The two links labelled “Killarney, Ring of Kerry Route” and “South West Ireland POI’s & Hotels” seem to download the same file. Is this correct?

If you make it to Killarney give me a shout and we’ll have a pint and if time allows I’ll give ye a tour of some brilliant roads off the beaten track few travelers find around West Kerry/Cork.

Have a safe trip and may the weather be with you,
Denis

Thank you for your efforts

John and Sarah

I’ve not ridden in Germany since 2001 way back when paper maps were still the best/only option so I don’t have any German routes except for some sketchy outdated ones in my head, but there are plenty of great ones on bestbikingroads.co.uk which should help you build up a route plan.

As I’m relatively new to Kerry I’m sure your bro knows the area better than I, maybe he knows a few roads inland he could suggest I try?

D

Route de Cols is one of Europes great riding/driving routes like Routes des Grande Alps or the Wild Atlantic Way. All of it is made up of D roads but in France the quality of the D road system varies depending on how rich the region/dept is or it’s proximity to a popular ski resort. The French D roads are either perfectly surfaced or simular to UK back roads at worst, all easily drivable, just go for it.

For the most part the N roads’s on the Spanish side are excellent, the Spanish love building smooth roads.

D

It looks like the bike riders have now decided to bring their cars instead which has given me a chuckle. I wouldn’t say they are as dedicated to the cause as you!

I know you’re a bike site, so I don’t want to trouble you further, but just one question if I may to help me sort out the routes.

What is the type of road designation I should look for in Spain/France that is likely to be most suitable for cars? I’ve tried googling, but it’s a little confusing! Perhaps it isn’t the same system of A and B roads we have in the UK>

It looks like it’s going to be:

1. 3 cars

2. 3/4 days driving time

3. We’re going to try to take as much of the Route de Cols as possible on the top and then get back to Santander via the N260.

Is the Route de Cols worth doing in a car though is what I need to work out! Streetview ahoy!

Warmly
AD

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, having a busy time of it at the moment.

As you mentioned there are many possible routes you can take and especially so if you want to do both the French and Spanish side. Finding roads with twisties with good lines of sight and lovely views suitable for a mixed group is of course not asking much, but it would take some good planning.

Choosing a route that’s suitable for both cars and bikes complicates things a little as you might want to steer clear of the very narrow roads which will slow down the cars to a crawl. What type motorbikes you ride, whether all riders are 1 or 2 up, and how many kilometers you want to ride/drive in a day is also a consideration as well as how much time you have. Time of year will also make a big difference, for example in May, and sometimes June some of the higher passes will likely still be closed, in August the whole area will be loaded with traffic and booking hotels etc up front necessary. With so little info it’s very difficult for me to give you anything more than a very basic idea.

There are two main tourist routes along the Pyrenees. On the French side you have Route des Cols Pyrenees. The “Route des Cols” runs along 952km through the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, crossing 34 great Pyrenean passes. Almost half of the route is in the Midi-Pyrénées region. A google search will give you plenty of info of this, but basically the route is the D618, if you check out my YouTube channels Pyrenees section (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0AUeDLAb3AXfcoUS4sTBlQUjwXF60UV9) you can see most of the great passes, in the description of each video you’ll find a Google Map link to the route which you can use to research and plan your route.

On the Spanish side is the N-260, the main tourist route that runs right across the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to Sabiñánigo just east of Pamplona. This is a good fast open road for cars and bikes but does not cross any of the thrilling border cols.

Planning a daily routes suitable for both cars and bikes that would include the really great border crossings will take some good planning especially if border hopping and on the French side where the car drivers will likely be traveling far slower than the motorbikes. But not to worry, you have plenty of time to organise all this over the winter. Doing the research will make a big difference in the level of enjoyment of the trip and will greatly help you familiarise yourself with the region and roads. Also be sure to use google maps street view which will help you to visualise the roads to understand how fast or slow those roads may be for the cars. But I’d not recommend trying to cover more than 300km a day on an road other than the N-260, assuming you’d want to stop for lunch and photos etc I’d expect your group to cover no more than 250km per day on the French side, less in high summer.

I can help you plan a route based on more detail, but due to the time it takes to do so I’d unfortunately not be able to do it for free. But most people really enjoy the planning stage of any great road trip so have fun.

Rgds
Denis

I typed out a question for you, but it appears to have dissipated, so here we go again!

Given your rave reviews above, we are considering changing our focus from northern France to northern Spain. We intend to start our trip from either Santander or Bilbao, make our way through the Pyrenees and then back to the original port we started from.

I have tried to do some research on the right route but they seem to be so many choices that I can’t quite pick one.

Could you suggest a route where we drive from Santander through the Pyrenees on one route and then back to Santander through the Pyrenees on another route? We’d like to stay off motorways and just enjoy the mountains.

We are a mixed group of cars and bikes and we’re all very fond of twisties with good lines of sight and lovely views! Not asking much am I!?

Thank you so much once again.

Best
AD

Have you checked the SatNav download page, there are loads of routes there France, Spain etc. I’ll be uploading more routes soon, but currently I’m working on a total rebuild of this website which is unfortunately taking up much of my time. If there is nothing currently on the download page you fancy you can try bestbikingroads.com which has countless routes for just about every country..

Denis

Thanks for your work and thanks for share!!!

Best regards.

Safe riding..

Denis

I simply want to say: thank you.

GPX files are based on .XML standards, which can be instantly parsed by your browser (IE, Firefox, Chrome, etc.).But in order to download .GPX files you need to right-click on its link, select “Save Link As”. In pop-up dialog box press “Save” to save .GPX file on your computer.

If you still have problems just email me back with the list of files you need and I’ll email them to you directly.

Cheers
Denis

I found a bug in the download page, it should be working for all now and I’ve started uploading some new routes,,

Rgds

Denis

Thanks for your quick reply, I will let you know how I get on.

Thanks

I’ve only just rebuilt the website from scratch and the new one only went live last week so it’s easily possible that there are still a few little bugs with it, but I’ve tested it at my end and it seems to be working. Unfortunatly one of the things I had to do with the new version of the site was to reset all the users/subscribers names and passwords. When transfering the users database across from the old site to the new 50% of the data and all the passwords were lost. Hopefully by tonight I’ll have all the users/subscribers details back in the database but not the passwords, but all you/they have to do is just go through the forgotten password process to recieve a new password and ability to change it again to one of their choice.

So, hopefully your issue may be related to your password, try resetting your passwordthen login and try downloading again which might sort it. If your still having the same problem let me know, if i know it’s not a password or rights issue I will have a better idea of what the problem is. Just email me directly at denis.smyth@roadtrooper.com

Sorry for the trouble,

Denis

I am having trouble downloading your excellent routes, GPX files. Is there a problem as last week it was no trouble.

thanks

But it gets worse, and from around October I’m really going to wreak your head I’ve only just arrived back from another trip but this time from the Pyrenees and in October I’m going to start uploading vids/routes from both the Spanish and French sides, and I got to tell you it’s Gods own country!!!

I can honestly say that some of the roads there are even better than the Alps and quicker, cheaper to get to and easier if your riding less “big tourer” style bikes.

So if your planning to head out again in 2013 I’m going to make it even more difficult to chose where to go, but hopefully easier to do once you do choose your direction.

Let me know how you got on, and if you think any of my routes/descriptions/info needs updating (i.e. maybe the roads are in worse/better condition, hotels better/worse etc) I’d appreciate it as I’m sure anyone one else using the site to plan their trips.

Have a great trip and stay safe…

Den

The only drawback is I’m currently like a kid in a sweet shop, so many choices!