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I took a month off in the spring and drove down to northern Spain with my other half and our young children. We spent a month going west to east, dipping in and out of the mountains and finally ending up on the Costa Brava. We're both snowboarders and cyclists and we like the idea of living somewhere with good access to the mountains, but as my OH doesn't think much of France (I gave up on my dream of living in the Alps years ago), we thought we'd have a look around the Spanish Pyrenees. So, off we went.

If you've never visited the region, I can thoroughly recommend it. Stunning mountains, volcanic hills, lakes, national parks and incredible coastline. Plus you've got Barcelona within easy reach and a handful of other great cities. I was surprised at how many ski resorts there are. The only one I'd ever heard of was Baqueria-Beret, which looks pretty impressive.

But though mountain biking is obviously popular, it was difficult to pinpoint a centre for biking. The Garrotxa region possibly, but where's the Morzine of Catalunya? Do they open the lifts anywhere in the summer for bikers? Is there a community out there where a mechanic might be able to find work?

If anyone knows it well out there, I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Never ridden there but Spain is high on my wish list of places to check out - the most well known DH hub near Barcelona seems to be

http://en.vallnordbikepark.com/

Beth went there some time recently and said it was great. I bet there is tons of organic natural uplift stuff and a local guide would be well worth it in the Pyrenees.

Yeah, I think you'd find it worthwhile. We stayed with some expats in Aragon, near to Jaca which is the gateway town to the Aragonese ski resorts. They were telling me that it's not like in the UK where you have to ride on designated trails and bridleways. You can basically just get on your bike and ride up/down any mountain you like.

The link's fantastic, thanks. One of the areas we want to go back to again to explore more carefully (i.e. for somewhere to live) is within an hour's drive of this place so it could prove to be extremely useful.

Nice one

These 2

http://www.lamolina.cat/
and
http://www.grandvalira.com/

are close by as well and according to http://www.gravitymountainbike.com/ (which is an excellent resource btw way - deffo check it out) seem to offer good lift assisted biking.

http://www.gravitymountainbike.com/inde ... &Itemid=80
http://www.gravitymountainbike.com/inde ... &Itemid=35

Mate, that's all excellent. La Molina is going to be our closest ski resort if we move out there but I know very little about it. I spent all my time researching the places I'd heard of before we did our tour in the spring. I'm sure I'll make good use of those websites.