either Gaele or Bas told me that is not recommended to use in the mountains (I suppose this counts for any route, including https://www.strava.com/routes/2246976).

Since a lot about this tour is still unclear to me, I'm now seriously thinking of not joining it. That would be a pity, but I feel the pressure of booking right now, since I sense that the afforable options for traveling and accommodations start to decrease. The apartment options that I saw a few days ago are now all gone.

Thanks, Gaele. Now I know which bike I could rent. And what the right English word is for the Dutch "bagagedrager" :).

I have emailed the rental to ask if it possible to deliver the bike at the airport. This is because it seems to be a bit tricky to get from Barcelona to Perpignan by train in one day. The last train you can take in Barcelona in order to arrive in Perpignan the same day leaves at 13:16. The earliest I can arrive at the Barcelona airport is 10:15 (earlier flights are already full).

Let me explain. I received an answer from "treinreiswinkel". They advised me to travel via Port Bou (I had asked for a route where I didn't need to disassemble the bike). The total costs for this journey are about 30 euro p.p.. The last train from Port Bou to Perpignan on September the 17th leaves at 17:53 (and arrives in Perpignan at 19:14). In order to catch this train you need to take a train from Barcelona that leaves at 13:16 (and arrives at 15:52 at Port Bou). A train later from Barcelona (leave time: 15:16) will bring you at Port Bou at 17:52, which is too late to get to the train to Perpignan in time.

Sources:

Barcelona - Port Bou:
http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/horarios.html

Port Bou - Perpignan:
http://www.thetrainline-europe.com/plan/port-bou-to-perpignan?departDate...

Guide for going from Barcelona to Perpignan (Dutch):
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/nl/luchthaven/transfers/transfer-...

I don't see this taking off, MegaChriz. Perhaps this is an alternative for Sunday (or Monday?): Ronda Verda de Barcelona, http://cycling.waymarkedtrails.org/en/relation/3726963

@dasjo mentioned this thread to me yesterday. I also arrive in Barcelona on Thursday evening (18:28 arrival by train). I think the route from Andorra would be too much for me, too, but I could imagine going from Perpignan on Friday. Can you help me understand why you don't think this would work, gaele?
I just played with Strava's options for a route from Perpignan that would coincide with the Sunday route being planned.
1. "Popular" and "min elevation" - https://www.strava.com/routes/2926803
2. "Popular" - https://www.strava.com/routes/2926971
3. "Min elevation" - https://www.strava.com/routes/2927088
While route 3 is clearly less hard work, since it is not "popular" I assume it uses roads that other cyclists in the area have chosen to avoid, so without any local knowledge I'd imagine that's best avoided.
Route 1 would be a compromise I'd be happy with (perhaps too easy for dasjo? - but probably do-able for MegaChriz, if you can somehow sort a bike out, which actually I would need to do too...). I'd be happy to stop overnight at about 65km and 140km, which could even allow for getting to Perpignan on the Friday if need be.

This is just me playing with maps of a place I have never been anywhere near, and my last experience of cycling mountains was this, https://www.strava.com/routes/2927315, in Scotland where it was considerably cooler, so I may be being totally unrealistic. Feedback welcome... :)

Thanks for the tips, @gaele. That route looks fantastic. Yes, the last section isn't great, but I read "on the coastal road's wide shoulder" to mean that there is at least a wide space beside the car/lorry traffic lanes. I haven't looked at the elevation of that route yet, but it seems to suggest it is a low route. I will look into this one a little more, but it seems a realistic way to get from Perpignan. I'm travelling back via Perpignan anyway, so am now thinking I might hire my bike in P, ride it to Barcelona, use it throughout the week, and then return it to P on my way home. All I need now is somewhere to keep my luggage in Barcelona (or if it's a really easy route, I guess I could have it on my bike?) - oh, and tents etc... Has anyone had any luck persuading anyone to store luggage and/or be a support car driver?

For reference, the N-340 near my parents isn't amazing, but it's cycleable and I've seen people do it. I wouldn't want to use it for 50km, but 5km to save a really long round trip otherwise is certainly a possibility, depending on the actual road (Google street view might help here?)

@gaele might find it a bit of a shock after the Netherlands, mind you! :)

Criz and me are definitely going. We arrive Thursday night in Barcelona and are still discussing details of the route. Should have an update tomorrow

@dasjo, @criz Should I assume you're planning to do big mountain stuff? If so, I would slow you down as I'm definitely a flat road cyclist. Instead, I'll just aim to see you in Barcelona or maybe for the last day.
@MegaChriz Booo... see you at the Con though!

Hey Rodrigo, who are the people from the north? Some people not present in this thread? (Vikings? :-)

Blanes to Mataró seems to be less than 40 km. Is that 16:00 correct?

I'm not sure whether I properly mentioned this before, but I won't be doing any Tour de Drupal this time.
Mainly because getting the bike back didn't really work out between for the bit between Paris and Brussels.

I can probably do Blanes to Mataro in less than the 7 hours allowed for also. Can you suggest a time I should wait for you in Blanes? :)

The R1 train leaves Barcelona Sants (main station) at 09:12, and it leaves Sant Adriá del Besòs (near the DrupalCon venue) at 09:32. I will be on this train fromSant Adriá del Besòs! It arrives at Blanes at 10:44. This will enable an 11:00 meet up (suggestion: Blanes station car park?) with the Pyrenees group for the day's cycle into Barcelona, via Mataro. See you there!

@gaele Your day is probably more hard core than dasjo's plan for tomorrow. I'll go with his plan and see you somewhere along the way! Sorry for confusion...

OK just saw this tweet.
https://mobile.twitter.com/dasjo/status/645155654328549376

Forget what I said. Better not change more plans.