UK to Valencia - route suggestions

[Ralph Hardwick]

Before I get flamed for being lazy, I am happy to do the research and plan my own route. However, I’m also a great believer in ‘not reinventing the wheel’ and saving myself a few hours of googling.
In October Belinda and I are hoping to travel down to Valencia in our 6m motorhome to visit friends.
We thought about taking a week to get there, spend a week locally, then take another week to return home.
Has anyone traveled a similar route and can recommend a few stopovers along the way?
We don’t mind a mix of Aires and/or sites preferably in pretty places.
Any hints, tips or 'must-see' locations would be gratefully received.
Cheers
Ralph

 

[Lenny HB]

You don't say where you are crossing from/to.
We went down to just north of Valencia from Dieppe in Feb, there is a thread on our trip, top one in my signature.

 

[Ralph Hardwick]

Thanks, Lenny, I'll check out your posts.

Sorry, I should have added that. We are based in Norfolk and haven't decided which crossing yet.
Harwich to HoH is our preferred, stress-free crossing but is over twice the price of the Dover - Dunkirk route.

Dover - Dunkirk = £150, Harwich - HOH = £334, Newhaven - Dieppe = £200, Eurotunnel = £227, Portsmouth - Bilbao £790. There are few options, but Dover definitely wins on price.

 

[DavidG58]

I partly agree with your not reinvent the wheel approach to route planning, but we find the route planning part of the fun of the whole trip

Your first and main choice is which side of the Pyrenees to cross into Spain, if it were us we would use a circular tour and probably go in via Biarritz mainly because we know that route down best, then come back via Barcelona and come up via the Millau bridge then Clermont Ferrand

We don’t use tolls, even dropping into Millau to look up at bridge , but everyone should go over once

 

[Ralph Hardwick]

Thanks David, I love route planning a well, but I doesn't hurt to get some help with the research

The route back certainly doesn't have to be the same, in fact, it's preferable if it isn't.

I daren't mention the Millau bridge. My wife has a hissy fit going over the Dartford crossing, so the Millau would be right out! Driving under it, on the other hand........

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[hilldweller]

The easy option is of course Bilbao then one overnight stop to Valencia.

You can do the sums on whether it is cost effective.

 

[Ralph Hardwick]

Thanks Brian. We've done that ferry before in our Land Rover. This time we'd rather make more of the journey and see a few pretty sights en route.

The cost side is secondary to sightseeing.

 

[hilldweller]

This time we'd rather make more of the journey and see a few pretty sights en route.

And why not in October.

When anyone says "must see" in Spain then I first think of the Alhambra, then the Grand Mosque in Cordoba and the incredible landscape between them.

PS: I should add Barcelona and all the Gaudi sites but we never stopped due to difficulty parking there. But Northernraider managed it.

 

[Speve]

The Camargue is always a nice place to visit on the way if traveling home go via Montelimar buy some nougat mmmm.?

 

[Ralph Hardwick]

We've been looking at variuos options to cross to Europe and decided that we will definitly use the Harwich - Hook of Holland route as we can get a good deal by being very flexible with our dates.
We're now planning on leaving on the 14th October. The return date will be decided once we're over there.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}