Riding to Andorra on the Innova. 2400 miles later…
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 11:18 am
I had a couple of weeks off work and decided it would be good to head off to find some sunshine and adventure in Andorra so on Thursday the 23rd I made the long ride from Bristol to Folkestone on the Innova.
I caught the Chunnel across to Calais, always a pleasure and easy journey. I love it that if you do arrive early on a bike that they will quite often offer you an earlier crossing. Once in Calais I just had a 20 mile trip to find my hotel.
I’m quite a meticulous planner and had a route all set up and various stop off points but the benefit of travelling on your own is you can change your plans as and when you fancy. So I headed down south stopping at Senlis, Avallon, Clermont-Ferrand and then Avignon. From there I took a hard right and headed across to Carcassonne and then over the border into Andorra.
I had planned to ride the Smugglers trail while there and got a few shocked looks from the ‘adventure’ bike riders on their T700s that a Brit had ridden all the way down here on a 125 and had completed the trail as well.
From there I headed across the Pyrenees to Lourdes and started heading back up via Bergerac, Chinon, and Mont St Michel, then across to Fecamp, Calais and back home.
The Innova performed faultlessly. It was light enough on the trails, kept up speed on the 80kmph backroads, and carried myself and all my luggage with ease.
I’ve recently fitted (cobbled) the Givi wingracks to the sides so took hard luggage this trip. A much better idea when travelling solo as you can visit shops/castles and feel pretty comfortable that your gear is safe.
I ended up riding 2400 miles, which cost £101 in petrol. You can’t get adventures cheaper than that
Some of the highlights were the Carcassonne walls at night, the balcony roads around Avignon, and the very quiet roads on the continent.
Right. Where to next year
I caught the Chunnel across to Calais, always a pleasure and easy journey. I love it that if you do arrive early on a bike that they will quite often offer you an earlier crossing. Once in Calais I just had a 20 mile trip to find my hotel.
I’m quite a meticulous planner and had a route all set up and various stop off points but the benefit of travelling on your own is you can change your plans as and when you fancy. So I headed down south stopping at Senlis, Avallon, Clermont-Ferrand and then Avignon. From there I took a hard right and headed across to Carcassonne and then over the border into Andorra.
I had planned to ride the Smugglers trail while there and got a few shocked looks from the ‘adventure’ bike riders on their T700s that a Brit had ridden all the way down here on a 125 and had completed the trail as well.
From there I headed across the Pyrenees to Lourdes and started heading back up via Bergerac, Chinon, and Mont St Michel, then across to Fecamp, Calais and back home.
The Innova performed faultlessly. It was light enough on the trails, kept up speed on the 80kmph backroads, and carried myself and all my luggage with ease.
I’ve recently fitted (cobbled) the Givi wingracks to the sides so took hard luggage this trip. A much better idea when travelling solo as you can visit shops/castles and feel pretty comfortable that your gear is safe.
I ended up riding 2400 miles, which cost £101 in petrol. You can’t get adventures cheaper than that
Some of the highlights were the Carcassonne walls at night, the balcony roads around Avignon, and the very quiet roads on the continent.
Right. Where to next year