Portimao and back - St Malo > Toulouse

[LiquidLAN]

Thanks for all the tips ov routes and things to see on the way down through France, I thought it'd only be fair to share the route we/I did take and let you know what we discovered in the process.

Firstly let me apologise in advance as I'm not a great writter, but I'll give it all a go

Trip started on the 20th and we caught the tail end of a big storm that had been moving up through Spain, France and on up through the UK. The Crossing (Portsmouth-St Malo) was good, booze, food and a good nights sleep is a good way to start any trip.

Following the advise of a few here, I'd planned a couple of different routes down through France for day 1. Personally I had two reasons for wanting to do the route via St Malo, firstly the West of France is an area I've never really travelled - we did the Loire Valley when I was a kid and last year a few mates and I did Magny Cours round of WSB, but other than that I'd not really explored that area. The second reason was I really wanted to ride through the Pyrenees.

Sadly day one was lost to weather, a tyre chance on one of the other bikes and the great distance we needed to cover. That said, we did find some fairly good roads in northern France and while the roads arent as much fun as those in Spain, the St Malo > Paimpont > Saint Nazaire > La Rochelle route is a pretty good one and not the teadious hours of motorway travel it could have been. We reached La Rochelle around three-ish and by the time we'd fuelled and eaten we didnt leave until gone four.

It depends on your time scales and what you actually want to see and do, but if you actually want to take any time to see any of the sights in France I think you really need to give yourself two days. As it was we'd only given ourselves a day to do France, we'd not really seen anything at this point and we ideally wanted to be south of Toulouse to give us a fresh start on the Pyrenees the following day.

La Rochelle to Toulouse was covered pretty much exclusively on the Peage, but that side given the speeds we did and the distances we travelled I don't think it was that unreasonably expensive - I think it cost something like 50-60 euros for four of us to cover some 120-130 miles.

As for accomodation, I'm more than happy to trust Garmin, the first place it turned up was full, but a very lovely young lady there help find us accomodation a little further down the road. My mastery of languages is appauling, but I've never been afriad to give it a shot, and I've always found that if you try the locals are normally happy to help you out.

Day one ended in a reasonable local bar/hotel opposite the train station in Pamiers - secure parking, plenty of beer and the owner was happy to cook for us dispite the late hour.

 

[LiquidLAN]

Day 2 - Toulouse > Valencia

Day two started around 9ish and we had around a hundred miles to do to get to the Pyrenees, the weather started off over cast and just got worse throughout the day

I'd definately do this route again though as even though the weather was bad, you could see that the route promised to be excellent, again it's probably worth spending more time on this route as we ended up riding past a number of sites that just looked excellent.

Foix to the border with Andorra is pretty, lots of big cliffs, a couple of hair pins and the scariest looking climbing wall I've ever seen - I didnt get a picture of it as the weather was too bad, but there's a raised section of road along this track and if you look to the left there is a climbing wall/pinacle that starts below the road level and ends a good few meters above it at a pinacle with what looked like a single hand hold at the top - a very public place to loose your bottle if you ever did...

The road up to and through Andorra is amazing, on a clear day it would be beautiful with plenty of hairpins and a good number of opportunities to get past all the bigger traffic on that road - we stopped at the border control, to admire the views, but I didnt get any shots up there as it was pretty grey

I really kicked my self when we got on to Pas De La Casa as the GPS took us on the main route through, which turned out to be via a tunnel and all I could see was this glorious twisty road mapped out over head on the GPS... that said as we emerged from the tunnel it was snowing on the far side so none of us wanted to cross back over to enjoy the twisty section

The road down off the Pyrenees through Andorra was ok, and we stopped in Andorra for a coffee, all very cheap and pleasant in Andorra - definately worth filling up with fuel as it's just so cheap. The further down the mountain you get the straighter the road becomes until you get to the last striaght stretch before Adrall and the turn off to Sort.

At this point the weather in front of us was appauling, grey wet and plenty of low cloud, but we decided to turn off to sort anyway as that's what we'd ridden all that way for, and its a decision I don't regret at all! The weather just got worse as we climbed the N-260, to a point when I past a work gang that I couldnt see anything, but as we climbed higher and further we eventaully left the weather behind us and got presented with a lovely twisty road and clearing skies.

The N-260 is just a fabulous road! Spain is blessed with some amazing topography and some stunning road crossing it. None of us have ridden such good quality road surfaces in the past - apparently 4 miles in every 10 are paid for by the EU, combined with the low population density its a riders heaven.

But that said all is not roses in Spain, having ridden and driven in many, many other places in Europe and the world, our first day in Spain saw us jointly out of pocket to the tune of 760 Euros. I guess it serves me right for laughing so hard when the first two got pulled, but we still can't work out why they got had and we didnt as, as far as we could work out we all did the same thing... We'd all pulled out of a junction in front of a police car with its lights and sirens on, we'd all disappeared off down the road ahead of it, we'd all exceeded the speed limits and over taken a couple of vehicles (safely) and we'd all stopped to let the same car "passed" as he caught up with us at a round about a bit further on, but only two of us got pulled and fined £50 euros a peice. Partly because I was laughing too much and partly because I didnt fancy joining them in the paying up stakes I and one of the other guys hid a bit further down the road in a brick yard... well why make it easy for them ...

Anyway, my exhuberance was short lived as the rest of the day was spent on a mix of roads as we headed cross country to Valencia, lovely roads, excellent tarmac, flat smooth and wide, but windy as hell in places. The C12 is a beautiful fast piece of road with lots of good views to be had, the god of driving was really spoiling us, but everything has to be paid for at the end of the day and our bill arrived on the AP7 having travelled a good distance (probably a hundred plus miles) at nearing three figures, we past the last toll booth before Valencia and two of us got spotted pulling very pathetic wheelies away from the gates - sadly right in front of three very unamused traffic cops

unamused to the point that when I claimed my bike was just too heavy to pull wheelies they decided they'd do both GS's in the group just for good measure...

In the end we agree who it must have been and two of us came away with our bikes intact but 315 euro lighter ticket attached... to be honest the way the conversation was going and given the fact that I'd forgotten to take any of my documents with me 315 euros seemed a pretty light let off... at one stage they had threaten to impound both bikes as neither of us had any documents.....

anyway another night in a bar help ease that pain... though I've got to be honest the first thing that came into my head the next day was... "Three Hundred and Fifteen f***ing Euros..." still I had the bike and could continue the journey...

I have wondered what the ticket actually says, but either way I was stupid and paid the price...

edit : I thought I'd put the route from day one on section one, but I must have missed it.

 

[LiquidLAN]

Day 3 - Valencia to Montoro

I'm sure Valencia is a lovely place, but its a big city and like all big cities, I've always felt it looks better in the mirror than riding towards it...

Day three had us crossing back inland across the south of Spain and moving away from the coast - though you'd not have known the coast was there the previous day other than a couple of glimpses.

Can't really remember much about the roads up to the CV-585, but they got us to the start of some more twisties and you can't ask for more than that.

The CV-590 is a good tarmac road, but there is a broken concrete track that cuts out a section of it if it you are feeling adventurous, its a bit hard to follow to start off, but in my humble opinion it seems perfectly passable on a GS even with my minimal tallants, however I was leading a group of 4 including two road bikes so we had to abandon it and head back to the 590

As day three saw a marked improvement to the weather I was able to get my camera out and get a few shots...

I'm not sure where this one was exactly but the area around the 590 seemed to be littered with windmills (turbines I guess to me more accurate)

I can't see them on maps.google, but it does give you a pretty good impression of the road CV-590

I might choose a different route if I do this again and avoid Albacete, the landscape around there is amazingly open, flat and boring and some of the roads are just as straight as striaght can be, but it was a small price to pay as the N-322 is another lovely flat and twisty road

We finished the day off at Montoro, which is a bit poor looking but a lovely colourful place. The track log shows us crossing the bridge and heading up to a lodge that was listed on the Zumo, it looked lovely, but sadly didnt have enough room for all of us so we ended up staying in the town's newly reopened hotel

here are some views from the hotel
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4065087346/" title="IMG_7752_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2710/4065087346_0ab7307c86.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7752_small" /></a>

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edit : oh apparently Montoro is home to one of Spains many titty bars, but I've got to be honest I never noticed it and no-one else mentioned it until we'd left...

 

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Day 4 - Montoro > Portimao

No photos on day four, we were trying to get into Portimao early-ish

Can't remember too much about this section of the trip, Montoro to Sevilla was pretty nice, you pass through a lot of farming country with loads of fruit trees as you might expect.

A big chunk of this day was spent on reasonable roads with good views, but the end of it was a bit of a waste of time... I'd tried to find a good coastal road in to Portimao, but it was all just car showrooms and builders yards. Sorry to anyone here who's Portugese, but I'd skip that southern section next time and take the A22 striaght to Portimao, plus to be honest the Portugese drives that we encountered are nutters

 

[LiquidLAN]

Day 6 - Portimao > Castelo Branco

Day 5 was spent at the race and while it was excellent to watch Spies win I was incredible fidgity having spent so long with somewhere to get to each day. The guys I was with were all happy to spend the next day sitting on a beach so I made my excuses and took the opportunity to do some exploring on my own.

Finding good twisty roads over there is easy, I just looked for mountain ranges, rivers, etc and plotted a route that used all the smaller roads around them.

I'm not sure I'd set out a trip planning to travel solo, but having chosen to do it midway through this trip its an excellent way to discover a country, you become a lot more exposed and accessable to people and in turn in seems that they find you a lot more approachable.

My aim was to find interesting roads to get my back up to Santander in time for the ferry three and a half days later, surprisingly Portugal didnt disappoint once I'd cleared the initial few villages the N266 turned into 36 miles of curves. Not the cleanest road I'd been on, but quiet and lots of fun - too much fun to stop and take pics all the time, but here's one of the nice curves I found
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4065901872/" title="IMG_7912_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2568/4065901872_55d844394f.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_7912_small" /></a>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4065157003/" title="IMG_7917_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/4065157003_a4c2584640.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_7917_small" /></a>
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If you are looking to avoid the main roads, then the N266, N263, N2 and N18 are excellent roads! If you look at the route, there's a short section on the N1127, road maps shows this as an unpaved road, but it is in fact the best bit of tarmac I found in Portugal!

I'm not totally sure where this place was, somewhere before Elvas though, just an example of some of the sights to be seen on the way
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4065909682/" title="IMG_7928_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2572/4065909682_806f5706a1.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7928_small" /></a>
Ah, found it, the castle is in Portel

Here's an Ghost train station outside Santa Suzana
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4065160671/" title="IMG_7931_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3529/4065160671_20b6d9a1c7.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7931_small" /></a>
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The tracks are still there and a Stop sign as you come around the corner, it was only when I looked up the track to work out if it was clear that I realised there was minimal risk crossing this one

Elvas is an old citadel, it looked interesting on the map, seemed to stand out compared to a lot of the other places of the map and it didnt disappoint. I didn't get much of a chance to look around the place, but I think its definately worth another visit.... but park up and have a walk around because navigating through the narrow streets is a nightmare! These shots are on the other side of Elvas where the road actually passes through the city wall...

These shot where taken looking back
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4065163727/" title="IMG_7938_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2559/4065163727_1a6f372b48.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_7938_small" /></a>
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and this one looking on to a second gate
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It would have been nice to have spent longer there, but I'd set my sights on Castelo Branco for the evening and I still had a few miles to go

I saw a number of these windmills along the way, but this was the first I was able to get close enough to
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4065908834/" title="IMG_7925_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2487/4065908834_c42b180cfc.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_7925_small" /></a>

Castelo Branco (White Castle) was built by the Templars, and some of the walls are still standing, it was amazing to find a sight like that, that wasn't locked or didnt have to pay to see. The town itself is very nice and clean, but deadly quiet... but then I was there on a Monday.... I'm glad I made the journey up there but it would have been good to have found a few more people about...

Shots of Castelo Branco
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067692307/" title="IMG_7960_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2582/4067692307_f86fc09832.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7960_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067691889/" title="IMG_7945_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3534/4067691889_7759cdd041.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7945_small" /></a>
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[LiquidLAN]

Day 7 - Castelo Branco > Segovia

Not too many pics from this day as I was really just enjoying the roads... If I had to choose between Spain and Portugal, I'd have to say Spain has the more interesting roads and seemingly the better drivers too.

From minimal research I'd decided San Sebastian was a good target to aim for and it should mean that the last day of the trip offered some lovely twisty coast roads rather than a motorway slog to get to the ferry and so I planned a cross country route with a few seemingly key towns on the way... Segovia was really just a nice to reach point on the map, but god am I glad I chose it!!!

The route I picked turned out to be another great choice, its kind of a back from in to Spain from Portugal, but once in Spain the tarmac is lovely and flat and the curves are back to being twisty and inspiring!

I got a bit lost outside Meson, the route turned out to be an unpaved offroad track, all perfectly passable, but I completely missed where it actually went and ended up in the middle of no-where next to a cattle station and a rock garden... really glad I did get lost as the rock garden was a bizar place to find....
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068442728/" title="IMG_7962_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2510/4068442728_45102a4ca7.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7962_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067692963/" title="IMG_7963_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2466/4067692963_3535d88aba.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7963_small" /></a>
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it was a great day, but I've got to be honest the further east I went the more it turned into a bit more of a mile muncher than a scenic trip... the track I took was a great road, but it got less interesting as the day went on. I'd planned a route as far as Segovia and as I approached, I'd intended to stop for a snack and plan a few more miles... but that was soon dismissed as I realised what a beautiful place Segovia is...

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067700115/" title="IMG_7996_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2450/4067700115_cb8321cd9a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7996_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067699849/" title="IMG_7995_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2601/4067699849_b124feb506.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7995_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068449792/" title="IMG_7994_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3527/4068449792_33f0d46dcf.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7994_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068449500/" title="IMG_7993_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/4068449500_f52a327c56.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7993_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068449196/" title="IMG_7992_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2693/4068449196_2c7aee3192.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7992_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068448880/" title="IMG_7991_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774/4068448880_89a8dc9605.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7991_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068448572/" title="IMG_7990_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2537/4068448572_c66cea77d7.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7990_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068450794/" title="IMG_7998_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2668/4068450794_f0b21903d0.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_7998_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067700851/" title="IMG_8002_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2505/4067700851_09b1957c88.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8002_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067701121/" title="IMG_8016_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2753/4067701121_fded55d279.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_8016_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067701395/" title="IMG_8018_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/4067701395_ea89aeb735.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8018_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067701745/" title="IMG_8020_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/4067701745_f2276c3bfc.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_8020_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067701999/" title="IMG_8021_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2795/4067701999_b602416601.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8021_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068452516/" title="IMG_8025_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2743/4068452516_f06977e7f4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8025_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067702531/" title="IMG_8035_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2627/4067702531_2726ef0ff4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8035_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067702885/" title="IMG_8038_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2494/4067702885_a40840ed60.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_8038_small" /></a>

A lot of the centre is closed off to traffic, but on the basis I was looking for a hotel I was able to ride right up to the middle and park up in the plaza where I was welcomed by police and two seperate Spanish locals who both just wanted to talk to me about the bike and why I was there and if I was travelling solo... I can hardly speak any spanish, but I could understand them and it was great to meet people like that. 60 euros saw me staying in a beautiful hotel, just off the plaza... sadly there was no room for the bike and she had to be parked up a bit further down the road at the top of a flight of steps... unlike England, she was where I left her i the morning too

Segovia is a stunning place, it's lively, the people are friendly and there is a lot going on... it's somewhere I'd definately go back to and would recommend to anyone! As a none spanish speaker I ended up in a comedy club laughing at a spanish stand up, I couldnt understand a word of it but laughter is very infectious

 

[Yonkyo]

Nice ride report.

I've ridden through Spain a few times, Santander - Valencia mostly. The roads off piste, truly are fab.

 

[LiquidLAN]

Day 8 - Segovia > San Sebastian > Zarautz

If I'm honest day 8 was a bit of a cock up on a couple of levels... San Sebastian is a lovely place, it looked clean and wide and some of the buildings are amazing... but it is a VERY big city compared to everything we'd ridden through and really wasnt what I was looking for...

The second reason is I'd cocked the route up and hadnt spent as much time as I had previously planning it out... I ended up doing some 75-100 miles of motorway that I'd not do if I was in the area again...

All that said..... the N111 all the way up to Logrono is just AMAZING! I rode though some of the most wonderful valleys I saw on the whole trip, the cliff were vast and weather beaten. There are fabulous twisties, the scenic routes (when you find them) are outstanding - I had to double back on myself at one point as I'd taken a tunnel rather than the twisties, I'm sooooo glad I did!

that really was a very good day

I'd fully recommend this route, just dont follow it north of Logrono

These shots where taken over the top of the pass near Parque Sierra de Cebollera, if like me you end up in the tunnel, its definately worth turning around and doing the pass in at least one direction judging by all the other bikers I saw around there, I think its a bit of a magnet

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067837239/" title="IMG_8044_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2747/4067837239_480937fe2c.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8044_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067839351/" title="IMG_8047_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2768/4067839351_8904ce43b8.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8047_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068592234/" title="IMG_8048_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/4068592234_43c08fdb73.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8048_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068592706/" title="IMG_8050_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2451/4068592706_fa566c9dff.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8050_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067840753/" title="IMG_8051_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2543/4067840753_7fd224bcef.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8051_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067841297/" title="IMG_8052_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2698/4067841297_69a887919b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8052_small" /></a>

The N-111 further on from there is just fantastic and there are so many thing to see, but sadly I just couldnt find anywhere I thought would be safe enough to stop and take some more shots.

These were taken further on up the valley and give a flavour of the views I'd seem but only a flavour

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067841789/" title="IMG_8053_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2616/4067841789_67c3af43e4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8053_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067842519/" title="IMG_8054_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2493/4067842519_e552b5035c.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_8054_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068595360/" title="IMG_8055_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2689/4068595360_ca6aee2c3a.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_8055_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067844159/" title="IMG_8058_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2648/4067844159_d927f1f436.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8058_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068596896/" title="IMG_8062_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2599/4068596896_f1c67b385d.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8062_small" /></a>

Zarautz was definately a good call at the end of the day, I found a place right on the beach with a wonderfully welcoming landlady who spoke great English. The town itself is lovely, all very easy and quiet and the Police drive around in Smart cars and their tow-away vehicle is a pickup truck

if you are in the area Plaza Musica is well worth a visit as there is a bar there that does food to die for

This was probably the most expensive place I stayed in all trip at around 80 euros, but it was lovely and it was right on the beach.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068640482/" title="IMG_8063_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2546/4068640482_3b042d4166.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8063_small" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068640792/" title="IMG_8065_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2709/4068640792_7c49baccd6.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8065_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067888597/" title="IMG_8066_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2703/4067888597_47f9c8068b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8066_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067888949/" title="IMG_8067_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2426/4067888949_ee6c9e0ce1.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8067_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067889333/" title="IMG_8068_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/4067889333_d03be425fb.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8068_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068642116/" title="IMG_8069_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3518/4068642116_eacbccc6d4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8069_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068642506/" title="IMG_8070_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2746/4068642506_0a172cb2f2.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8070_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068642844/" title="IMG_8071_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2555/4068642844_2754b21f7b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8071_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4067890789/" title="IMG_8072_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3508/4067890789_4e7bbc2ac4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8072_small" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068643494/" title="IMG_8073_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3515/4068643494_fdd9bdfb6c.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8073_small" /></a>

 

[LiquidLAN]

Nice ride report.

I've ridden through Spain a few times, Santander - Valencia mostly. The roads off piste, truly are fab.

Thank-you

yeah it's a fantastic place and I'm definately going to go back... would love to take a trialie over there and really explore - just have to remember to keep both wheels down

 

[LiquidLAN]

Day 9 - Zarautz > Santander

Mixed feelings about day 9, when you look at a map it seems there is an old road you can take all the way along the coast to Santander, but in reality its just there servicing some of the bigger towns... its definately worth doing, but pick and choose the sections you ride as the main road is a lot less hassle than getting through the towns - especially when you are working against a clock

The first few sections out of Zarautz are amazing and the coast road offers some fabulous views.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnathan_hudson/4068644208/" title="IMG_8079_small by johnathanhudson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2761/4068644208_232640410b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8079_small" /></a>

The twisties on this section are just stunning, bit too wet in places, but make sure you plan lots of extra time as I lost nearly an hour against the GPS as you just can't get the average speed up around most of this... still a lot of fun though

If I did it again, I'd ride the twisties to Bermeo and stay on the main Autovia until around Cicero. There is one bit on that last section into Santander that doesnt really exist, its a heavily broken concrete track that joins two bits of main road, I got through it but it was the only place I nearly dropped the BM. If I hadnt been pushed for time, I think I might well have looked for a way around that one

The view across to Santander is stunning!