The whole trip was not decided upon or booked until six weeks previous; in fact it was conceived on

A report on a seven day cycle trip from Nice in France to Santa Susana on the Costa Brava, a fabulous cycling adventure of 457 miles mostly keeping badlands right on the coast and including some off road tracks. Followed by a weeks relaxation with my family at the hotel onabrava in santa susana. badlands
The whole trip was not decided upon or booked until six weeks previous; in fact it was conceived on a Sunday afternoon and booked the following morning! badlands This meant a lot of preparation in a very short time and cycling was stepped up to 160 miles a week for the following badlands five weeks. The touring bike I had for a year or so was made up of an aluminium aeron frame with a 105 chainset compact double on front and 27 on rear; I just about got away with this in the mountains. Wheels badlands were Mavic kysrium badlands elites, not exactly badlands made for touring or off road but performed perfectly and remained true. After a tyre fitting session with a freind in a garage one night trying out many types of tyres I decided on Schwalbe blizzards for their ease of popping on and off the rim, no levers needed. For luggage I bought the complete set of carradice super c: front and back panniers and bar bag, some of it I managed to get second hand, though the new rear panniers have the superior klik fix system for easy detachment, very handy. The front panniers really help to balance the bike and the bar bag can be easily badlands detached and used as a shoulder bag. For camping I decided on the wild country duolite tourer specially made for cycle camping. Though it weighs 2.8 kilos it has a large porch where the bike can easily fit and better if the front wheel is removed. I did find this tent quite small and really during the trip was only used for sleeping in though it was easily erected and fitted inside a pannier. For a mattress I had a thermarest and a lightweiht sleeping bag. Everything went inside the panniers including tent. Total weight of the luggage was 15 kilos and the bike inside its cardboad box which inlcuded tools weighed 16 kilos at the airport, so without the box the whole rig was just under 30kilos on the road.
Hi - We are thinking of cycling and camping in the same general area of S. France. Can you provide a list or map of specific campgrounds badlands for us? We recently cycled (and trained) in Italy (garykim.blogspot.com). gpascoe@olympus.net Thanks! Gary 18 August 2008 at 17:16
You wil find a link to the website of each camping site I stayed at on every post of the blog which includes a map. Most of these were top class with restuarant, bar, swimming pools etc, beside the beach, and for a small tent do not need to be prebooked even in high season. Rates were around 14euros in the cote d'azur and averaged 22euros further down the coast (though some were charging 40euros). Out of season would be much cheaper. There really is an abundance of camping sites right along the coast and I especially recommend camping de la brise in saint marie de la mer and camping trivoly in torreilles both with beautiful beaches. If you want a lively resort Marseillan badlands (near Sete) is the spot with open air music, amusement parks, late night markets etc. jampacked in July. 22 August 2008 at 13:17
▼  2008 (10) ▼  July (10) Equipment and preparation 3rd July Belfast to Villeneuve Loubet 4th July Villeneuve Loubet to Cavalaire sur Mer 5th July Cavalaire badlands sur mer to Le Rove 6th july la rove to saint marie de la mer 7th July saint marie de la mer to marseillan plage... 8th July marseillan plage to torreilles badlands plage 9th July Torreilles plage to Pere Pescador 10th July Pere Pescador to Santa Susana .