Mountain Biking the Pyrenees

[dgjessee]

Hey everyone, wanted to see if any one had ever heard about anyone bikepacking the GR10 route along the French/Spanish border.  It runs from the Atlantic Coast to the Med and all I've read involves trekking, but curious if it was "legal" to bike it?  Any ideas?

Thanks!

-Plotting my next adventure while recovering from the last crash 

[vadim_123]

Probably this one:

6 Tages MTB Traumtour.
Etappenorte: Pont de Suert - Senz - Sarvise - Castiello de Jaca - Isaba - Banka (Fr)- Hondarribia

[vadim_123]

http://www.travesiasdeisabelypepe.com/Transpirenaica.htm

[dgjessee]

Thanks, but not too sure if this is the info I need.  Do either of the websites say that it is legal to ride the GR10?  I'm trying to translate but my Spanish isn't so good and Google Translate isn't helping much.

[zigrat]

Pretty sure this can be done - I remember reading an account of it in the UK magazine Singletrack. Why don't you mail the guys there and ask which back issue it's in - I think you can purchase them online.

Good luck

[JCPayen]

You can ride across the French Pyrénées (GR10) but not in the nationnal park.
The gr10 is very, very, very...hard...many hiking


http://www.gr-infos.com/gr-en.htm

These following routes are difficult but doable

http://www.utagawavtt.com/randonnee-vtt-gps?topo=2000

http://pyrenees2005.free.fr/index.php?Les-etapes

http://www.teamsomptois.com/pyrenees2006.html

Good luck !

[kitz_chris]

It is legal to ride, but as mentioned above it will be a lot of hiking; I have hiked sections and there are parts which would be impossible to ride. Singletrack magazine (UK) did a feature on the GR5 Trail which runs from Geneva to Nice and is 100% rideable. Both are legal, and riding is allowed in the national parks, but camping is not.

[MonkeySpacePilot]

There was a race along the route recently, http://www.transpyr.com/en/01.html it looks a good route, I am planning on doing it next year (at a more leisurely pace). It is based on a Spanish route called the the transpirenaica or the two seas traverse.

I have been told that some places may need permission from the local town hall to access the route (I think its a standard tourist tax type setup, nothing dodgy) which shouldn't be a problem.

Its only a recent idea so I haven"t gathered much information as yet if I find any more I will post an update.

[Hew]

As JC said, you can ride but not in the NP (illegal), the GR10 would be mostly hiking, I understand that for these 2 reasons, people cross the Pyrenees on the Spanish side more than on the French side.

Look at the link from JC :
http://pyrenees2005.free.fr/index.php?Les-etapes
I found this to be a very interesting route. If you need help with the translation, please ask ;-)