Picos, Pyrenees and France

TeeDee

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Just got back from a great trip to Picos, the Pyrenees and the west coast of France. 10 days camping, 1800 miles, 23-27 degrees, no clouds, no rain, superb!:D

Day 1. Rode from Surrey to Plymouth to get the 'Pont Avon' boat to Santander. This meant we only had one night on the boat instead of two nights had we gone from Portsmouth to Bilbao. Fantastic boat, very clean, excellent cabins with showers. Watched the Simpsons movie on board, and when we came out saw the most fantastic sunset of a huge orange ball slowly dipping into the sea. However left the camera in the cabin, doh!:blast Felt like Homer!

Day 2. 0830 landed at Santander on my bike affectionally known as 'Benny' loaded with a pair of Metal Mules, an ortlieb bag, the Mrs, sat nav and camping gear. We were finally on our trip! Whoohoo!
Rode to Potes in Picos De Europa and found a campsite called La Viorna at Potes. This is 5 star camping!


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3 euros per person per night and 3 euros for the bike wasnt exactly going to break the bank! Swimming pool, restaurant, showers, washing machine; they even had a iron and ironing board!
We had a meal in the restaurant, starter, main, desert, bottle of wine for two, £16! I am loving this place!

This is the view we had from our tent every morning.

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God I hate work!

So the rest of day 2 consisted of lounging around in that fantastic swimming pool.Tough life.

Day 3. Up early and off to explore Picos De Europa, Sat nav set up and circular route stolen from someone on this site,(appologies I cant remember who), but when you are doing your first big trip abroad I thouroughly recommend you scour these pages of wisdom and use all the advice you can glean from experienced hands.
Picos is probably the most scenic and stunning place I have ever ridden a motorcycle. It is truly jaw dropping, and I can see why so many GSers have travelled to these parts. I for one will be returning again.
The afternoon saw us meeting up with 3 friends on 2 motorcycles who were going to continue the trip.(lesson one, always book your ferry in advance or you will arrive late and have to get the 2 dayer to Bilbao!:augie).

Here's my tent with 'Benny' in the background.

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Went to Fuent De in the afternoon and up the cable car to 1500m. Fantastic views,even did a bit of walking!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1442430134/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1178/1442430134_184efc1847.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Fuenta De 2" /></a>

View from top of the cable car.

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From here there are so many off road tracks. I would love to go off road and explore these. Maybe another time.

Dinner back at the campsite in the restaurant again. Another £8 per head!

Day 4. Up early again and back exploring more of Picos. Found a lake to have lunch at Riano, and as it was so hot had to get in.............. as the lake was so cold, got out pronto!!!!!:eek::eek::eek:
While riding around Picos you dont cover much mileage in a day because of the twisty routes, a 3 hour ride could only see you covering about 40-50 miles, but this place is paradise.

Gotta go now, will finish the trip off later.:thumb
 
more! more!
:clap
been to the Pyrenees twice.
stayed mostly on the French side though - better for hotels, restaurants etc.
i do not camp! :ymca :D

but i know i'm missing out :(
so - more info please :thumb2 i'd love an excuse to return :bounce1
Ta
 
Just been in the same area. Looking forward to the rest of your trip. By the way we had lunch in Raino in a small cafe just behind the petrol station. Lovely old man gave me a lighter with the town name on it. We arrived there via the passo de st maria out of potes and then went on down to Cangas de Onis. Lovely area to ride, and so little traffic!
 
Come on where's the rest, cant leave us in suspenders!!!

not sure i understand the concept of walking though :augie

some lovely photos
 
Ok time for a bit more,............
Day 5. Time to sadly leave the Picos de Europa area as we still had a long journey up the west coast of France to Cherbourg. So we finally packed our tents and left La Viorna with some very fond memories already, It felt like I had been here longer than 4 days but the time had somehow gone so quick? I suppose its because you cram in so much into a relatively short period of time, yet your brain is taking in so many sights and sounds.
Bikes loaded we head off to Arija which is about 130 miles east of Picos towards the Pyrenees.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1442157944/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1393/1442157944_a81a255b58_o.jpg" width="72" height="96" alt="Benny in Picos" /></a>

Now we were travelling on faster A type roads and covering much more ground, but to the detrement of the scenery! Dont get me wrong there was still plenty to see, but we had been spoilt in Picos. We got to Arija and arrived at our new campsite at Embalse del Ebro, which was on a lake at about 6pm. We paid our 3 euros per person and 3 for the bikes and asked if the shop was open for provisions. It was closed, but the guy, who didnt speak much English, said he would open the Spar up for us! Can you imagine this in dear old Blighty? Fuelled by a few bottles of beer, some milk and tea bags we were happy!

As you can see, there was no problem with finding space to pitch our tents!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1443768941/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1010/1443768941_176a8655c2.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Embalse del Ebro campsite Arija" /></a>

That evening we rode our bikes into the local town to find some food. This is 'middle of nowhere Spain', therefore no food. The nearest restaurant was 9 Kilometres away. Five people starving hungry?????????? Lets go!!!
Off we sped with crude directions of where to go from someone who didnt speak English, to five people who didnt understand Spanish!!!
Amazingly we arrived at the small village with one hotel in it. Locked the bikes up and into a bar filled with about 8 locals! Food in the restaurant was being served from 9 pm. It was 8.40pm, so a quick aperatif and into the restaurant where nobody spoke English at all, the menu was in Spanish, which I kind of like, because it makes you feel you really are on an adventure and you haven't got a clue what the hell you are ordering!
I looked at the starters, 'Ouvois' (sic) I know I learnt this 2 days ago and it means 'eggs'. So as a starter this must be egg mayonaise or hard boiled eggs, cut in half and served with salad and mayonaise maybe, that will do because I will be having steak and chips for my main course. Oh dear, the starter arrived, double egg and chips, (note to self, buy phrase book on boat on way out). So after two main meals and plenty of p*ss taking from my travelling compatriates, we sped off back to camp, some of us more suitably stuffed than others!:rolleyes:

Day 6. Another beautiful day and off early for another 150 mile trip stopping at Vitoria Gastieiz, then onto Pamplona, where they hold the annual bull running through the streets. Thank God we were out of season! Two of my frinds who were with me had been here five years ago, purposely to do the bull run.......until they saw how wide the run is! Basically all the bars in Pamplona are open all night, where, rightly so, much drinking is involved. So far I am that matador. Then at 6 am, a great deal of brazen p*ssed men, enter the boarded off streets. These streets between the shops are about 8 feet wide. The boards are 8 feet high with a gap at the bottom of about 2 feet. This is so the paramedics can drag the so called 'matadors' underneath, treat them, then cart them off to hospital!:eek:
Its a fantastic city to look around, steeped in history and was by virtue of arriving late, to be the only place we did not camp. We parked the bikes in the centre of the city and found 2 very reasonable rooms with a bathroom and a coffee machine:eek for 60 euros. Pamplona is a great people watching place, and we had a great evening at a local bar, eating drinking and looking back at what we had done, and where we were going next.

Well thats enough for tonight, will continue my travels tomorrow.
 
Just looking through my photos and forgot to add this one. Is it me or does this photo taken at the top of the Fuenta De cable car look like a baboon??:eek

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1444086093/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1180/1444086093_ef656f9803.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Baboon Rock!" /></a>
 
Just looking through my photos and forgot to add this one. Is it me or does this photo taken at the top of the Fuenta De cable car look like a baboon??:eek

"You're not going to like this, but the answer is

42 :thumb
 

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Went to Fuent De in the afternoon and up the cable car to 1500m. Fantastic views,even did a bit of walking!

Nice piccies. Tone.

I've ridden up there a few times off-road, albeit on a CRM250. Fab ride up and a craking view from the top. Did you stand on the metual platform that jutts out from the mountain so you can look directly down thru the mesh floor? Great memories from the Picos, stayed in Potes too. Still drop by if I'm riding past the area to the hotel/bar to high as the owner/staff are so friendly.
 
Would that be this metal platform??

A few millimetres of steel grid seperates me from a 1500 metre drop. :eek:


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Day 7. Used the coffee machine:thumb, and packed our stuff up. We were heading out of Pamplona. Bikes packed and we had breakfast in a nearby cafe which consisted of a large capacino and fritata, fantastic!
I was leading today, and was praying that the sat nav was not going to let me down, as I did have some earlier teething problems.:mcgun.
We headed east towards Lake Embalse de Yesa, which is beautiful, then north on the 137 to Isaba. On this road we stopped at a lovely village called Burgui. It really is picture postcard pretty, and I hope my photos do it justice.

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Hanging over this bridge I could see fish about 3 feet long! Honest!

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The hotel and houses were all covered in these brightly coloured flowers. The river has a 100 foot articulated raft on its shores, and in the winter is used to bring lumbered trees down from the mountains. We saw some photos of this beast in action with two guys steering it with long wooden poles in white water!I know why its articulated now!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1448809419/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1400/1448809419_a7c00815bc.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Burgui Hotel" /></a>

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Next stop Isaba where we had lunch in a restaurant. Again really old cobbled streets and buildings, but more of it falling down here. This was to be the last stop before crossing over the Pyrenees, which I was really looking forward to.
A friend of mine told me that you can tell where you are on the route by the price of the coffee. Spain 2 euros, France 4 euros, and then it increases in price the further north you go. This is a man who doesn't believe in sat navs, but prefers to use a map out of the back of an old filofax and and the suns position. I kid you not!:eek

Fuelled up, (I love cheap petrol), and stuffed with food we set off over the Pyrenees. As with all our travels so far we had not seen a cloud all week. This was about to change. On our ascent we were constantly reminded of the herdsman bringing the cows down the mountain to the lowlands by the ringing chorus of cow bells, and the mess in the road!:mad: Why do they have to sh1te on your riding line? These cows would come down towards us, and the herdsman would wave us on past, rather daunting having several sets of horns waving about at knee hight! Keep off the green slimy stuff as it sure is slippery!

The hairpins were getting sharper, the roads steeper, and for the first time the temperature had plummeted. Time to stop and put the liners in jackets and trousers. I looked up and could see the top of the mountain was covered in thick cloud, maybe I wasn't going to see the Pyrenees after all.
The higher we got the worse the visibility got. we were now IN the cloud and were doing 5mph following the white line in the centre of the road. Anywhere near the edge and the force 10 gale would probably blow you over. As we rode around a bend we were faced with a vision that I will never forget. A horse standing in the middle of the road with his 'derriere' facing towards us, and him looking over his left shoulder at us! He didnt budge an inch! Not only that but he is the only horse I have ever seen that was cloud coloured!! Thank God we weren't hooning it!
Over the top past the check point with no one there, weird; and now making our descent, still in thick dense cloud which only lifted when we got to about 500 metres. We were now En Francais!!:beerjug:

Into the ether!

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It was strange going from 25 deg heat in Spain to freezing cold going over the top (had to put the heated grips on:eek:) to 20 deg France. A well earned coffee stop was needed in Arrette,.......


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Where we were met by our cow friends still coming down the mountain!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1453704512/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1070/1453704512_84316edd5a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Cows at Arrette" /></a>

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More plotting with the sat nav....

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Back on board we headed for St Palais and serached for a campsite. We had covered about 200 miles today, but thanks to a sheepskin seat cover I had manufactured out of a old horse numnah and adapted it into a seat saver, my a*se was well and trully saved!:D

To be continued...................
 
A few millimetres of steel grid seperates me from a 1500 metre drop. :eek:

That'll be it :thumb

Nice picies. Keep them coming .. the only thing that'll keep me going to next years trip ....

Edit: I found and scanned this from about 8 or 9 years ago taken with a disposable camera. Great views from the top.

Sorry, not a hijack, just some great memories from being there.
 

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Day 8. Left late today after having a leisurely breakfast, and getting some washing done.:mmmm

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Onto Dax for provisions and then a day at Biscarrosse Beach, a well earned dip in the sea, lunch and sunbathing ensued. Fantastic beach.

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and another..........

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At the end of the day we packed up and rode onto Pyla Sur Mer were we pitched the tents. The campsite we stayed at was in the midddle of a huge pine forest. These trees were about 100 to 150 feet high and provided a huge green canopy with a sandy pine needle floor,very comfy.:D
Once pitched we went to climb the sand dunes which were about 50 feet away, and were the biggest and most impressive I have ever seen,(as I have never been to a desert, thats probably not that impressive then!). There was a metal ladder for the girls to walk up,:augie while every man had to walk up in the sand.:nenau. 500 steps told me which one to use!

Taking the steps is Mrs Tone le Bone, on the right walking, (or should that be sinking!) is one of my mates, while the other is the little dot already at the top. This was taken about half way up!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1472009842/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1168/1472009842_e697085068.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Pyla Sur Mer dunes 2" /></a>

From the top looking back down, the picture looses how steep and high it was unfortunately.

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The canopy of trees (which I thought looked like broccoli) was our campsite.

Arrival at the top. Guess who walked up the sand and who took the steps?:mmmm

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1408331066/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1032/1408331066_878bd4df19.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Judi top of dunes" /></a>

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Once at the top this is what we were treated to.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1471157481/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1212/1471157481_555e690d3e.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Sunset at Pyla Sur Mer dunes" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1471182449/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1069/1471182449_cac32bea7f.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Pyla Sur Mer sunset" /></a>

And another......

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The return journey was a lot quicker! You just ran down taking huge steps, took about 3 minutes?. We were definately ready for dinner now, luckily the campsite had a restaurant. I dont mind sleeping under canvas, but you can keep tour campside cooking when we are in a civilised country thanks.:)

Day 9. Great nights sleep on the sandy floor. Forgot to mention, every morning my trusty fellow travelling companions were treated to tea/coffee and sometimes buiscuits! With my one luxery item, which was a fold away stove with piezo eletronic lighter. £19 off fleabay. Bargain. :bounce1

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And no I didnt buy the Texas Mugs!:blast

Fuelled up and time to head for Arcachon for breakfast on the sea front. Another beautiful day, and todays destination was to make it to an island off the west coast, called Ill De Re. We were going to take the Roayn Ferry from Pte de Grave to Royan, which takes about 20 minutes, otherwise its a 50 mile detour.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1472082672/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1436/1472082672_08a1cab4d0.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Benny on the Royan ferry" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1471229591/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1218/1471229591_5f0442e9d8.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Pte de Grave from ferry boat" /></a>

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Once landed we were off to Ill de re for our next stop. The island has a massive bridge and a toll :mmmm. It stretches for what seems miles, very impressive. The island is very pretty but very flat with lots of mussel farms everywhere. The small towns and harbours are all very old picturesque, with some huge sandy beaches.That night we went into La Couarde village and ate at a fantastic seafood restaurant called La Cabine de Bain, if your ever passing. Stocked up on mussells, tiger prawns and monkfish, all washed down with some really nice wine, I was starting to believe I could exist like this forever!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1408365772/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1165/1408365772_278d410260.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Ill De Rei" /></a>

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Adios amigos,signing off till next report...................
 
Another good installment Tone. By the looks of it some great places to make a point to stop at in the future.
 
Day 10 was supposed to be a non riding rest day, a day laying on the beach,but by the time 3pm arrived,we had all had enough of the sun and sea, so we got on the bikes and went off exploring the rest of the island, finally stoppping at the harbour in the above photos, and finding the best ice cream shop in the world!

Day 11. Pack up the tents again and off on our travels saying goodbye to Ile de Re island. Riding back across that huge bridge at 9am in the morning was spectacular. A short blast along a dual carriageway and we found La Rochelle harbour for breakfast. I had started to notice that the further north we were heading the more boring and less scenic routes we were taking. This was partly due to lack of time and the need to push on, and mainly to do with the fact we had been spoilt in Picos and the South West corner of France.

Off the beaten track, and the scenery returned. This is La Rochelle harbour.

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Some breakfast and then off to Nantes. More motorway.:( Once at Nantes we stopped for lunch, moules and frites,yummy; back on board and off to Brittany to stay at my brother and sister inlaws place. They were out there on holiday so it was going to be nice to exchange stories as both our trips were coming to an end. Today we had covered a good 220 miles. This had needed to be done so we could of afforded the 3 day stop in Picos at the start of the holiday, which really was worth it. We arrived at brother and sister inlaws, got off the bikes and crashed in the garden with a few beers and stories of what we had been up to. I think my sister inlaw was just pleased that her baby sister was in one piece after travelling on the back of a motorcycle for 10 days.

Here is their house in Brittany

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They bought it some 17 years ago as a 'shell' and have been slowly rebuilding it. There is still a lot of work to do on the inside, but it has all the ammenities and is waterproof. My brither inlaw calls it one step up from camping:eek:
Good job he hadn't been with us for the last week and a half.

This is the garden:eek:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1476611260/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1164/1476611260_93734ee2a7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Back garden at Helen and Michaels" /></a>

And here are three very tired bikes.

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Needless to say we were given jobs to do!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1475754395/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1244/1475754395_62dba52705.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Inside Helen and michaels" /></a>

But a well earnt rest fuelled with real home cooked food and plenty of wine ensued.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1476658044/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1226/1476658044_a57b3fa804.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Dinner at H and M's" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1476612352/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1129/1476612352_92286db0df.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="At Helen and Michaels" /></a>

Hey who turned out the lights??

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1475804577/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1098/1475804577_65e4dc23d9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Dinner at H and M's" /></a>

Day 12. The next morning we were treated to cooked breakfast:roll There is only so much coffee and croissants a man can take. After nursing sore heads from the night before we spent the day at the local town which had a market on. The French fashion sense in these small towns leaves a lot to be desired:ymca Especially coming from a country who's capital is at the height of fashion!
That afternoon we packed up for the last time. Our mega trip was nearly over as we only had a 3 and a half hour ride to Cherbourg left to do. We made two stops, one at Relais du Mont St Michael, which is only a resting place off the motorway, but well needed, not one happy eater or Maccy D in sight, just a grass area, some picnic tables and toilets that hadn't been grafiti'd or vandalised. Just a pleasant place to stretch your legs and rest awhile. What are we doing wrong over here?
Back on the motorway and a final stop in lovely medieval town of St Lo.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13827893@N04/1476659406/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1016/1476659406_edb1cb43ef.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="St Lo" /></a>

Got to the boat in plenty of time and boarded the super fast cat to Portsmouth. This takes 2 hours 45 minutes. A shortish ride up the A3 and we were home by midnight.
Luggage off and Benny was put in the garage for the night. 1800 miles in 12 days of riding, covering three countries, two mountain ranges, three ferries and an island. The GS had performed superbly. I had been wanting to do a trip like this ever since I bought my bike over a year ago, it never missed a beat. Would I do it again? Absolutely. I am already planning my next trip on the sat nav, now where are those maps of Slovakia?:thumb
 
Just back from a trip which (thanks to this forum ) included the Picos. So glad I took the detour to that region and I thought I'd share a few photos as a way of saying thank you for the tips.

Picos October 2007

Sorry: Not very good with this Photobucket lark but I think it might be best to view it as a slide show.
 
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Tone

By all account's you had a fantastic holiday thank's for sharing it with us :thumb2

:beerjug:

Schultz
 
we are planning a trip to nort Spain, Barcelona, Picos, Oviedo etc. in May '08
I've been in these parts of spain in '96 and it was great.
Its time to take my bike there now.

great story , nice pics lots of memories:clap:thumb
 
That'll be it :thumb

Nice picies. Keep them coming .. the only thing that'll keep me going to next years trip ....

Edit: I found and scanned this from about 8 or 9 years ago taken with a disposable camera. Great views from the top.

Sorry, not a hijack, just some great memories from being there.

We rode 1150s up to the top of the cable car ride. A bit bumpy, but doo-able with TKCs.
 


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