What AM said about Gibraltar. There appears to be conflicting reports, so best bet is to give them a call--telephone number to be got from the CAA, or if that fails, I suggest you call the Jerez ARO office and ask them what the deal is. They appear to be the best informed of the lot as regards goings on between Spain and the Rock.
As for flying to Spain itself, no big deal. Just follow the Atlantic coast of France down to San Sebastian or Bilbao, then across to the south, or alternatively, across southern France to Perpignan or Girona, then follow the Mediterranean coast all the way south. Or whichever route you prefer, only thing to avoid is the central part of the Pyrenees. It's too high and unpredictable (esp. in the summer) so don't go there unless you have mountain experience and local knowledge.
For your planning, use the
French AIP and the
Spanish AIP. For your first leg and any additional legs crossing French airspace (even if departure and arrival are both outside France), use
Olivia for getting the weather, NOTAMs, and filing your flight plans. You can do this online, or there is an Olivia terminal in most French airfields with an ATC/FISO presence.
Once in Spain, use the computers they have in every ARO office for getting the NOTAMs and filing your FPL. You could ask the people there to do this for you, but it's more courteous to do it yourself, so get someone to give you a five-minute crash course on the software if needed.
For weather, if they have an ARO office, most of the time they will have a weather man--they will usually bore you to death with all kinds of details. OTOH, they can also offer invaluable information about local weather conditions so listen to them. If there is no weather man, then whoever collects the landing fees will get any necessary reports for you via fax. Ask them.
Landing fees are ridiculously cheap by UK standards, around €8.- in France (free at many municipal airfields) and €12.- in Spain. Parking is in the order of a couple Euros per day.
Fuel can be obtained at most places and is paid for by a fuel card or a credit/debit card (personally I never tried cash). In France, quite a few places have card-operated self-service pumps. As a general rule, feel free to mention that you will be requiring fuel when asking for taxi instructions after landing (so they will know where to send you), but refrain from directly asking for fuel over the frequency, quite a few controllers don't like that. The way it works is you request it by phone or in person at the office (or just wave the fuel truck if it's around). Both in France and Spain they get their priorities right, so to avoid any frustration on your side, do not bother attempting to get fuel at lunch time (i.e., any time between 1200 and 1600
). Go get some lunch yourself instead.
If you've never flown outside the UK, you will need to know that controlled airspace (class C and lower anyway) is in general not to be avoided, just request transit (and don't be too long winded, especially if already under radar control). Of course they will want to see a mode C transponder for this. Also there is no such thing as RIS in the continent, you request FIS instead, which is effectively what the UK likes to call RAS. Which leads me to another important point: don't bimble around at 2000ft, especially in France, that's the military's playground. Around FL65 tends to be where most light pistons perform most efficiently so that's where you want to be, plus it's cooler up there.
One last thing to look at, a few airfields have restrictions in the summer concerning VFR flights and/or overnight parking, particularly along the Med coast, so check your NOTAMs carefully, consult with the ARO guys before departure, and phone ahead (numbers in the AIP, or from the local ARO) if in any doubt.
Best of luck with your flight.