in September 2024 we decided to take a month off our work and travel from Plymouth to French Pyrenees on our Honda CBF1000. Little did we know, we would get about 1 week of dry weather during this camping trip. We didn’t bring any camera gear with us, so all the photos below are only our mobile snaps.
During this trip, we got very wet and cold, motorbike broke down and we ended up hiring a car for a week, one of us dropped mobile phone into a river…because of this, we are already planning our next adventure and this time somewhere with more predictable weather (we hope)
We started in Roscoff, rode down the route closer to the coast to the Pyrenees where we tried to follow clear skies. We enetered the Pyrenees in Pau (the day it rained the most) and original plan heading to North Spain was abandoned. Instead we crossed the border in the mountains and stayed in the Spanish Pyrenees, in the valey above Vielha. After 5 days of dampness in the campsite we headed out to Vernet-les-Bains not far from Andora. We had the best ride this day! The Spanish roads are ace. Vernet was very enjoyable, its cute village on a hill and it was our base for a few days while we visited Perpignan (way too busy for our liking) and hiked to St Martin de Canigou Monastery. After we left for Toulouse to see friends, it all changed a little more for us…
It all started very promising. We had gorgeous afternoon/evening when departing Plymouth. The ferry was quite empty (but really cold).
Once we put our foot onto Britany soil, it felt good. I felt like we were going to have a great time with the excitement of the holiday ahead. This was our first campsite, we planned to stay 2-3 days but rain welcomed us half way through the night with a thunder and heavy rain drops. Morning was rather muddy so we checked out and took the road down toward the south.
The next night we didnt bother camping and ended up in the formula 1 hotel. Typically that night was dry and we had lovely sunset out the window.
Never mind, the next day we set off not knowing where we end up. We decided to just get some miles done. Rain got us again so we found an upgrade and stayed in a town campsite on the concrete slab under canvas roof as torrential rain was predicted.
The village cafe had lovely food and I was so happy we finally had some proper food and could stay in a dry and comfortable setting.
Next day, we carried on south and again stayed in slight upgrade of a camping. This time this cute chalet. The next day we had to get out and get some exercise so as soon as the rain stopped a a little white, we went for a local walk and it started to feel a little better again. The electrics broke our convertors the last night so we couldn’t charge anything anymore until we could buy somewhere European plug with USB.
After lot of discussions we decided to go towards Spanish Pyrenees. The rain was relentless and the forecast was rain for weeks.
This was our set up for a week. It was an expensive camping for our standards, but we later learnt that it was actually very good value for money and it had all the facilities we needed and surrounding area was gorgeous and Spanish people were very friendly and helpful. The first day here, we just rode the bike nearby to get our bearings when he clouds showed little bit of blue skies. It didnt last long but we had some great cloud experiences 🙂
The next day, weather improved, so we headed for a hike to the ski resort. It was our best hike during this trip. We walked all day up the mountain and back.
Following the long hike, we needed something less strenuous for our muscles not so used to hiking anymore so we went up to find some waterfalls. And guess what. On a way down, the storm chased us from the mountain, one again.
The next day, we stayed quite local and went only for a ride and short walk into a small hilly village and along small river. Thats when we dropped one of our phones and lost also quite a few photos.
the following day we left this beautiful mountain range in search for some sun. We rode some beautiful roads along the mountain range into Vernet-les-Bains in France where we stayed in an airbnb. we found a fabulous hidden gem restaurant, we booked to treat ourselves. It was really gorgeous!
Collioure
We went to Toulouse to meet with our friends. After a lovely night, we took off to our friends’ chalet in the mountains. We split, I went in the car with my friends and my husband went alone on the bike to enjoy the ride alone…this didnt go to plan…2 hours later, he was still at the petrol station unable to start he bike…and this is why…
Luckily, our friends helped us to order the part and let us park the bike in their garage. We ended up hiring a car for a week and went to the chalet only 2 of us. Here is where we stayed and our companions while eating breakfast every morning. This was our best week (minus the fact we didnt have our motorbike which my husband was not happy about).
It was quite heart-breaking to drive the car through the twisties and narrrow roads.
Walk around water reservoir
last hike during our stay in the Pyrenees.
Part arrived and we managed to repair the bike!! Yay! We took off from Toulouse and on the road home. We tried to change the ferry to leave earlier as we didn’t enjoy the wet holiday and forecast was rain again. There was no chance to change the ferry so we ended up going via some places worth seeing instead.
We went up north-east slightly to deviate form the direct route. After hours of searching for campsite or any other accommodation we had to settle for very expensive campsite down from the Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. our bike was quite sad and fed up with the rain too!
From here we visited the famous village Saint-Cirq-Lapopie
Dinan in Britany. We stayed nearby this small village for 5 days.
One day in St Malo
And off we go, back home to the UK. Our departure day…sunny! We couldn’t believe it. After whole week being wet in Britany!
