Spain and Portugal -A brief trip report

[RedRick Esq.]

27thAugust
Mate on XR arrived promptly at 0700 and we set off and collected my mate on his 1290SDR at Lutterworth and headed for Plymouth down the loss way and the cotswolds before the M5 etc

All very pleasant - boarded the boat had a few beers and dinner in the restaurant and went to bed

28th August Arrived in Santander in glorious sunshine sat at the back f the bat enjoying it before the usual bun fight to get the bikes off etc - left jacket open ( mesh jacket) and gloves off ready for the palarva at passport control
Rode off the boat in a monsoon so got fucking soaked.

Headed to Fuente De via the usual route - off at Cabazon and over to Puentanansa then Potes all but the Punetanensa bit in the rain and not overly warm

Checked in had a few beers, a very nice dinner and went to bed

 

[RedRick Esq.]

29th August

Got up had very nice breakfast and set off for Cangas Del Narcea

In the fucking cold and rain

I was starting to think the mesh jacket had been overly optimistic and at least I did have a waterproof unlike my mate on the XR
The route which is brilliant in the dry and challenging in the wet !

 

[RedRick Esq.]

The Parador at Corias ( Canvas Del Narcea) is truly amazing with wonderful food and well worth the money

Cost for 2 of us sharing a room on dinner bed and breakfast including a few beers etc came to 220 Euromonies

 

[Wapping]

Things are slipping.

Next it’ll be pictures of your breakfast and three very dull pictures of a bike in a car park.

 

[RedRick Esq.]

30th August
Left Corias heading for the little known town of Mogadouro in Glorious Sunshine - About bloody time too

super roads Pueblo de sanabria etc and one in particular that I have done before but is tricky to find out of Ponferada but well worth the effort if you are down in that neck of the woods

The hotel In Mogadishu is called the Trinade de Cohelo and I love it - rooms with balconies and lovely views and Dogs barking and cocks crowing - it is cheap and really quite good but only a continental style breakfast and no dinner !

We had to dine out and options were a bit limited but talk about value for money - I appear to be the only member who actually likes a beer so we had a big slice of Pizza each I had 3 beers they had ice tea ( FFS ) we then had some sort of ham and cheese toasty each and coffee the bill was 15 euromonies !!!! - I should have had more beer

 

[RedRick Esq.]

31st August
Now well into Portugal and the roads are simply amazing on surface - you can see the grip never mind feel it

The route was chosen to take in the N221 along the Douro Valley which is now my favourite road in the whole world
Miles of grippy tarmac with hairpin after hairpin and no traffic -The street fighter was in its element, 2nd gear high revs in on the front brake out on full throttle -I was indeed a riding God that day and Giles taught me well.

The MAnteigas road is interesting but not recommended for a spirited type ride as it is narrow and overly populated with logging trucks which as you may or may not know dont give a fuck who they kill

Disaster struck near the top of the Estrella

Stopped for a drink and whilst dismounting it became apparent I had picked the only soft 2 square inch bit to put my side stand on and it sank 4 inches toppling the bike, me and the XR over with me landing in the XR footage with my ribs doing some painful and as it turned out quite long lasting damage - fortunately the bikes were un harmed at all in any way

BAstard cracked rib - it still hurts now

Arrived at the Luna hotel which is mostly near the top of the Estrella - its a decent hotel not expensive with good food and decent beer although it has a hint of the Shinning about it

 

[RedRick Esq.]

1st September
Terrible nights sleep due to Rib Injury and despite the beer and Brandy however large doses of Nurofen and the fact that I am as hard as fucking nails did not deter us

It was pleasant weather sunny and warm so perfect for the days adventures

We had agreed to go and meet an old Pal who lives in Portugal we will call him Bob ( mainly because thats his name)

Bob moved to a particular bit of Portugal for a particular road and Bob is a bit of a lunatic on his Aprilla Tuono Factory

I believe Bryn of this Parish can vouch for that

Any way we met bob At Gois and did the road to Pamphilosa de Sierra road with him at a pace he described as Brisk !

I was going very very fast

It is a brilliant bit of road and one not to miss if you get down there

 

[RedRick Esq.]

2nd September

Got up in pain had breakfast
Went out on bike up to the top of the Estrella had a coffee and more pain killers
It was a beautiful day but a bit chilly at that altitude

Did the PAmhiloosa road again ( its that good) then it started to rain, A lot so back to the hotel for refuge, pain killers and beer
The news was on the telly and it wasn't good news more about the unusual amount of Snow on the Estrella !!
Went to bed pissed, in pain and thinking of my Mesh jacket !!

The 2 pictures are of the same place 10 hours appart

 

[Tinytim]

Enjoying this ta.

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Sunday
We had a Day off

Mainly because we were knackered and it was truly pissing it down which it continued to do all day ! so I got pissed

Next day ( lost track) Bob came to meet us in the cloud and drizzle to ride part of the way back with us as he had never ridden the Douro Valley road

It was brilliant

From there we retraced our route back to Mogadouro then the Parador at Corias where we were given an upgrade to a suite which was nice

I cant be arsed to write much more as we just retraced our steps to Santander
The ride home from Plymouth was horrendous - 75 miles of filtering on the M5

 

[RedRick Esq.]

To finish

The Streetfighter never missed a beat and was Awesomee in every regard and proves you can tour on anything
It has however killed a set of tyres in the trip - they were spanking new Pirelli Rosso 4s and they are down to the canvas after 2470 miles but they have worked hard bless them and despite being a 200/60/17 size I did get to the very edge which is no mean feat

Have a photo dump m

 

[José]

1st September
Terrible nights sleep due to Rib Injury and despite the beer and Brandy however large doses of Nurofen and the fact that I am as hard as fucking nails did not deter us

It was pleasant weather sunny and warm so perfect for the days adventures

We had agreed to go and meet an old Pal who lives in Portugal we will call him Bob ( mainly because thats his name)

Bob moved to a particular bit of Portugal for a particular road and Bob is a bit of a lunatic on his Aprilla Tuono Factory

I believe Bryn of this Parish can vouch for that

Any way we met bob At Gois and did the road to Pamphilosa de Sierra road with him at a pace he described as Brisk !

I was going very very fast

It is a brilliant bit of road and one not to miss if you get down there

The road from Alvares, N344 towards Pamphilosa is just sublime, views over the river valley as you near Pamphilosa...Take a right towards Oleiros, N351 and it just continues, ever tightening bends as you rise out of the river valley up to Oleiros...I love Oleiros, it is local to us and very relaxed and a good mixture of youth and aged, with a lovely centre to it.
You really cannot go wrong with the roads around here, around every bend is a brilliant view and now it is going green, after the rains...This whole area, really is the best I have ever experienced for riding.
It was one of the many reasons for moving here!

I think though, if I had a bike as powerful as yours, I would probably be dead by now, you have to be right on top of your game if you are going for it, it keeps you sharp, but it is knackering after two or three hours...And you have zero chance of survival if you fuck up.

 

[RedRick Esq.]

The road from Alvares, N344 towards Pamphilosa is just sublime, views over the river valley as you near Pamphilosa...Take a right towards Oleiros, N351 and it just continues, ever tightening bends as you rise out of the river valley up to Oleiros...I love Oleiros, it is local to us and very relaxed and a good mixture of youth and aged, with a lovely centre to it.
You really cannot go wrong with the roads around here, around every bend is a brilliant view and now it is going green, after the rains...This whole area, really is the best I have ever experienced for riding.
It was one of the many reasons for moving here!

I think though, if I had a bike as powerful as yours, I would probably be dead by now, you have to be right on top of your game if you are going for it, it keeps you sharp, but it is knackering after two or three hours...And you have zero chance of survival if you fuck up.

The roads are certainly spectacular but in all honesty and to Quote Joey Dunlop " there is a grey blurry bit and a green Blurry bit- i try and stay on the grey blurry bit) the thing that was truly amazing is the level of grip on those roads although when they get wet they can become very slipery in parts but they are over all just brilliant and make the Picos seem a bit tame

 

[Micky]

Good one Rick .... sorry to hear about the rib

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Good one Rick .... sorry to hear about the rib

Still bloody hurting

Needs a beer or 2 ??

 

[Micky]

Still bloody hurting

Needs a beer or 2 ??

We don't need an excuse

 

[wilbjr21]

Nice - enjoyed reading that.

 

[Montydog]

Enjoyed that get well soon


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[2 wheel humvee]

Thanks Rick I enjoyed that it looks a lot like a trip I did 6 or 7 years ago minus the cracked rib…..and the rain,get well soon.

 

[squibb34]

Thanks for the write-up.

Shame about the ribs - you'll be able to laugh again in a few weeks time.