Maps, Tourist Books, and Phrase Books

This map page will advise you on the types of map and book that you will need to purchase before you attempt your trip. You will definitely need to purchase maps, but books are only necessary to find interesting sites to visit - you can go to your local library to find them.


Large scale maps  |  Medium scale maps  |  Small scale maps
French guide books  |  Spanish guide books  |  Language and phrase books


It is difficult to advise on the number of maps you need purchase, but budget on 20-30 uk pounds for France and Spain in total. One hint is 'Don't buy too many' - you've got to carry them on a bike - and you can buy maps in France and Spain if you need more. Just make sure that all the towns and roads, and some places of interest, are marked clearly on your maps. The details are only needed when you stop. Don't be afraid to mark your route clearly on the map itself because they aren't that costly and they'll be dog-eared by the end of your trip anyway. I used highlighter pens to trace over the roads I wanted to travel and it worked very well.

Large scale maps

In general, you will need two large scale maps, one for France and one for Spain. These will have a scale of about 1/1000,000 and are extremely helpful, especially at the planning stage - you will need this sort of scale to decide how far to go, and what to attempt each day. I used the Michelin red series maps with a 1/1,000,000 scale:

  • No.989 for France, and
  • No.990 for Spain.

Both of these are readily available in bookshops in the UK. Michelin also do identically scaled maps of just the north or south of France; you may find it more convenient to carry two smaller maps on the bike.

As an alternative, Baedeker's (AA) do a 1/750,000 series which is also very good - try the Spain/Portugal map with an AA reference 54522.

Of poorer quality, but cheap and useful, are the 1/500,000 'C' series of Spanish maps by Firestone (what is it about tyre manufacturers?) which covers Portugal as well, with a total of nine maps in the series.

When buying a map make sure that interesting roads are indicated in some way; most maps highlight these roads with a green line running alongside the road. Why? Because 200 miles is painful on a boring road!
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Medium scale maps

I think of these as covering a region which you could cross in a long afternoon on main roads - a scale of about 1/200,000. Michelin yellow series maps are ideal here; e.g No.235 'Midi-Pyrenees'. Michelin also sell smaller versions of these maps - the yellow series which are numbered from 51 to 92 in France. The scale and detail is identical, but the maps are smaller and may be all you need to cover a specific region.

Another excellent series of maps is the 1/300,000 scale Roger Lascelles, but being large (phyically) and printed double-sided they are a bit of a handful on a motorbike. However, they cover all of Spain and Portugal with about six maps, and contain all the detail and information that you are likely to need. The one that covers the Pyrenees is excellent because it highlights many interesting places.

Again, Firestone sell cheap 'n cheerful Spanish maps in this scale range - 1/200,000. These are printed on poor quality paper, but so what? Good quality maps get ripped to shreds on a bike tour, so you may prefer to buy disposables. These small scale Firestone 'T' series (tourist?) maps are accurate enough, but with rather fanciful mountain shadings which bear no relation to the actual slopes.
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Small scale maps

These are the very detailed maps in the 1/100,000 down to 1/25,000 scale range. You are unlikely to want these for motorcycle touring, unless you intend stopping and spending a while looking around. The French Institut Geographique National do a range of 72 maps to cover France at a scale of 1/100,000 called Carte Topographique. They contain amazing detail if you've got the time to use them.

In Spain, the only accurate small scale maps which I have found are the military ones - Cartografia Militar De Espana - with a scale of 1/50,000 (although there are other scale maps from the military as well). If you are interested in mountain trekking then these are a must. Here's a hint: unless you speak fluent Spanish then purchase from specialist suppliers in the UK, such as Stamford's in Covent Garden. I have included a couple of map suppliers in my Links page. They may be able to help.
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French guide books

You don't need me to tell you that your local W H Smith is stuffed full of guide books from Michelin, the AA, and so on. These are obviously the sort of thing you need, but don't neglect to browse some of the less well-known names. Try France on Backroads by Duncan Petersen Publishing Ltd; or one of the visitor's guides, such as The Visitor's Guide to France: Massif Central. The more 'homework' you put into reading up on the country, the more you will see when you travel through it.
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Spanish guide books

Just as in the French section above, most booksellers are stuffed full of good guide books. Try the Independent Travellers Guide to Spain by Collins or Wild Spain by Frederic V Grunfeld.
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Language and phrase books

So, do you need to know the languages? This depends entirely on how you feel. As a biker, you will be welcomed in both countries in a way that the British won't. I can't speak a word of French, except for hello and thank-you, but it didn't cause me any trouble. However, I haven't met any complications yet! I took an evening class in Spanish and so I feel much more comfortable there, but even if you don't know Spanish the Spanish people are very good at gestures and body language. So, no you don't need any of the lingo, but a few hours watching a BBC language program will pay dividends even if it's only to say hello and goodbye, and feel more confident. However, remember that, probably, you will be deep into non-tourist territory on a bike trip.

If you want to try the lingo then I suggest books such as the BBC series which are usually linked to their TV programs, such as Digame for Spanish. I have a few phrase books, but I've never used them; I feel that if you can't pronounce it reasonably well, then you'll get nowhere anyway! The location and situation will narrow down the options anyway. In a hotel you are going to ask about a room, not the nearest dog breeder. In a supermarket, you just pick up what you want and pay at the checkout. The nearest thing to a phrase book which I can wholeheartedly endorse is the BBC booklet by Andrew Sachs called When in Spain. That's Manuel of Faulty Towers fame. His book is very good because it keeps to practical stuff and it introduces the customs of the country as well. This book had a TV series with it which was very good too. I guess that while you are buying a set of maps you may find language study tapes and videos at the same time.

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