Going to France; Sorede or Marseillan

[gonzo]

Sorede is as the base of the Pyrenees
MAP

Marseillan is on the coast
MAP

I'm going for cycling over the winter. Has anyone been to either? What do people reckon would be a better idea?

[border-rider]

Do you know what the winter weather is like in Sorede ?

It's hard to tell from the map how snowy it's likely to get.  I don't know it, though I know the area

I guess it'll be warmer by the coast.  But less scenic.

[gonzo]

I didn't realise it'd get that snowy around there. Apparently there's not all that many days of precipitation a month so I assumed low amounts of snowfall.

Thanks for the tip-off!

[Fi]

We had a fortnight in  Marseillan last year and we're going again at the end of this month. Lovely place to be based for a summer holiday, but it's very flat on the coast, and I mean really, really flat. There are undulations, but not of the Brittany and Normandy variety and few proper hills.  Further inland are more inclines and the occasional mini col.  I expect it's pretty quiet out of the holiday season.  We're taking our own bikes this year, rather than hiring doubtful, ill fitting mtbs so  I'll have a closer look and report back.  That said, I suspect your idea of a steep incline doesn't quite coincide with mine!

[Seineseeker]

It won't be snowy if it's by the coast, unless it's suddenly at 500m or something. I don't know those particular places, but people do go to the coast near Nice in winter, I've heard that's quite nice. I would stick to the coast.

Nice opportunity, take it!

[pcolbeck]

Marseillan is flat as the proverbial. Depends on what you want. It will be easy to stuff the bike in a car and inland to some hills if you find you don't like it. It will be very quite so no traffic jams. Languedoc Roussillon is one of my favourite places in the world. I bet the etang will be lovely in winter.
If you decide you need some serious hills its only about 1:30 to the Pyrenees from there or you could go teh other way and do the Tarn gorges.

[mr magnolia]

On the other hand...

Serede is only at about 90m, it's a hop and a skip from lovely Collioure and it lies on what I remember as a beautiful run down from the high peaks to the west (but the downs are always beautiful in memory, of course)

[gonzo]

Thanks for the advice everyone but I've gone for Marseillan.

Now I just start counting down the months! I probably ought to stop grinning like an idiot at some point too or people might get a mistaken first impression!

[Fi]

You must try and visit the Noilly (sp?) Prat site - they do an amber one that's not exported.    It tastes a bit like medicine at first, but it's jolly drinkable after the first sip or two.