Starting to think about next year

[tulip]

Most of France goes on vacation in August, so you will run into lots of closed shops, bakeries, restaurants, and practically whole villages. Don't know if Portugal is similar; with the economic situation there, maybe there won't be so many vacations. Ireland I don't know. If you can swing going to France in the spring or early summer, that would be ideal. I would not go in August, however. September & October are nice, too. If your friend can go in July, that would be better than August.

Also check out ExperiencePlus. They are out of Italy & Colorado and have great tours. They also have really nice titanium bikes. They also have trips in Ireland and France (not sure about Portugal).

[Crankin]

I will look at Experience Plus, Tulip.
I know that all of France is on vacation in August, but since both of the France options are supported tours, with very experienced companies, I am pretty sure they plan their tours accordingly. The places where you stay on the France trip with Backroads are outstanding, and to me probably worth the price. They run this trip every week in August, so apparently, some places are open! Our friends did a bike across Italy trip with Ciclismo, before we knew them, and they were very happy with the trip, except for the horrible heat, which none of us are willing to put up wit at this point. Riding in southern Spain at the end of May almost killed me, and I swear if I hadn't lived in a desert climate for half my adult life, I would have been in the van the whole time. As half of our group was from Australia, they were used to it, but I kept thinking that if I was a typical person from the northeast, riding temperatures around 100 would have been shocking. So, weather is also influencing my decisions. Ireland is cool, but after 5 days of riding in the rain in the Finger Lakes, last year, I hesitate to go anyplace where there is a high probability of rain.
I know this sounds picky, but these trips are vacations for me, not so much "training opportunities." Except for my trip to Spain, I didn't really do any special training, and that was only because it was so early in the season. I tend to just push through, grin and bear it, as I know I can get through horrible climbs based on what I do at home. I may be slow, but I can do it. The only reason I didn't do some of the "extra" climbs in Spain was the fact I was on a rental bike where I could not reach the brakes from the drops and the lowest cog was a 25, as opposed to the 27/28 I have on my carbon roadie.
This is somewhat of a digression, but over the years I have learned a lot about myself on these trips. Each one had its plusses and minuses. Spain was definitely the best, due to the small, international group, and the leaders, who are the actual owners of the company. The riding was horrifically hard (we did 2 climbs that were on a Vuelta route), but the other parts, especially the food, made up for it. The trip to the Finger Lakes was the worst, mostly due to the weather, but I also found the scenery to not be that wonderful, coming from eastern Massachusetts, and we were riding on roads with wide shoulders, but filled with debris. I had 5 flats on that trip, and 2 more when I got home, when I finally bought new tires.
A lot to think about.

[shootingstar]

I know this sounds picky, but these trips are vacations for me, not so much "training opportunities." Except for my trip to Spain, I didn't really do any special training, and that was only because it was so early in the season. I tend to just push through, grin and bear it, as I know I can get through horrible climbs based on what I do at home. I may be slow, but I can do it. The only reason I didn't do some of the "extra" climbs in Spain was the fact I was on a rental bike where I could not reach the brakes from the drops and the lowest cog was a 25, as opposed to the 27/28 I have on my carbon roadie.
This is somewhat of a digression, but over the years I have learned a lot about myself on these trips. Each one had its plusses and minuses. Spain was definitely the best, due to the small, international group, and the leaders, who are the actual owners of the company. The riding was horrifically hard (we did 2 climbs that were on a Vuelta route), but the other parts, especially the food, made up for it. The trip to the Finger Lakes was the worst, mostly due to the weather, but I also found the scenery to not be that wonderful, coming from eastern Massachusetts, and we were riding on roads with wide shoulders, but filled with debris. I had 5 flats on that trip, and 2 more when I got home, when I finally bought new tires.
A lot to think about.

When dearie and I plan cycle -touring trips together for just the 2 of us and cycling with our own gear, he tries to be reasonable in his trip planning. Meaning routes that don't expose us to lots of high dangerous speed car traffic, etc. The trip is for us as a couple but each of us have slightly different interests. For certain he does not approach 500-1,000 km trip with me as a way to test our cycling limits, etc. Hill climbing is kept around 6-15% grades. We are packing in 100km. on some days, while other days it can be down to 30-40 km.

Of course, he doesn' tell me in super great detail what lies ahead on some trips. I don't need to know all the difficult points and in a way I don't want to know all the detailed tough stuff. But only enough that I am alert /can expect what to see along the way.

There are always some unknown/uncontrollable factors in a trip but one does try to choose the best cycling seasons for an area.

[Crankin]

I agree Shootingstar, in that we try to minimize some things and maximize others. Unlike you, though, I do better when I know what is coming. I did not like it on our first cycling tour in Europe, (with Trek Travel) there some difficult climbs duly noted on the cue sheets, but they often didn't tell you about the other difficult climbs that day. For example, one day started with a 7 mile climb. DH decided to do it, and I was one of the few who decided to go in the van. When the van passed DH, he was already on the down hill part, so they dropped me off and on we went. After lunch there were 2-3 more 15% climbs that we had no idea about. DH was really tired from the first one, causing the leaders to have a look of shock when I reached the top of the hill before he did. In this case, he might have made a different decision about the morning. I just know I do better "knowing," and having a very clear idea of where I am headed.
So, our friends just left our house and we have decided on France. The weather looks like it is perfect at that time of year. We still need to get some more information about the Ciclismo trip to France, but although it's a ride across the country, the daily mileage doesn't seem onerous. We will make our decision by November, to get the early bird discount on either of the trips.