Gvcrt
Registered user
Great report Mike look forward to reading your next update ride safe
Graeme
Graeme
It was a dark & stormy night, and the rain came down in torrents...
- Thread starter MikeO
- Start date
nice one mike
small titter escaped
MOAR please - enjoy tomorrow...........
5th November 2012
I sleep well and I’m loading the bike at about 0800 on a bright and sunny day...
Whatever rain fell overnight has long gone and I’m looking forward to today‘s ride. I make a last trip to my room, in Schindler's Lift...
Before returning to have breakfast...
It's an excellent spread, including a suspicious looking sausage...
...which I decide to avoid. I snaffle some food for lunch, then say adios and head for the bike.
It's now just before 0900 on a Monday morning. I am caught in a seemingly interminable series of back roads, trying to get back to the ring road - local Spanish yummy mummies doing the school run. It's chaos...
I eventually get onto the ring road and discover that the hotel I stayed at is, in fact, 10 km north of Barcelona, so I slowly wend my way through the city centre. Still, it's 60° F already, the sun is shining - what's the problem?
Quite suddenly, all six lanes are stopped at a red light. I think to begin with that it's to allow traffic to merge from the tunnel emerging to my left, but no traffic emerges until all the lights turn green again. It wasn't a junction and this was not a pedestrian area. I guess I must have missed something...
Bettie sends me on the diagonal across town, which is occasionally clear, and occasionally snarled completely...
As ever, the main threat opt everyone's safety is the low flying scooters, which appear in their hundreds...
...being ridden as if there's no tomorrow. Which will eventually prove to be true for some of them.
Barcelona is famous for its art (particularly the ceramic art of Antoni Gaudi) and architecture. You're not going to see any.
Well, maybe one bit...
OK, so this isn’t an Antoni Gaudi creation. This sculpture, named “Woman and Bird” was created by Joan Miro, another (a bit less) famous Spanish artist, who I suspect was at least a bit inspired by Antoni Gaudi. It's the only thing I saw during the hour it took me to cross Barcelona...
Bettie eventually spits me out onto a large dual carriageway heading southwest down the Mediterranean coast. The hotel on the right had a huge domed terrarium on its roof - reminded me of Silent Running...
Pretty soon I turn off the motorway and get onto the coast road. It does not disappoint...
The air is clear and the view up the bay, with its waves breaking, is beautiful. A hundred yachts roll gently in the swell in the marina. It's 70° F now and it's difficult to envisage better weather to be on a motorcycle in this part of the world...
To begin with, I'm stuck behind some traffic. There's no visibility for a safe overtake here, even if there wasn't a solid line in the middle of the road, so I just take my time and enjoy the view...
Back in Norfolk they'll be building bonfires for our annual burning of anti government effigies.
Think I'd rather be here, on balance...
I have a bit of a headache and stop at a pharmacy to buy some paracetemol (Tylenol, for my readers in the USA). I'm rather impressed by the dispensary, demonstrated to me by the very pleasant Vanessa...
All medications are kept behind the glass wall you can see behind Vanessa. She types a code into the computer and the drug is retrieved mechanically and drops down the spiral chute you can see. Vanessa explains (I think I have this right) that prescriptions have a code which needs to be entered before any controlled drug can be dispensed - this makes falsifying prescriptions much more difficult. Vanessa kindly gives me a glass of water and I take a tablet there and then.
I also note that they have a 24hr-automated service...
...although understandably, there are restrictions on what is available.
Onward!
I've set myself quite an optimistic target for today - Albacete. Bettie's route is a bit longer - over 600 km - than I had originally envisaged (she is keeping me off toll roads). I stop for fuel, opposite an unfeasibly tall chimney and check to see if they have an iPhone charging cable - they don't...
I contemplate my ETA - 1750 without stops. It's too late. By the time I've stopped for fuel (and I'm going to be using a three stop strategy today) and lunch, I'll be riding the last hour and a half in the dark...
I carry on and decide that I'll cut a corner when it seems right...
Never seen a footbridge with a wheelchair access lift before...
Bettie's route keeps me on the coastal road - through Tarragona...
...which has a great piece of statuary in the main square.
Eventually Bettie steers me to a junction where the road is completely closed and no diversion signed. I decide that this is the time to cut the corner and get some time off my ETA. I recalculate the route allowing the use of toll roads and - as if by magic - two hours are shaved from the route. I will now be arriving at about 1630 (plus stops)- that sounds more like it.
I get on the toll road...
...and set the speed at about 130kph.
The motorway is virtually empty. I criss-cross the old road, which is thick with traffic - clearly avoiding the cost of tolls.
From a government's point of view it's a fine balance, isn't it? Ideally the tolls should just be at the level that makes them a good choice. Pitch them too low and the everyone will be on the tolls and choke it up. Pitch it too high (as I think they may have here) and you have choked standard roads and underused tolls (and a subsequent drop in revenue). Of course, the current rate might not have appeared too high before the recession hit home…
Anyway, for today, they are the ideal option for me. I make great time heading for Valencia...
Are these olives? If so, I stop by an olive grove for a spot of lunch...
...courtesy of the Hotel Sidorme's breakfast buffet.
I have two small ham, cheese and tomato rolls and an apple. I also drink a litre of water (which I bought whilst refuelling). I'm usually fanatical about keeping hydrated, but have not brought my CamelBak with me (D'Oh!) - I'm clearly in winter riding mode. I'll just keep stopping and drinking.
Back on the road and it's glorious - 80° F and sunny - a few mare's tales of cirrus in otherwise unbroken blue...
The world moves past at 130kph - occasionally there will be a hilltop fort or something to look at...
...and everywhere there are vineyards and olive groves...
Ooh look - a Lego bridge...
Be serious - how thirsty would you have to be?
Another fuel stop - they don't have a cable for my iPhone either. Sod it - I'll listen to music anyway - it can run flat...
I ride off to the sound of the Killers and crank the speed back up to 130kph...
I eventually come to the tollbooths - €22.35 Ouch! No wonder the bloody roads are empty...
I then head inland along further soulless dual carriageways...
...have a final fuel stop and then spot this old gentleman rusting away on a garage forecourt...
Can anyone identify the make, model and year for me?
And then, at Requena, I am directed onto the N322, which has just been rebuilt and resurfaced.
What a road!
There are long straights, followed by mile after mile of beautiful sweeping bends. There is NO traffic - I think I overtake a total of four cars in the 100km I ride - and the road surface is perfect...
...I'm also feeling ready for a fast ride and have one of those (increasingly rare) rides where I seem to be able to get everything right (in a complete contrast to my normal riding, as anyone who has accompanied me will vouch)...
...it's helped by being as good a piece of road as I've ever ridden and the complete lack of traffic makes it a slightly surreal experience...
Eventually I slow down as I approach Albacete just before 1700. After a quick ride around town...
...I ride through the Lego quarter...
...and soon find my hotel...
Where I check in to my very modern and pleasant room...
...with its outstanding shower...
...before riding down to the local shopping mall...
...and walking up their sloping escalator to do some shopping. I buy an iPhone USB lead for €5, some fruit and something for dinner. They have some impressive looking hams on display...
...I can remember seeing ones like this curing on stands by the roadside back in 2003 when I went to Gibraltar with Boxertools (RIP) and Bilks...
Back at the hotel I find that the Wi-Fi upload speed is pretty slow, so I read my current book (Bomb Hunters by Sean Rayment - recommended) whilst I wait for SmugMug to do its stuff.
I have no idea where I'm going tomorrow...
I sleep well and I’m loading the bike at about 0800 on a bright and sunny day...
Whatever rain fell overnight has long gone and I’m looking forward to today‘s ride. I make a last trip to my room, in Schindler's Lift...
Before returning to have breakfast...
It's an excellent spread, including a suspicious looking sausage...
...which I decide to avoid. I snaffle some food for lunch, then say adios and head for the bike.
It's now just before 0900 on a Monday morning. I am caught in a seemingly interminable series of back roads, trying to get back to the ring road - local Spanish yummy mummies doing the school run. It's chaos...
I eventually get onto the ring road and discover that the hotel I stayed at is, in fact, 10 km north of Barcelona, so I slowly wend my way through the city centre. Still, it's 60° F already, the sun is shining - what's the problem?
Quite suddenly, all six lanes are stopped at a red light. I think to begin with that it's to allow traffic to merge from the tunnel emerging to my left, but no traffic emerges until all the lights turn green again. It wasn't a junction and this was not a pedestrian area. I guess I must have missed something...
Bettie sends me on the diagonal across town, which is occasionally clear, and occasionally snarled completely...
As ever, the main threat opt everyone's safety is the low flying scooters, which appear in their hundreds...
...being ridden as if there's no tomorrow. Which will eventually prove to be true for some of them.
Barcelona is famous for its art (particularly the ceramic art of Antoni Gaudi) and architecture. You're not going to see any.
Well, maybe one bit...
OK, so this isn’t an Antoni Gaudi creation. This sculpture, named “Woman and Bird” was created by Joan Miro, another (a bit less) famous Spanish artist, who I suspect was at least a bit inspired by Antoni Gaudi. It's the only thing I saw during the hour it took me to cross Barcelona...
Bettie eventually spits me out onto a large dual carriageway heading southwest down the Mediterranean coast. The hotel on the right had a huge domed terrarium on its roof - reminded me of Silent Running...
Pretty soon I turn off the motorway and get onto the coast road. It does not disappoint...
The air is clear and the view up the bay, with its waves breaking, is beautiful. A hundred yachts roll gently in the swell in the marina. It's 70° F now and it's difficult to envisage better weather to be on a motorcycle in this part of the world...
To begin with, I'm stuck behind some traffic. There's no visibility for a safe overtake here, even if there wasn't a solid line in the middle of the road, so I just take my time and enjoy the view...
Back in Norfolk they'll be building bonfires for our annual burning of anti government effigies.
Think I'd rather be here, on balance...
I have a bit of a headache and stop at a pharmacy to buy some paracetemol (Tylenol, for my readers in the USA). I'm rather impressed by the dispensary, demonstrated to me by the very pleasant Vanessa...
All medications are kept behind the glass wall you can see behind Vanessa. She types a code into the computer and the drug is retrieved mechanically and drops down the spiral chute you can see. Vanessa explains (I think I have this right) that prescriptions have a code which needs to be entered before any controlled drug can be dispensed - this makes falsifying prescriptions much more difficult. Vanessa kindly gives me a glass of water and I take a tablet there and then.
I also note that they have a 24hr-automated service...
...although understandably, there are restrictions on what is available.
Onward!
I've set myself quite an optimistic target for today - Albacete. Bettie's route is a bit longer - over 600 km - than I had originally envisaged (she is keeping me off toll roads). I stop for fuel, opposite an unfeasibly tall chimney and check to see if they have an iPhone charging cable - they don't...
I contemplate my ETA - 1750 without stops. It's too late. By the time I've stopped for fuel (and I'm going to be using a three stop strategy today) and lunch, I'll be riding the last hour and a half in the dark...
I carry on and decide that I'll cut a corner when it seems right...
Never seen a footbridge with a wheelchair access lift before...
Bettie's route keeps me on the coastal road - through Tarragona...
...which has a great piece of statuary in the main square.
Eventually Bettie steers me to a junction where the road is completely closed and no diversion signed. I decide that this is the time to cut the corner and get some time off my ETA. I recalculate the route allowing the use of toll roads and - as if by magic - two hours are shaved from the route. I will now be arriving at about 1630 (plus stops)- that sounds more like it.
I get on the toll road...
...and set the speed at about 130kph.
The motorway is virtually empty. I criss-cross the old road, which is thick with traffic - clearly avoiding the cost of tolls.
From a government's point of view it's a fine balance, isn't it? Ideally the tolls should just be at the level that makes them a good choice. Pitch them too low and the everyone will be on the tolls and choke it up. Pitch it too high (as I think they may have here) and you have choked standard roads and underused tolls (and a subsequent drop in revenue). Of course, the current rate might not have appeared too high before the recession hit home…
Anyway, for today, they are the ideal option for me. I make great time heading for Valencia...
Are these olives? If so, I stop by an olive grove for a spot of lunch...
...courtesy of the Hotel Sidorme's breakfast buffet.
I have two small ham, cheese and tomato rolls and an apple. I also drink a litre of water (which I bought whilst refuelling). I'm usually fanatical about keeping hydrated, but have not brought my CamelBak with me (D'Oh!) - I'm clearly in winter riding mode. I'll just keep stopping and drinking.
Back on the road and it's glorious - 80° F and sunny - a few mare's tales of cirrus in otherwise unbroken blue...
The world moves past at 130kph - occasionally there will be a hilltop fort or something to look at...
...and everywhere there are vineyards and olive groves...
Ooh look - a Lego bridge...
Be serious - how thirsty would you have to be?
Another fuel stop - they don't have a cable for my iPhone either. Sod it - I'll listen to music anyway - it can run flat...
I ride off to the sound of the Killers and crank the speed back up to 130kph...
I eventually come to the tollbooths - €22.35 Ouch! No wonder the bloody roads are empty...
I then head inland along further soulless dual carriageways...
...have a final fuel stop and then spot this old gentleman rusting away on a garage forecourt...
Can anyone identify the make, model and year for me?
And then, at Requena, I am directed onto the N322, which has just been rebuilt and resurfaced.
What a road!
There are long straights, followed by mile after mile of beautiful sweeping bends. There is NO traffic - I think I overtake a total of four cars in the 100km I ride - and the road surface is perfect...
...I'm also feeling ready for a fast ride and have one of those (increasingly rare) rides where I seem to be able to get everything right (in a complete contrast to my normal riding, as anyone who has accompanied me will vouch
)...
...it's helped by being as good a piece of road as I've ever ridden and the complete lack of traffic makes it a slightly surreal experience...
Eventually I slow down as I approach Albacete just before 1700. After a quick ride around town...
...I ride through the Lego quarter...
...and soon find my hotel...
Where I check in to my very modern and pleasant room...
...with its outstanding shower...
...before riding down to the local shopping mall...
...and walking up their sloping escalator to do some shopping. I buy an iPhone USB lead for €5, some fruit and something for dinner. They have some impressive looking hams on display...
...I can remember seeing ones like this curing on stands by the roadside back in 2003 when I went to Gibraltar with Boxertools (RIP) and Bilks...
Back at the hotel I find that the Wi-Fi upload speed is pretty slow, so I read my current book (Bomb Hunters by Sean Rayment - recommended) whilst I wait for SmugMug to do its stuff.
I have no idea where I'm going tomorrow...
opel kapitan early 60s i think
- i was going for the gp but cant now so going dorset and wiltshire instead - via mid wales
hasta la vista
- i was going for the gp but cant now so going dorset and wiltshire instead - via mid wales hasta la vista
veetwokay
Registered user
Great report Mike - Glad the weather has changed for the better. Here in Norfolk we had at least 2 hrs. of sunshine (but not all at one go!), and the temperature climbed to a balmy 7°.
Mr K
Registered user
Good reading.
It's an Opel Rekord, about 1963 vintage.
Close - a little earlier...
1960 Opel Rekord P2
6th November 2012
Taking a day off the bike today...
Taking a day off the bike today...
That version was built between 1960 and 1963, I opted for 63 as being the last year it was in production.Close - a little earlier...
1960 Opel Rekord P2
How will you get it home then Mike? It would look nice alongside that other sixties vintage means of transport you've recently restored.
That version was built between 1960 and 1963, I opted for 63 as being the last year it was in production.
How will you get it home then Mike? It would look nice alongside that other sixties vintage means of transport you've recently restored.
How dare you sir!
I think the Opel is in the unhappy state of not being rare enough to be valuable and not being serviceable enough to drive - I don't see a rosy future for it...
Now get back to your K1 restoration...
Mike
Nice report Mike
But do tell, why do you have a penchant for seemingly souless factory style hotels, located in the moddle of.............nowhere, when you have all the time in the world, to find somewhere a little more individual, with a bar and some locals to chat to
I always head into town/village to look for a hotel, when solo touring to find some little gem, to get a feel for the country i'm in
But do tell, why do you have a penchant for seemingly souless factory style hotels, located in the moddle of.............nowhere, when you have all the time in the world, to find somewhere a little more individual, with a bar and some locals to chat to
I always head into town/village to look for a hotel, when solo touring to find some little gem, to get a feel for the country i'm in
Just what I was thinking. There are some nice looking hotels and accommodation in your pictures, so with no deadlines or route set in stone, why not stay at some of those, and soak up the local culture, rather than racing down toll roads and missing all the good stuff?
For the first few days of this trip - to minimise stress. Having somewhere booked in advance, particularly when you know you're going to be doing a lot of miles and possibly arriving late, tired and in bad weather, makes the journey (for me) much easier. I also like to guarantee WiFi for a number of reasons, not the least of which you are reading.
It's important to remember that you are reading my diary - not a description of how I think other people ought to travel. I write it purely for my own purposes and make no apology for that. I have re-read my past journals a lot and been amazed at how much experience had faded from my memory.
As for racing down toll roads, I'd merely misplanned the distance.
The mistakes are the journey...
Mike
Agree with that.
I went away last year with nothing booked, and had to spend valuable riding time working out where we would end up at the end of the day, then booking something where I thought we would end up, which proved to be a bit of a challenge some days.
On our little tour of the west country last month, I made sure all accomodation was booked before leaving home, and it made the trip more relaxing.
I found that the toll roads in France were a good way of knocking back a few hundred kilometers in an easy relaxing way. Usually they are pretty empty, which means you can cruise along taking in the vista without having to concentrate on the road and other idiots all the time. One or two hours in a day on them is quite enough though.
When travelling alone and when the journey is simply a means to get to a destination, I've used the same type of hotels. They're easy to find and don't encourage lingering.
They suit a particular need. Not dissimilar to grabbing a filling station sarnie rather than using up an hour or more of travelling time in a nice little restaurant.
They suit a particular need. Not dissimilar to grabbing a filling station sarnie rather than using up an hour or more of travelling time in a nice little restaurant.
For the first few days of this trip - to minimise stress. Having somewhere booked in advance, particularly when you know you're going to be doing a lot of miles and possibly arriving late, tired and in bad weather, makes the journey (for me) much easier. I also like to guarantee WiFi for a number of reasons, not the least of which you are reading.
It's important to remember that you are reading my diary - not a description of how I think other people ought to travel. I write it purely for my own purposes and make no apology for that. I have re-read my past journals a lot and been amazed at how much experience had faded from my memory.
As for racing down toll roads, I'd merely misplanned the distance.
The mistakes are the journey...
Mike
Very true, I can agree with most of that, I write reports post trip and you're right memory fades
It was an observation, not a criticism about the hotels
However, when going solo, I never pre-book because some days I might stop at 3 or 7 and I've no idea where I want to be at a particular time
If I pass a quaint spot on a D road, I dive in and see if they have a room - if not I move on
Had some great Hotel experiences, mostly stumbled upon quite by chance
Humbug
Registered user
Great stuff. Keep it coming.
Enjoy your day off.
Enjoy your day off.
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