Steve and Lee's excellent adventure

[leedude03]

It all started when my mate Steve, who had recently retired said, i want to go abroad on bike will you sort it, so a plan was formed. We were to go from Poole to Gijon via LD lines ferry, and make our way back via the picos, pyrenees, south of france, italy, the black forest and back to home via the tunnel, a mixture of camping and B&B were to be used, Oh and we had a month to do it in.
So the the ferry was booked for the 27th of May and one nights B&B for when we arrived in Gijon, and 4 nights in the Picos, the rest we would sort out on route.
The trip down to Poole was wet it rained from Derby to just north of Salisbury,as we were in no rush we stayed off the motorway, the journey took about 4.5 hours.when we arrived at Poole we got straight onto the ferry no waiting at all, and that was it for the next 25 hours we would be at sea.We had scored a good deal with the ferry, 2 bikes 2 passengers and 2 4 berth cabins for the princely sum of £160 for the lot.
The crossing was calm all the way and we arrived in Gijon bang on time, all we had to do was find our digs for the night, no problems there it was only 15 minutes from the docks, reasonable place, clean, and food was good, (it was called Hotel Sercotel La Boroña).
Up the next morning bright and early for breakfast, and then on to the Picos and Potes where we would be staying for 4 nights at the Hotel Toscana. We had a 120 mile to go from Gijon to Potes,and all day to do it in so there was no rush, plenty of time for us to stop and take pics and for steve to enjoy his first long bike trip abroad, weather was a bit overcast but warm,and virtually no traffic.

A few pics taken on the way to Potes, more to come

 

[leedude03]

We got to the hotel late afternoon, it was situated about 1k just outside of Potes, we got a warm welcome from the owner who did not speak a word of english which made it a bit awkward as neither of us spoke a word of spanish, but with a little pointing and the use of my best spanglish we were soon unloading the gear off the bikes and into the room, the room was small but clean and just enough space for the two of us and gear.
Once unloaded and changed we went for a walk to familiarize ourselves with the local area found a good bar that served us a nice meal,made our way back to the digs and did some planning for the next days riding that was to include Fuente de and Cangas de onis.Well the next morning the weather was still dull and cloudy, so we geared up and set off.
as you can see Fuente de was a no go for today the cloud was to low, so we moved on.

 

[leedude03]

Now the ride to Cangas de onis and the town itself was much better the cloud had lifted and it was warming up,

 

[leedude03]

Woke up this morning to blue skies, breakfast dealt with and on the road to Riano, this would turn out to be one of those days you dont forget in a hurry, weather and roads to die for, it all seemed to come together today, and by the smile on Steve's face i could tell he was happy.
And when we eventually arrived back at the digs a whole bunch of bikes had turned up.

 

[leedude03]

A couple more pics from the same day.

 

[leedude03]

To be continued.

 

[Davy F]

Some lovely pics.

 

[leedude03]

For the next couple of days we rode around exploring as much of the area as we could, the weather was still good and we managed to cover a lot of ground in the short time we had left. pics that follow are from these days out. Oh and beware you never know what you may find around the next bend, and this was a regular sight.

 

[leedude03]

So we left the Picos and headed south east towards the Pyrenees , we had planned an overnight stop just north of Soria a distance of about 220 miles from Potes, our route would be a mixture of dual carriageways and minor roads that would take us through the national parks of the Sierras de demanda and sierra de cebollera. Unbeknown to me at the time, the first of these places would cause problems, the first thing being it was the worst surfaced road i have ever had the misfortune to ride on, and secondly i would collect not 1 but 2 punctures in the space of its 60 mile length. The first puncture i attempted to repair using my all new stop and go tyre repair kit,it didnt go well,leaked like a sieve, second attempt just as bad, so resorted back to the sticky string repair kit i have allways carried and voila job sorted, until the next one 25 miles down the road, now i know your all thinking i bet he missed that one when he first got the puncture, but i can assure you i did check the tyre with soapy water for any other leaks, and it was fine, anyway puncture was located and fixed again using my sticky string kit, and once again we were on our way, did i mention it was hot, fixing a tyre in 34c isnt much fun.
Well we eventually arrived at the digs at about 5pm, i showered up and went down to the restaurant and ordered us a meal for that evening, then i took a walk around the village to get some pictures while Steve got showered up.
The pic of me repairing the tyre was from steves phone. i didn't know he had taken it.

 

[leedude03]

a couple from the village

 

[leedude03]

Some lovely pics.

thanks for that

 

[facom]

nice one guys
thanks for sharing

 

[newboy]

looks a sleepy place

nice...

 

[leedude03]

continued


Well a good nights sleep was had, and it was now time to move on to the next port of call the pyrenees, we would be camping for the next 3 nights at a place called Broto, its about 35 mile east of Jaca just off the N-260a, the camp site was called camping Oto a nice site situated on the outer edge of the town of Broto, I had plotted a route on the sat nav to take us via smaller roads, and according to the nav it was 180 miles and a time of 4hrs, plus any stops or trauma that may or may not happen along the way.The route took us through some very open and flat scenery, and it was very warm, in the mid to late 30's no breeze to speak of and very little on the roads.

 

[leedude03]

An uneventful journey saw us arrive at the campsite at around mid afternoon, tents pitched and showered up we had a wander around the place and then made plans for the next day.
After the hot weather of the previous days today was a bit of a wake up call, low cloud lots of the wet stuff and poor visability meant we were not going to see a great deal at higher altitudes, and from the look of the forecast it was going to be the same for tomorrow as well, but onwards and upwards we headed for Laruns over the col du pourtalet and then onto the route du tourmalet, by the time we got to Laruns it was clear that the weather was hear to stay, torrential rain and poor vis curtailed the col du tourmalet, (so we rowed), yes it was that wet, back to camp to try and dry off.
Next day weather had improved a little so we decided to try again, but it seemed the weather gods had a different idea and by the time we got over the border into france the weather had closed in again making it difficult to carry on, so we retired back to camp, so alas we didn't get to see much of the pyrenees apart from a couple of pics on the way over the col du pourtalet

 

[leedude03]

What a difference a day makes, just a mile or so from camp. and it got much worse.

 

[leedude03]

It was decided last night that we would move on from Brotto and follow the N260 towards the south coast, and find some diggs along the way.
I wanted to visit the Gorges du Glamus which would be on our way to the next destination of Carcassonne,so we needed the next stop to be in that general direction.
next morning the weather had improved and was showing signs of being a good day, so kit packed away and loaded up, we had about 230 miles to cover so we headed off.
Now i have read reports on how good the N260 is, and was looking forward to the ride, and i can only confirm what i had read, its an awsome piece of tarmac consisting of almost every kind of bend, climb,downhill and straight you could wish for, we traveled almost all of its length, met very little traffic, and had a blast.
We managed to find a realy nice B&B just south of Camprodon called Can Peric, a real oldy worldy place off the beaten track, and very reasonably priced at 40 euro a room with breakfast, the host could not speak a word of english, nor the staff but we got by with the usual pointing and loud talking.

 

[leedude03]

and couple of pics of the B&B

 

[leedude03]

We move on to carcassonne today via the Gorges du Glamus a distance of around 150 miles and according to the satnav about 5 hours, (you gotta love these small roads). So after a nice breakfast we set off on the C-38 that leads up over the col D'Ares and then onto the D-115 the col de la guilla, quickly followed by the col de la seille, all really good roads with great views. We arrived at the gorges du glamus around lunchtime,and i was not dissapointed, what a stunning little gorge this is, very picturesque, and little to no traffic or people around. We spent a couple of hours wandering round and exploring the little church of Saint-Antoine hermitage that is built into the rock face of the gorge. Then it was time to move on so we made tracks to our final destination of the day Carcassonne.

 

[leedude03]

Arrived in Carcassonne and managed to find a cheap and cheerfull F1 hotel on the outskirts that would do us for a couple of nights, the plan for the next day was to visit the old city and take in some history, Well what can i say, The old city of Carcassonne didn't disappoint it is spectacular, its bigger than i had imagined, and was a great place to spend a few hours away from the bikes.