Route Ramblings

I booked my tickets last weekend. I didn’t leave the house with that intention, but I happened to stop in at the travel agent and they had a good deal on.

My initial intention was to fly to Madrid and start from there. This was largely because Madrid is within 100km of being the furthest point on earth from Wellington, NZ. It turns out it’s a lot cheaper to fly to Barcelona, and I had been a bit annoyed that I wasn’t able to visit Barcelona as I’d heard great things.

So when the travel agent said I’d save ~$NZ600 (20% of the cost), I took the oppourtunity and am now flying into Barcelona. In case you’re interested, I’m flying Wellington > Christchurch > Singapore > Barcelona on March 16 2012.

So now I’ve got a few options to decide between:

– Get a cheap domestic flight from Barcelona to Madrid. This would mean I could continue my route as I was planning – including getting to the furthest point from Wellington. My timetable would be largely unaffected.

– Cycle from Barcelona to Madrid and continue on from there. This would add several weeks to my already tight schedule, and I’ve heard it’s a reasonably boring road.

– Head straight from Barcelona to the Pyrenees, through Andorra and on towards Toulouse. This would probably cut several weeks from my timetable, but would mean I’d miss Bordeaux. I’d love to get into the heart of the Pyrenees, and to check out Andorra. This is a quick indicative route: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=299223

– Head straight north from Barcelona along the Mediterranean. My least favoured option- I want to check out the Pyrenees.

I’m leaning quite heavily towards the third option. I’ve obviously got a while to decide before I leave. Opinions welcome!