Over the summer of 2010, myself and a good friend Jon had been planning a tour of Spain and Portugal in October for 10 days. Jon has been riding bikes since he was 16 and he wanted to go further to Morocco but I had doubts. I still hadn’t passed my big bike test which was due first week of September (no pressure then, ferry was already booked) as the weeks passed I got my 650 Dakar ready, ordered panniers and the like plus new tyres.
Jon’s 1150gs had an issue (it wouldn’t start) this took us a few weeks to fix, after stripping the fuel tank to change the fuel pump and filter and Lambda probes. Reliability was a worry.
The day of the test came and I was really apprehensive, I knew I would struggle with the figure of 8 turn. Anyhow as it turned out I knew the instructor, who was still very professional about it ;-) cut to the chase I passed!! \0/
22nd October 2010
Departed for St Malo arriving at around 11 am with a full tank of fuel I carried some spare fuel cans in my panniers because there was a blanket fuel strike going on in France at the time.
Jon’s Brother in law Norman got wind of our plans and decided to Join us, he rode down from Chorley the day before and crossed the channel to Cherbourg meeting up with us just outside St Malo.
We were all supposed to catch the overnight ferry from St Nazaire to Gijon in Spain but that had been blockaded by striking lorry drivers so with some apprehension we set off for Bordeaux passing many fuel stations with huge queues We were very relieved however to find the motorway service stations had fuel and no queues.
Fairly uneventful ride down the motorway through Rennes, Nantes , Niort to Bordeaux. First time motorway riding on a bike, passing huge juggernauts on my f650 was quite intimidating, but you just get on with it. The weather was kind though the sun was shining and it was fairly warm for October.
I had mistakenly packed all the heavy stuff, tools padlock and chain in the top box so at 80mph the bike had a strange oscillation about it that I presumed was normal . Norman pointed out that it didn’t look safe so at the next fuel stop I repacked my stuff. After that the bike was really steady .
We got to Bordeaux about 6pm it was getting dark so we found an Etap for the night and went for a pizza and some beers.
Next morning 23rd
left around 9 am heading for the Spanish border, the scenery changes at the border as you skirt the Pyrenees. Very beautiful!! I was hoping we would get a night in San Sebastian, been there before and its a cracking place!!, it turned out we would only have a fleeting visit for lunch, we managed to park the bikes in the busy streets and head into the old town.
This is where I soon realised not having anywhere to store your tank bag and gear (my Panniers were full) is a real pain in the arse, as I carried it all with me it was very warm and I was sweating like a P.I.G.
Lunch finished we got back on the road and headed where it took us! a couple of hours later we arrived in a city called Burgos, as we rode through it didn’t seem very interesting however Jon took a wrong turning and we ended up at this lovely square with a bike park and hotel across the road.
The Square led onto pedestrian shopping streets with restaurants and bars knowing we had stumbled on a gem we booked into the hotel for the night and visited a few bars. Had a really pleasant stay in Burgos with a brief walk nearby the hotel in the morning
to be continued!!
Jon’s 1150gs had an issue (it wouldn’t start) this took us a few weeks to fix, after stripping the fuel tank to change the fuel pump and filter and Lambda probes. Reliability was a worry.
The day of the test came and I was really apprehensive, I knew I would struggle with the figure of 8 turn. Anyhow as it turned out I knew the instructor, who was still very professional about it ;-) cut to the chase I passed!! \0/
22nd October 2010
Departed for St Malo arriving at around 11 am with a full tank of fuel I carried some spare fuel cans in my panniers because there was a blanket fuel strike going on in France at the time.
Jon’s Brother in law Norman got wind of our plans and decided to Join us, he rode down from Chorley the day before and crossed the channel to Cherbourg meeting up with us just outside St Malo.
We were all supposed to catch the overnight ferry from St Nazaire to Gijon in Spain but that had been blockaded by striking lorry drivers so with some apprehension we set off for Bordeaux passing many fuel stations with huge queues We were very relieved however to find the motorway service stations had fuel and no queues.
Fairly uneventful ride down the motorway through Rennes, Nantes , Niort to Bordeaux. First time motorway riding on a bike, passing huge juggernauts on my f650 was quite intimidating, but you just get on with it. The weather was kind though the sun was shining and it was fairly warm for October.
I had mistakenly packed all the heavy stuff, tools padlock and chain in the top box so at 80mph the bike had a strange oscillation about it that I presumed was normal . Norman pointed out that it didn’t look safe so at the next fuel stop I repacked my stuff. After that the bike was really steady .
We got to Bordeaux about 6pm it was getting dark so we found an Etap for the night and went for a pizza and some beers.
Next morning 23rd
left around 9 am heading for the Spanish border, the scenery changes at the border as you skirt the Pyrenees. Very beautiful!! I was hoping we would get a night in San Sebastian, been there before and its a cracking place!!, it turned out we would only have a fleeting visit for lunch, we managed to park the bikes in the busy streets and head into the old town.
This is where I soon realised not having anywhere to store your tank bag and gear (my Panniers were full) is a real pain in the arse, as I carried it all with me it was very warm and I was sweating like a P.I.G.
Lunch finished we got back on the road and headed where it took us! a couple of hours later we arrived in a city called Burgos, as we rode through it didn’t seem very interesting however Jon took a wrong turning and we ended up at this lovely square with a bike park and hotel across the road.
The Square led onto pedestrian shopping streets with restaurants and bars knowing we had stumbled on a gem we booked into the hotel for the night and visited a few bars. Had a really pleasant stay in Burgos with a brief walk nearby the hotel in the morning
to be continued!!
