I have been prompted to do a write up for the club about our jaunt across to Spain this year when we visited places amongst others the Catalonia MotoGP. So having some time on my hands today with not having much picture framing to do at the moment. Here goes…
The Plan for the trip was: Shall we ride to Spain or use the ferry?
The ferry was chosen to allow us to unwind before the holiday and also save on wear and tear both of the bike and us. To camp or go into a hotel? After last years experience in the Loire valley with temps of 40 degrees in a tent / thunderstorm we decided that having some bricks around us would be a better idea. A web search was used to find a farmhouse retreat that was half way between Bilbao and Barcelona. This farmhouse came under the banner of camping ‘rural’ in a place called Tamirite De Literea, don’t use a map to find it because its not on there and the nearest biggest place is Lieda in the foothills of the Pyrenees. We monitored the weather before we went to gauge the conditions, an average of 29 degrees at 10 o’clock at night. That’s why the locals eat their evening meal at 11 o’clock.
The Bike was prepped with a new 014 front tyre from Tony’s, the back one will wear out on the trip but I will leave it until we get home. The oils were renewed and a good ol fettle was done. Is riding better than fettling or do you enjoy the ride better knowing that everything is ok having done your fettle?
The ferry crossing takes 36 hours across the famous Bay of Biscay, oops maybe a re think is needed here as Vickie definitely does not like rough seas. We arrived at Portsmouth for the evening crossing only to be told that because of, wait for it,‘bad weather’. The incoming boat for our turnaround crossing was late by 4 hours, nothing to do but chat and panic. There was an assortment of bikers also using the crossing. Goldwing’s going to Portugal, Sport’s Bikes going to Ibiza, Harley’s going to Spain, 2 Scot’s lads going to somewhere with their jeans and trainers! and a granny of 70ish who knew how to travel on a beautiful 20k Goldwing trike (her kids and grandkids were flying over) that’s the way to do it! To pass the time we told each other stories about past rides etc, and kept assuring each other ‘it won’t be rough, will it?’ Absolutely sphincter muscle relaxant this.
Once onboard we headed for the food, beer and an evening’s entertainment with dancing girls and show time, quite good and not at all like Butlins. Our cabin was comfortable even if the drumming of the boat made sleep a little difficult along with the thought of a rough crossing, but we had no problems. The boat had 11 decks and was enormous it being similar in size to the Oriana.
On the route down through Biscay the water is very deep at some 4000m this is because you are off of the continental shelf and into the feeding grounds of whales and dolphins. A scientific team is always on board to monitor the movements of this sea life. What an excellent cruise to while away the time just watching the sea, sea, sea, drinking, drinking, and eating, eating and sleeping.
The fuel, and or the heat in Bilbao, really did make the bike run very well, it being 2 up with its luggage of tank bag and panniers and not forgetting Vickie’s forever backpack which I believe is said to hold some of those ladies indispensable items that are light in weight, the hairdryer etc. Being lost, we stopped at a garage for directions; I was only heading back to the port after 10 mins on the road. Ah the joys of European biking once again. At this back road garage a group of lads quizzically inspected the Guzzi, they did not know what it was??
We used the motorway for the majority of the trip so as to break the back of the journey, we made swift progress because it was mostly, I am sure, downhill and we had the wind behind us. A couple of stops later for petrol and snacks we arrived at our farmhouse where we found the advertised pool, aircon, and free garden veg and cherries to pick, this is going to be as good as the website suggested. We planned to use our 15 days away on a knit one pearl one basis; a day of rest then a day of riding, this worked well giving you time to recharge your batteries in-between.
Our first expedition was up into the Pyrenees, “to the top” Vickie said as we twisted our way on upwards, the scenery and bends being fantastic. A bit of a lack of oxygen for me and the bike. I tried to run up a small incline only to find myself short of breath, this was a bit of a shock to experience. Vickie’s friends from work being fed up with the UK and its job market have downsized and sold up to go and live in Tortosa south of Barcelona. We rode down to see them, deciding not to use motorways but instead used back roads that we both enjoy, ‘the brown twigglies ones’. After doing some 100 miles of near perfect radius bends one after the other the front tyre was well rounded. This is the life I thought in this wonderful spaghetti western scenery. If we had broken down though god knows what we would have done, as there were no people, houses or even telegraph poles. Is this the ‘ real Spain’ I wonder.
Chris Watts