Costa Verde: Santander, Oviedo, Bilbao, 14 Days

It opens in St. Wendel. After Metz we leave the motorway and ride on national roads through the Forêt d'Orient National Park, past Saint-Dizier and Troyes, to the hotel in the Auxerre area. The first evening belongs to getting to know the group.

Onward through the heart of France: from Burgundy we follow minor national roads via Lignières and La Souterraine to the second hotel in Limoges. The day brings quiet country roads and light traffic, with plenty of French backcountry.

Shortly after setting off, the way passes through the Périgord-Limousin National Park, on past Bordeaux, to Arcachon right on the Bay of Biscay. It is the first night on the Atlantic coast and the last stage before the Spanish border.

For a long stretch the road today runs right along the sea. Bayonne and Biarritz lie on the way; at Irun we cross the border into Spain – from there it is not far to San Sebastián and the hotel for the night.

The day opens with the ride along the Costa Verde to Deba, continuing on the motorway past Bilbao and over narrow, steep country roads to Santander, our base for two nights on the Bay of Biscay. The city sits right where the green hills meet the sea.

Today leaves room to breathe: Santander with its beaches, its promenade and its old town invites a relaxed day by the water, with views out over the Bay of Biscay and nothing at all fixed on the programme until the group sets off again tomorrow.

A constant up and down from sea to mountains and back defines this riding day: through national parks and along the coast, with tight bends and changing surfaces, until we reach Oviedo in the afternoon, the base for the next three nights.

The first luggage-free day ride goes deep into the hinterland around Oviedo: Parque Natural Somiedo, Valle de San Emiliano and Ubiñas-La Mesa are among the high points of this excursion into the Asturian uplands, with a return to the hotel in the evening.

Picos de Europa National Park is the destination for the second day ride from Oviedo. Around and partly straight through the park, we take in the highlands and the highest peaks of the fortnight, with alpine passes and rugged limestone.

The return begins: today the way runs through national park, past lakes and river valleys, with just one short motorway section and otherwise bends without end all the way to Bilbao, where a night in the Basque port city waits.

National roads carry us back into the interior: via Vitoria and Estella we reach Pamplona, entirely without motorway and with a steady flow of curves through the wide Basque hill country. It is the last night in Spain.

Late in the morning we cross back into France: via Pau, Tarbes and Toulouse the way continues to the Castres and Gaillac area for our hotel. The foothills of the Pyrenees keep us company through the morning.

Today the way heads toward the Mediterranean: country road as far as Béziers, then motorway past Montpellier, Nîmes and Orange to the Lyon area for the last hotel of the fortnight. The evening there is left entirely free.

After breakfast the way home begins: individually or in the group, from Lyon back to St. Wendel, where the fortnight comes to a close. What stays are around 5,000 kilometres between Burgundy and the Picos de Europa.