A few Pic's France and Spain

[Ravenbyrne]

So it's Saturday 8th Sept and we're off to catch a ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg, after that the plan is, well there is no plan really.

We land in France and head south to Pontivy were we set up camp for the evening, enjoy a pizza and have a wee walk around the medieval town.

Woke the next morning to the pitter patter of rain on the tent and hurriedly packed away a very wet tent and headed to St. Nazaire (the long way) to catch a ferry to Gijon in Spain.

The sun made a appearance and we even managed to find a French borreen..

 

[Ravenbyrne]

After a very up and down crossing to Gijon we arrived in Spain and headed off to meet Geraldine's niece in Santander who was going to put us up for the night,.. as it turned out we spent two nights with Fiona.

we spent our second day in Santander walking around the city and just chilling out..

Went down to Bikini beach (where the bikini was first worn) and as luck would have it there wasn't a bikini in sight..

 

[Hairnet600]

muoy bien

moar!!!!

 

[(RIP) petcul]

Enjoyed them Brian

 

[Micky]

Enjoyed that ta

 

[Ravenbyrne]

So we leave Santander in some very heavy rain and head south to Valladolid just north of Madrid and find a camp site for the night.........

next morning we plotted a course to Leon and rode some beautiful undulating roads where crops had been recently harvested..

stopped in a wee village for a spot of lunch before finding our next camp site..

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[Ravenbyrne]

This is what we found at our next camp site, an all too familiar sight,. A Spanish ghost estate in Leon, the builders had long left with some houses occupied and others at various levels of completion

So we asked our Zumo's to find another site so we could set up camp once again. Great the zumo says there is one about 30Km away in a town called Santa Marina Del Rey and off we go again.

Oh if you've never used a toll on Spanish motorways let me tell ya it's an experience, I was only short of pulling the Senora out of the booth...... but that another story

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[Ravenbyrne]

we spent two night's on this site and spent our first full day exploring the area by foot..

 

[Ravenbyrne]

enough of this walking lark let's head to the Picos............ set up camp at Pola De Somiedo.

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[Hairnet600]

yer a gurrier shoulda rough camped in tha hoose man

 

[Ravenbyrne]

........... and this is what we came for

 

[Ravenbyrne]

 

[Ravenbyrne]

Some random pic's

customary food shot...

some dirt..........

a happy girl now her tummy is full...

me trying to look cool in the baking heat........

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[ghost]

enjoyed that

 

[Ravenbyrne]

.......... we've never been to the Picos before and the road's there are a bikers dream, that is of course when the sun is shinning, but in the cloud there not so much fun..

but eventually the cloud and fog lifted and we continued...

Geraldine capturing a image of something... I think it was one of the many cow's that walked along the roads and would frighten the life out of ya as you came out of a bend

time for a spot of lunch,,,,

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[Hairnet600]

mmmm lunch

looks a bit mfn did ya meet any other tosser/power rangers on route.....

 

[Ravenbyrne]

mmmm lunch

looks a bit mfn did ya meet any other tosser/power rangers on route.....

as it turned out we did, we bumped into "Twig" a tosser here on the site. He was riding two up on his MKII R1200GS with his lady Jane and we spent an evening with Paul and Jane chewing the cud and eating egg and chips.

The camp site in Fuente De is very different from the other sites we stayed at, it's a bit dated but had lot's of character and we spent 4 nights there and would have stayed longer but we needed to start moving further north.

It had rained most of the day and when we eventually reached the site, we were cold and miserable and as we started pitching the tent an English gentleman came over to us with two very welcome cups of tea to heat us both up.

The cloud eventually cleared and we headed for the cable car, I'm not great at hights and wasn't looking forward to this part of the hoilday....

It was stunning when we got off at the top and we went for a 2 hour hike around the mountains.

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[davidgibson999]

Great pics. Spain is hard to whack.

 

[the civil one]

Great thread .

 

[GerryC]

.........The camp site in Fuente De is very different from the other sites we stayed at, it's a bit dated but had lot's of character.....

Stayed there about 15 years ago on a climbing trip; the guy in the bar would not serve us drink unless we asked in Spanish. He had perfect English & would coach us in Spanish; once we got it right (tres cidre pour favour?) the required stuff was served with a hugh smile.
Serious climbing in the Picos - the rain & cold drove us off Naranjo De Bulnes wbefore we where near the top; the rain then turned to snow as we retreated & we met two adult ladies from Perth (the Aussie one) rolling in the snow - their first encounter with the white stuff.

Last year in May on a biking trip it snowed again

Great place & great pictures - thanks for posting & igniting memories.