Advice for cycling trip? (Languedoc-Roussillon/French Basque Region)

[Christian]

Hello all,

I have recently developped the idea to make a cycling trip from Aix-en-Provence to San Sebastián. Google maps shows it to be around 730km, so I am figuring if I do an average of 70km per day, factoring in a couple of rest days, it should take me around two weeks. It would give me an opportunity to explore the Languedoc-Roussillon/French Basque country region, where I have never been.

Here is the itinerary that I have loosely constructed:

Aix-en-Provence - Arles
Arles - Montpellier
Montpellier - Béziers/Narbonne
Béziers/Narbonne - ???
??? - Toulouse
Toulouse - ???
??? - Pau
Pau - Biarritz/Bayonne
Biarritz/Bayonne - San Sebastián

Does anyone have any advice on this area? For example, good routes to take, or towns to stay in? I have looked up the "Canal du Midi" cycling route, but it looks like large parts of it are only accessible for MTB. It is at this point that I should mention that I plan to do this on my Specialized Sirrus "Fitness Bike", which is a toned-down version of a racing bike, in that it has larger tyres and no racing handlebars. No carbon either.

Finally, my main concern is how to transport my luggage. I cannot put these side-pockets on my bike. Obviously I would try to take as little as possible, but I realized that I would still have to still take a lot of things, such as:

Clothes
Shoes
Toiletries
Maps
Tools to fix a flat for example

Is there such a thing as special backpacks designed for cycling? Is this a viable option for such a trip? I used to do some day trips with my regular backpack and it was not a partiularly pleasant experience, because of the sweating.

I am thankful for every and any advice. Please forgive me, for I am a total fred. And please don't be mad if I don't end up doing it. It sort of depends on an internship that I might or might not get.

Thanks so much!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Here is the itinerary that I have loosely constructed:

Aix-en-Provence - Arles
Arles - Montpellier
Montpellier - Béziers/Narbonne
Béziers/Narbonne - ???
??? - Toulouse
Toulouse - ???
??? - Pau
Pau - Biarritz/Bayonne
Biarritz/Bayonne - San Sebastián

Does anyone have any advice on this area? For example, good routes to take, or towns to stay in?

What are you looking for in terms of difficulty? Obviously if you want to explore the regions you'll want to go off the beaten track, but if you're carrying too much in the way of luggage I'm presuming you won't want to be climbing e.g. Bagargui or Errozate. Castres, Mazamet and Carcassonne would be your best bets for intermediate towns between Bèziers/Narbonne and Toulouse. Saint-Gaudens is the most reasonable stop-off point between Toulouse and Pau to keep the journey distances decent, unless you want to explore the mountains in which case you're better off getting closer to Pau from Toulouse (Lannemezan or Tarbes) giving you a tougher second day to Pau enabling you to go into the Pyrenées. Even if you have no intention of going into the classic climbs of the Pyrenées Lourdes is worth travelling through. As to Iparralde, Personally I'd stay in Bayonne over Biarritz. Views are nicer in Biarritz, but it's a tiny bit more expensive and more touristy. You may find cheaper accommodation in the less well-known Anglet, but I'm not really familiar with there. From there, definitely take the coast road down the Côte Basque and go through St-Jean-de-Luz, and enter Spain on the bridge between Hendaia and Irun. If you're up to it at that point you have two choices for tougher roads (or you can stay on the valley road). You can climb the very nice Alto de Erlaitz by turning south in Irun - this is very steep at first then flattens out allowing you to ride to the Castillo del Inglés, where you have some lovely views, then down through Oiartzun, a very nationalist Basque town (when I was there 18 months ago every word of Spanish had been eradicated from signs). There's also an enormous bike store hidden away in an industrial estate just outside Oiartzun. For a longer and more gradual but definitely more iconic climb, turn north in Irun, and go into the beautiful old cobbled town of Hondarribia - it's one of the few fortified townsthat still stands in this part of Spain - with a charming centre and an amazing beach, it's also renowned as one of the very best places to go for the traditional Basque pintxos. That should fuel you up enough to have a go at Jaizkibel, one of the Basque Country's most iconic climbs, and that will give you stunning views into France and along the coast, from which you can then descend into Donostia to finish your journey.

Heading from Pau towards the Côte Basque, if you are willing to throw in a bit of a detour you can certainly take in the picture postcard setting of Ainhoa, one of the plus beaux villages de France. If not, it's certainly worth going through Ustaritz, the historical capital and cultural centre of the French-Basque provinces (long since supplanted by Bayonne/Baiona, of course). Mauléon-Licharre is nice too.

Once you're in San Sebastián, is that it? Just there's so much of Gipuzkoa and the País Vasco to visit, certainly I'd advise even if you don't want to ride anymore at that point, hop on the Euskotren or a local bus to one of the coastal towns there - Zumaia is a particular favourite of mine, but Zarautz and Deba are better known. Inland you can go to somewhere like Eibar (base of the Santuário de Arrate of course) or on Renfe you can head to the likes of Tolosa and Ordizia. Oñati gives you a medieval university and a bus up to the imposing Monastério de Arantzazu, however getting there is a bit more hassle than a lot of the other places I've mentioned.

 

[Christian]

Thanks so much Libertine! I really appreciate it. I will have to look at all of this in more detail. Indeed I don't want to do any serious climbs. It could be an option for a day trip, but I'd like to try and avoid doing serious climbs on the different stages. Since I have posted this, I have also discovered Carcassonne to be a good destination. I am a bit prejudiced about Lourdes, for obvious reasons. But I know it's a beautiful place and might still be fun to see once.

I have set San Sebastián as a bit of an arbitrary finish. Obviously this is all still hypothetical, too. But if I do make it down there, I would be glad to visit some of the surroundings. Again, thanks for suggesting all these places, which I didn't know at all. I will keep you posted on how it progresses!