France Spain weather - west France, Bordeux, Burgos, Salamanca

[realboss7669]

A friend of mine just bought a 1200GSA and is heading to Calais tomorrow morning before embarking on a trip home to Portugal. He is travelling via Le Mans, down the western side of France to Bordeux before crossing into Spain (probably Tuesday/Wednesday) then heading to Burgos, Salamanca, etc.

I have done this trip many times and am aware of the weather issues. I've been east of the Pyrenees and west and I had a lot of help last year from Shenzi and Dakota XT amongst others with advice and tips on weather plus real live updates as they live in France/Spain (cheers guys ).

I have seen on the weather forecasts some really astoundingly low temperatures around the Pyrenees and on to Burgos and Salamanca for this coming week; -2 to -8 and they were road temperature predictions on weatheronline.co.uk .

Can anyone verify/confirm what to expect and whether to avoid the area this week? Would rather get my mate to wait it out than take a major risk with ice and bad weather!

Many thanks!

 

[realboss7669]

Too late, poor chap is almost back in Portugal after surviving freezing temperatures!! -3 most of today. I sent him some pics showing extreme weather from other GSers last week to warn him and he says they were tame compared to what he has gone through today!

My fault, I left it late in the day for advice!

 

[Wapping]

Not too late at all.

Weather is incredibly difficult to predict. Cold but dryish in Kent yesterday, mountains of whitestuff today but not a hint in London a few miles up the road.

Your mate seems to have survived and will be richer for the experience, no doubt. I assume he is white, over 21 and of the Christian faith?... Let him decide for himself.

What would he have done if you had said, "Don't go, dear heart" and it had been fine? Probably have blamed you for making him sit around twiddling his thumbs.

 

[Riders Rest]

Mental weather here at the moment - One min brilliant sunshine and out in the garden digging in the new patio next morning -7 2 inches of snow, blowing a hoolie right now and forcast to be the same for the next 4 days...

Oh we are south of Limoges and North of Brive

 

[Glyno]

Pretty cool down here too, 10c, a cold wind but its still sunny

 

[realboss7669]

Not too late at all....Your mate seems to have survived and will be richer for the experience, no doubt. I assume he is white, over 21 and of the Christian faith?... Let him decide for himself...What would he have done if you had said, "Don't go, dear heart" and it had been fine? Probably have blamed you for making him sit around twiddling his thumbs.

Ha ha ha! This really made me chuckle as he visited us in Bristol and headed back to London for 1 night before heading to Dover. I sent him a text when he arrived in London advising him to buy some handlebar muffs for his trip just incase, as I found them invaluable the year before last. He sent me a treply saying that although it had been cold and he had faced snow, hale, sleet and rain, that he was a man, and could handle it. He sure has been tested on this point much to my chagrin.

Your comment was also rather apt given that he is indeed over 21, and he (and I) are of the Christian faith (don't worry though we don't use bibles for bashing people over the head with; I much prefer reading mine).

He has now passed Caceres and is aiming to reach Lagos in the Algarve (final destination) tonight. That's pretty good going given that he only landed in Calais on Tuesday morning. He is the kind of chap though that likes endurance riding.

Cheers and cheers to all of you other chaps for comments too!

 

[Wapping]

Ha ha ha! This really made me chuckle ......
Cheers and cheers to all of you other chaps for comments too!

Good stuff and a good call about the muffs. 100's of couriers cannot all be wrong.

 

[shan]

Bit late know I am 40 minutes east of Bordeaux we have had sun and snow to day and its -3 right now
Its been the coldest winter in the five years I have been hear and we have had snow three times now