Bikepacking the Pyrenees
Second part of the big summer Euroventure. Meeting Chani in Girona and trying to plan a route around all the most famous and epic cols of the pyrenees. Keeps you busy let me tell you. Every day is roughly: Wake up at 7am, eat, pack, bike for 5-8 hours ( with coffee stops ) then get to your hotel, unpack, eat and book/plan for the next day. Maybe 1-2 hours to spare before sleep. Monk life.
I always wanted to do credit card packing ( bring nothing but a credit card ) but this is the next best thing. No tents, no laundry, no repair kits. Just stay in nice comfortable beds at hotels after a shower and wake up to a nice breakfast buffet and keep going. 10-15 pounds of extra gear was more than manageable and I didn’t have a particularly hard time climbing 2500+ m per day with it.
Foods of Spain
Doing a “famous” climb out of girona to make our way to Cap de Creu national park, the further point East on our route. It was hot as balls and not particularly scenic right until you get to the Cap which is well worth the detour.
Then a bit further to one of the many costal tourist towns where I found a reasonably priced hotel. Started on a high note there with free biscoff and candy in the lobby and very helpful staff.
One thing to note is hotels are very bike friendly all over the Pyrenees.
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I will say that coastal riding in Spain/France seems quite amazing. Such amazing views as you cycle up and down into these port cities, packed with tourists there to enjoy the beaches.
We made a detour to Les Orges D’Iles sur Tet, a really interesting rock formation.
The area had just burned down as well so lots of charred vegetation and buildings.
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Finally deep into the mountains to tackle all the famous climbs. Did Port /Col de Pailhere and descended into Ax, where I had just stayed a week before.
We soaked our feet in the hot springs and went to bed.
Tackling the Col de Chioula and then de Col de Port to make our way to Seix, one of these endless charming river towns.
Our hotel used to be a marble processing factory! People had jobs in the mountains before it all became tourist activities.
I believe the area has the largest chalk quarry in the world.
Col de la Core into Col de Portet D’Aspet and finishing with Col de Mente. Lots of midsize cols at this point and ending back in Spain in one of the newer fancier areas that developed for ski tourism.
When you cross the border there’s always a very model shopping area where I guess people avoid taxes or buy goods to bring back across border lines. There’s no crossings or guards anywhere it’s weird when you live in Canada and every port of entry into the USA has a queue and a guard that’s either a huge asshole or barely cares.
6- Bossost —> Bagnere-de-Luchon
I’m faster than Chani so sometimes I do my own thing for a while and we meet up later. Today was one such day as I added an entire bonus climb at the start of the ride and we met in Luchon to tackle SuperBagneres, an epic climb that ends at the ski resort.
This is all at the core of the Pyrenees now, it’s beautiful everywhere as long as you’re going up! Can’t go wrong.
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7- Bagnere-de-Luchon —> Ancizan
One of the most epic days as I start with a ski station bonus climb on Col De Peyresourde, one of the best climbs. Then met Chani on top and we descended to tackle the King of the Pyrenees, Col Du Portet, where I promised her there were many marmots.
I did the bonus on Plat D’adet which is a ski village about halfway up the Col. The road was being repaved when I last was there so I missed it.
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Another epic day with two of the most famous climbs for Chani: Aspin and Tourmalet. I did it all high tempo/full gas so I could squeeze in a big bonus climb: Le Pont D’espagne.
Don’t go there. Halfway up you reach the town of Cauterets, a cool ski village with hot springs. But the last 500m is all in the woods, there’s too many people and you end still in the woods at a cable car station where people start hikes.
The weather was quite questionable the whole day, hiding all the views on Col D’Aspin and Tourmalet. Luckily the Tourmalet peaks higher than the cloud cover.
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After a rest day with some tourism and bike repairs in Lourdes we went over the most scenic col, Col Du Soulor and Col D’Aubisque and down in the scorching heat dodging the Col de La Marie-Blanque so we could do it on the way back. Chani got stung by some kind of beer or horsefly and had a swollen face for a week.
I did a few bonus climbs to moderately impressive lakes and saw some fires up in the mountains. Pretty cool.
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10- Tardet-Sorholus —> Arneguy
Out of the high mountains now but still in a breath-taking area. If you go up the Col de Bagargui you can ride on this empty mountain ride road for 30 kilometers and it has some of the most spectacular views as the dryer climate of this region leaves the hilltops mostly devoid of forests.
The descent was rough and we narrowly escaped a thunderstorm as we made it to the most garbage Airbnb yet.
Another observation: Airbnbs are no longer a better deal than most hotels in this area and Spain cracked down on them hard in 2025 to where you won’t even find any Airbnbs in most of the region.
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11- Arnegy-Oronoz
Probably the worst day of riding as we got out of the hills and did our effort to visit the westernmost point of the route in Spain. You have to ride through endless kms of traffic and confusing city roads. It’s very slow and hot. Chani was not happy.
To end the day we had to ride on the highway for a very long time and then this horrible bypass road that gets around the tunnels, only to end in the middle of nowhere at our hotel, 30 minutes before the rain came down.
The heat was really a problem at low altitudes, often reaching 40c.
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12- Oronoz —> Espinal
Ok back into the mountains finally! 700m of elevation gain from our starting hotel to our destination, a tiny village with absolutely nothing. We stayed at a hostel in a big shared dorm.
It was honestly not that bad! It had a restaurant so we could get our fill of potato pie. Not the best day but glad to be out of the heat.
We also saw this huge troupe of Griffin Vultures tear into a dead sheep at the base of the first climb. Only time I’ve seen any of them up close but you will see them every day in the Pyrenees, flying high above.
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13- Espinal —> Bedous
Another so-so day as we cross over the Col de Pa Pierre St.Martin on the spanish side to end once again in the middle of nowhere in France at some Bed and Breakfast.
Everything was closed. We went to a pizza restaurant that had sold out of pizza. Then a pizza truck who also had just sold out. Chani could not resort to eat delicious grocery store cans of meat. She was sad that day.
Beautiful little town but we always asked ourselves what people do all day in this region.
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14- Bedous —> Formigal
Quite an epic day starting with the very steep Col de Marie Blanque ( 9.1km at 9.3%). No views on the steep side, all in the woods, but the descent is beautiful. We then crossed into Spain over the Col de Pourtalet (30km , 1200m elevation gain).
Truly a great climb and there’s a whole village on top with lots of restaurants and souvenirs. Always take the roads that cross the border!
Ended the day high in the mountains at a large ski village where we watched the total solar Eclipse going over Spain!
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15 - Formigal —> Sarvise
More chill day for tired Chani. We stopped in the village of Panticosa and took the cable car way up the mountain and did a little hike at high elevation.
Stunning views as always when you take any chairlift or cable car.
We made our way to the hotel in Sarvise after adding a bonus climb along the large damned reservoir of Rio Gallego. You can do the climb or just take the highway straight back down the valley.
Started the day at 1500m elevation and ended at just 850. Those are fun days.
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16 - Sarvise —> El Pont de Suert
Somehow still felt okay so I threw in a mega long bonus climb. 60km /1400m extra to go deep deep into the mountains to this large hotel where buses depart and take hikers to the trailheads. The peaks are still almost 3000m high in this region.
I got soaked on the way back down into town then did the last Col as hard as I could while hearing thunder the whole time. Dodged the mountain rain but got absolutely drenched the last 5km back in the city where Chani was waiting, nice and dry.
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17 - El Pont de Suert —> Vielha e Mijaran
Shorter day going through this massive tunnel and ending near Bossost once again. We left the bike gear at the hotel and I did two bonus climbs. The whole area looks very much like Andorra with all new constructions.
The bonus climbs, not so much worth it. Did get to see one of those mountain trains that bring tourists up to the trailheads.
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18 - Vielha e Mijaran —> Rialp
Counting the days at this point to see how many more bonuses and detour we can get away with before getting back to Girona. Ahead on schedule, which was nice!
Beautiful part of Spain here starting with the bonus climb of Pla de Beret to take the long valley road and eventually the Col de Bonaigua that descends forever through the valley and ends at more modern ski villages like Sort and Rialp. We had a great hotel with a nice buffet to fuel all the upcoming bonuses.
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19 - Ride Around Rialp
First bonus day. We could leave the bags at the hotel which is a great feeling when you’re doing 3500m of climbing in a day. First climb is a monster: Port Aine, 18.5km and 1250m of elevation.
Sadly very horrible road condition and views only near the very top, but still worth it! We then just did a somewhat garbage loop in more mountains. Chani was very cooked and went back to the hotel as I did more bonus up this mostly residential climb ending in a tiny hilltop fortified village.
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20- Rialp —> Le Seu D’Urgel
Climbing 1000m up Port Canto to reach Su D’Urgel where we dropped the bags to make a bonus loop.
Already towards the end of the super epic sights.
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21- Visiting Andorra Again
One more glorious no-bag day to check off the last climbs I needed to do in Andorra. Col de la Gallina ( 1000m at 8.6% ) really cooked Chani. I had bonuses to do so did not wait up.
2 Bonuses later I tackled the last climb, Col de La Rabassa ( 17km, 1100m) which ends at this amusement park that has a cool slide that goes way down the mountain. Met Chani halfway down the climb to fix her flat ( I’m a hero ) and we hobbled back to the hotel.
Chani’s leg HP near critical levels by this stage.
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22- Le Seu D’Urgel —> Ripoll
Almost home, just ripping through the last hills towards Girona.
Still quite beautiful but you can see from the pictures how the vegetation is changing, there’s no more snowcapped peaks in the distance and the rocks are turning bright red.
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23- Ripoll —> Girona
Last day! Chani was sad it was too short so we added in a famous Girona climb, Rocacorba, which turned out to be complete crap. Keep in mind they sell t-shirts of this climb in the bike shops, that’s how much they love it.
It’s 10km at 8.2% almost entirely in the woods on narrow bumpy roads with…a radio tower at the top. Hurray.
Stayed at a Bed and Breakfast once against in Girona. I have grown to love these. They are quite large and operate with minimal staff. Cheap rooms with very basic breakfast buffet but hey just get 2000 calories there and bring ride food and you’re good to go for 5-10 euro usually.
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Bonus Big Ride
That day we each did our own thing. I wanted to do this climb earlier but the weather was not looking good so I skipped it. I discovered there’s a bus company with a bike trailer that brings people to this one specific city of Olot. From there you can do this huge locally famous climb called Vallter 2000. About 1300m gained on 30km. Not super steep. Ends at a big ski resort, as always.
I then had 2 more climbs to do, crossing into France and back into Spain to end in Figueres where I just took the train back to Girona to save myself 30km of flat headwind heat wave. I was cooked enough.
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FINAL RIDE ( THANKS WESTJET ) AND TRAVEL BACK TO VICTORIA :,(
Me and Chani took the train to Barcelona and did a bit of tourism on our last day together. I saw her off at the hotel because she had to leave at 4am for her flight ( gross ). I went back to bed then left at 8:30 only to have my flight to Halifax eventually cancelled on me… Got back to a new hotel near the airport, got the bike out and ready to go and did a bonus ride the next day before heading to the airport in the afternoon.
Satisfied with my extra loop but of course 20-30km of riding near a large city is always guaranteed to be complete trash, especially if you take the “bike path” like Strava automatically picked. 10km of gravel. Gross.
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