2 weeks in Europe, looking like a bunch of grapes.

charliemopic

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OK, first the grapes. This was the track of our trip, closely resembling a bunch of grapes, ironic as it was a staple food this year.

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First night was in Rouen, a cheap B & B motel in the city centre. It was a good evening with decent food at the square where Joan Of Arc was executed.
Unbeknownst to me, an old school friend of mine was in Rouen the same night and posted similar pictures on social media, small world eh

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Night 2 was spent in a caravan on a holiday park on the outskirts of St Nazaire for 20 euros via booking.com. There wasn't much there but we'd stopped earlier for supplies and even got invited to a 20th birthday party by another resident, at least that's what we thought she'd said :D

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The U Boat pens were massive and a bonus to be able to ride inside them.

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After a quick look around we were and heading to Bordeaux via a coastal route, the roads not being as straight and boring as we were led to believe. Booking.com came up trumps yet again with a little cottage belonging to a vineyard owner in a rural village just to the North of Bordeaux. Once again attempting to prove how small the world actually is, the place was owned by a chap who used to work for the same employer as my touring buddy, a gentleman by the name of Sir Frederick Barclay.
After a wet couple of days, it was great to use the washing machine and free tablets :DD

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Day 4 saw us ride up the Col D'Aubisque, my god it was cold, wet, foggy and miserable with a coffee at the top being a necessity.

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We headed back down looking for better weather and lower Col's............................and cows.

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Shame you had low cloud on Aubisque. It's a favourite, especially the bit from Soulour through the gallery road section. I really like Marie Blanque too, it is a handy pass to include in a loop from Jaca in Spain, into France, over some Cols and back into Spain at Ainsa.
 
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I pitched a tent once, near enough at that very spot, to watch the Tour de France pass by the next day. It was motorhome city, parked all the way up the col. A great experience.
 
Im not going to gripe about your report🤣. Great to see someone grabbing the last good weather for a tour, or maybe I spoke too soon. Im in 👍👍
 
Excellent start, thank you for taking the time. (y)

Rouen is a beautiful little town with lots of history and very easy to reach from the Chunnel.
We stay here:-


Straight off the motorway, 5 minute walk into the town centre, underground parking, nice rooms and excellent breakfasts. Decent prices if you book direct via the Accor website/App.
 
From Col de Marie Blanque it was off to the Spanish border and a bit of stickering, my first time riding a bike in Spain and another country to tick off the list. We'd booked a place called Hotel Candanchu which at first sight made me think of The Overlook Hotel from The Shining, mainly because it was fairly empty being the end of the season.
Met a couple of Brit bikers from Devon, John and his newly bike test passed daughter Zara were travelling for a month through Spain & Portugal raising money for some charities which had helped John after his bike accident, we all went out for dinner & a few beers and had a great night.



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With sore heads, we said goodbye to our 2 new friends with a promise to meet up again next year at our groups annual 4 day weekend, this time in the South West of Britain.
I'd been wanting to see Canfranc Estacion for some time, though an overnight here was well over our €35 limit 😁
Day 5 carried us further South toward Jaca and then East to Biescas where my mates battery on his RT gave up the ghost, we managed to get it started with a jump pack and made our way back West to Sabinanigo to find a garage who managed to get one in from Jaca. After a Spanish 30 mins (4 hours in Brit time) we were back on the road N260a to a booked place in the village of Labuerda, a few miles North of Ainsa.



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Stayed at the Hotel TurMo in Labuerda, the owner let all bikes park in the underground garage FOC and give us the gen on one particularly good local road, the HU631 to the Canyon del Vellos & Canyon del Anisclo. At a certain point it becomes one way and was fantastic.

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From this point we followed the N260 towards our next stop in Andorra, with a few stops along the way.


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By eck it was hot in some places, the mountain water was a welcome stop.

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Andorra. I'd like to know other folks views on the place but i wasn't that impressed, on entering the the border it seemed like one long high street full of cigarette and booze supermarkets with the odd fashion and bike store thrown in here and there. We stayed at Pierre & Vacances Hotel Coray Andorra, thankfully free wi-fi as the cost of network service in Andorra was extortionate. Really good beer at a really good price and we ended up at the hotel garden bar later in the evening chatting to a couple of ex-pat teachers.

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Schindlers Lift, well i thought it was funny :jager

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Me neither but, I think I went to the wrong places. I have since seen some good stuff which I didn’t know existed, worth another exploration I think.

there are some nice roads up to the ski resorts in the NW, but of course, none are through roads so you have to ride up and back down.

stay on the CG-2 and it is pretty dull, apart from the Envalira Pass if you avoid the tunnel
 
there are some nice roads up to the ski resorts in the NW, but of course, none are through roads so you have to ride up and back down.

stay on the CG-2 and it is pretty dull, apart from the Envalira Pass if you avoid the tunnel
Left through the North East via El pass de la Cassa, never do motorways or toll roads. That was pretty scenic....and bloody cold 🥶
 
Left through the North East via El pass de la Cassa, never do motorways or toll roads. That was pretty scenic....and bloody cold 🥶

same pass - Envalira is the highest paved pass in the Pyrenees, you would have passed 3 petrol stations at the top before dropping down to the French border at La Casa
 


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