In search of the Portugese Stelvio

....a few more

i liked Chaves

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people here seem to favour extensions in distressed corrugated iron.

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in fact, distressed is something of a theme in Portuguese architecture.

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back in the Picos. we had a great run through here on the way down on the saturday evening with no traffic , but going back north it was chokka with sunday afternoon drivers. tricky road to overtake on, but still a fabulous ride.

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that's probably a 4 :mmmm

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the only wet road we saw all week.

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sunset on the bay of Biscay

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and back to Portsmouth

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we travelled out on the posher Cap Finistere, but had to return on the Economie ship Baie de Seine due to dates/availability. it was actually a pleasant surprise after last years crossing on the Etratat, which was pretty basic to say the least. avoid.
the only thing i'd say against the Baie de Seine is the inordinately long crossing time approaching 30 hours.

The KTM did 2000 miles fully loaded, used no oil or coolant, was pleasantly comfy, missed no beats and required no chain adjustment :cool:
 
cookie said:
i liked Chaves



back in the Picos. we had a great run through here on the way down on the saturday evening with no traffic , but going back north it was chokka with sunday afternoon drivers. tricky road to overtake on, but still a fabulous ride.


sunset on the bay of Biscay

Portugal%2016%20iPhone%2098-7921x1856.jpg




we travelled out on the posher Cap Finistere, but had to return on the Economie ship Baie de Seine due to dates/availability. it was actually a pleasant surprise after last years crossing on the Etratat, which was pretty basic to say the least. avoid.
the only thing i'd say against the Baie de Seine is the inordinately long crossing time approaching 30 hours.

The KTM did 2000 miles fully loaded, used no oil or coolant, was pleasantly comfy, missed no beats and required no chain adjustment :cool:
Click to expand...

Great pics cookie I recognise the Sunset pano......

Was that really the same road? I didn't think it was although the scenery was very similar :confused:
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Agree with your conclusion regarding the Ferries, the Etretat was pretty basic but the Baie de Seine was not a bad place to be and much nicer than it's Economie sister ship 30 hour crossing notwithstanding.

My GSA LC covered 2100 miles at an average speed of 49 mph with trip computer suggesting 52 mpg average, the bike was also comfortable, missed no beats and didn't need it's chain adjusting (whatever that is) it may have lost a dribble of coolant though due to a little lay down ;)
 
i thought it was the same road. they all look the same to me :D
 
Nice report - yes, the Etretat is fine for an overnight to Le Havre but 30 hours on there would be frustrating.
 
cookie said:
i thought it was the same road. they all look the same to me :D
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Hard to find a bad one in The Picos ;)

andrewgsadv said:
Namur,Trier,Colmar,Black Forest,Harz Area,Paderborn,Nimejen ferry back to Hull. All over in 15 days ,off on the 12th Aug till 26th Aug. Doing bikes prep over this week then leaves me a week for any issues that may arise:D
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Sounds great have a great trip :thumby:

wessie said:
Nice report - yes, the Etretat is fine for an overnight to Le Havre but 30 hours on there would be frustrating.
Click to expand...

Oddly our trip to Santander last year on Etretat was completed in a similar time to Pont Aven i.e.around 24 hours our return crossing this time aboard Baie de Seine was nearer 30 hours maybe that's part of the economie service go slower and use less fuel :nenau
Baie de Seine is a far nicer ship than Etretat though and is on a par with the vessels on non economie crossings.
 
2 wheel humvee said:
Oddly our trip to Santander last year on Etretat was completed in a similar time to Pont Aven i.e.around 24 hours our return crossing this time aboard Baie de Seine was nearer 30 hours maybe that's part of the economie service go slower and use less fuel :nenau
Baie de Seine is a far nicer ship than Etretat though and is on a par with the vessels on non economie crossings.
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It's downhill to get to Spain...
 
Superb & most enjoyable Steve / Martin....
 
I do believe I passed yous as I headed up Serra De Estrela. I was on a white GSA. Yous were heading down towards Covilha......if it was you, that is.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
dazcall said:
I do believe I passed yous as I headed up Serra De Estrela. I was on a white GSA. Yous were heading down towards Covilha......if it was you, that is.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

We did see a white GSA LC that day in fact that was the only BMW we saw that day so it had to be you, we enjoyed having the roads pretty much to ourselves and were really surprised by the absence of other bikes on such fantastic roads :nenau
 
Great report and pictures !!


I'm planning on heading to the Picos next month to meet some mates for a couple of days and then was either going to go along Pyrenees on N260 to head into France and then RN or RDGA,but option B was to head to Chaves and do the Ride mag route.Is there enough good riding to stay in Chaves a few nights as that hotel looks good ?

The scenery looks nice but not mind-blowing.What are the roads like around there ? I'll be on my MT10 so looking for nice flowing roads rather than gnarly hairpins-hence why I might head to the Route Napoleon.

Did the Portuguese roads exceed your expectations ?
 
Arsey said:
Great report and pictures !!


I'm planning on heading to the Picos next month to meet some mates for a couple of days and then was either going to go along Pyrenees on N260 to head into France and then RN or RDGA,but option B was to head to Chaves and do the Ride mag route.Is there enough good riding to stay in Chaves a few nights as that hotel looks good ?

The scenery looks nice but not mind-blowing.What are the roads like around there ? I'll be on my MT10 so looking for nice flowing roads rather than gnarly hairpins-hence why I might head to the Route Napoleon.

Did the Portuguese roads exceed your expectations ?
Click to expand...

Thank you it was a blast :thumby:
Like you I've done the Pyrenees and the N260 many times in the past, it is fantastic riding and I will no doubt do it again soon but fancied something a little different and away from the more popular routes, the Ride mag article came along at the time we were deciding on a destination so we followed their route albeit with a few changes to suit our own riding preferences in terms of daily mileage etc.
Day 1 from Santander was an absolute blast through the Picos especially as it was early evening and the roads were quiet, Days 2 & 3 were mostly quite tight with lots of hairpins which were fun but they were quite hard going in the extreme heat we experienced, from day 4 the routes opened out into faster more flowing roads and from that point on the routes and the roads got better and better, you could do a couple of days ride outs from Chaves without too much problem I would have thought, Chaves was a really nice city with plenty to see and do and the hotel would make a great base for a couple of days.
We commented about the scenery too, it's quite rural and lacks the visual drama of say the Alps/Pyrenees/Picos with the exception of Sera de Estrela National Park, the magazine article lead us to expect that so it wasn't too much of a surprise, the Portugese roads did indeed exceed my expectations and were a pleasant surprise it's a place I would definitely go back to. In general we found food, beer and hotels to be quite reasonably priced with petrol on a par price wise with U.K.
Send me a pm and I will send you our route file if you like and you can follow it or alter it a little to suit your own itinerary, all the hotels are saved as waypoints and from day 3 onwards by their hotel names so they are easy to find and book on booking dot com etc.
 
2 wheel humvee said:
Thank you it was a blast :thumby:
Like you I've done the Pyrenees and the N260 many times in the past, it is fantastic riding and I will no doubt do it again soon but fancied something a little different and away from the more popular routes, the Ride mag article came along at the time we were deciding on a destination so we followed their route albeit with a few changes to suit our own riding preferences in terms of daily mileage etc.
Day 1 from Santander was an absolute blast through the Picos especially as it was early evening and the roads were quiet, Days 2 & 3 were mostly quite tight with lots of hairpins which were fun but they were quite hard going in the extreme heat we experienced, from day 4 the routes opened out into faster more flowing roads and from that point on the routes and the roads got better and better, you could do a couple of days ride outs from Chaves without too much problem I would have thought, Chaves was a really nice city with plenty to see and do and the hotel would make a great base for a couple of days.
We commented about the scenery too, it's quite rural and lacks the visual drama of say the Alps/Pyrenees/Picos with the exception of Sera de Estrela National Park, the magazine article lead us to expect that so it wasn't too much of a surprise, the Portugese roads did indeed exceed my expectations and were a pleasant surprise it's a place I would definitely go back to. In general we found food, beer and hotels to be quite reasonably priced with petrol on a par price wise with U.K.
Send me a pm and I will send you our route file if you like and you can follow it or alter it a little to suit your own itinerary, all the hotels are saved as waypoints and from day 3 onwards by their hotel names so they are easy to find and book on booking dot com etc.
Click to expand...

That's great,ta.PM inbound.
 
2 wheel humvee said:
We did see a white GSA LC that day in fact that was the only BMW we saw that day so it had to be you, we enjoyed having the roads pretty much to ourselves and were really surprised by the absence of other bikes on such fantastic roads :nenau
Click to expand...

Small world innit


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Great write up :thumb

Love the picture in the back of the tanker..

Hotel Forte de Sao Francisco is probably one of the nicest hotels I've stayed at.

Ah Portugal, a splendid place.. got to get back there soon..
 
The Forte hotel is very nice . Great food in the restaurant but a shame that the bar and restaurant don't have the same ambience as the rest of the hotel grounds .

We rode the day out loop around Chaves as published by Ride mag. Infact some of the boys spoke to Simon Weir on the ferry down to Santander.
Whilst the ride was very pleasant and had some stunning roads , the ride down and back from Asturias was better.
Virtually every road in Asturias is stunning with hardly any traffic and few villages .
Best place I've ever ridden for pure riding pleasure , though ultimately the view don't quite match the RDGA or Pyrenees.
 
Most enjoyable read and pictures, Julie and I had looked at a similar trip for 2018 but ferry costs were high, so we have set up a lap of France instead. Thanks for taking the time to post.:thumby:
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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