The CBR makes a great touring bike - I called it a cruise missile ! Pyrenees - somewhere near the Somport crossing
Yeah I’ve been fine on it so far! And I’m steadily working at those chicken strips.... We cruised from Miranda do Douro all the way down the N221 yesterday which is a lovely road, stopped for lunch in a historic castle town called Almeida, where a friendly local made us a sarnie. Then cut across to Manteigas for the night. Hotel was Descanso Seranno run by some old biddy who looked quite shocked at two bikers turning up... parking on the street but was so quiet felt secure enough. We ate in the restaurante vale do zezere and scrumped figs fresh off the tree on the way home
The fresh figs didn’t cause a problem! (Probably needed some fibre in my diet...) Had what felt like a long day from Manteigas down to Portalegre via Marvao to see a rather fine castle (we’re culture vultures ya see). Amazing scenery through the Serra da Estrella national park: I got absolutely shown up by a fleet of big British beemers of the adventure kind that cruised past me on the mountain roads Still, they’ve probably been riding bikes longer than I’ve been alive, so I’ll let them have it. Great signs in the national park too:
Portalegre was a fairly quiet little town, and we headed over to Sintra from there, via some Roman ruins in Evora. Roads were fairly dull; flat and mostly straight. Had a rest day yesterday wandering about seeing the palaces of Sintra. Quite nice to have a day off the bikes and stretch the legs properly. Quick beach trip squeezed in as well! Heading north again now, towards Gois today.
Roads to Góis weren’t great (boring) until the end when we hit the N2, then stayed in a wood cabin in a campsite in Góis, cooked for ourselves last night. Great day today, all the way up the N2 until we hit the Douro River, then the N222/N108 all the way along into Porto. Amazing roads all the way, loved it! Body is feeling okay! Knees get a bit stiff after a couple of hours. And a long-running shoulder ache from a previous incident starts getting uncomfortable during long boring straight bits (fine when flicking about in the twisties!). The only nod to comfort on the bike is the Honda eComfort seat, not sure it needs much else to be honest, not for me and my young sprightly bones!
Nice pic - have you been doing the whole thing in leathers? Haven't you sweated half your body mass out?!
Yeah whole thing in leathers. The RST blade stuff is fairly perforated so not too hot, when you’re moving - bloody hot in town. Cash isn’t spare enough for a set of summer textiles at the mo!
Hahaha so you have! Obviously a good spot. Had a grim day on Saturday from Porto to Chaves via Braga. We were planning to do some sightseeing but it pissed it down with rain all day... decided to just hammer it up to the hotel via the motorway to minimise exposure to rain! Turns out my rev it waterproof gloves, which I got given second-hand by one of my dads mates about 4 years go, really aren’t waterproof... (I’m not exactly surprised). There were a few showers yesterday morning as well, enough for me to pop my fluoro rain jacket on to brighten up everyone’s world, but a nice road (N103) from chaves to Braganca. Got a bit dull across the border, and we stayed in a fairly basic hotel in a one horse town called Vilalpando. We’re heading to Bilbao today, ready for the ferry tomorrow morning - seems to have gone quickly!
Aaaaaand... I'm back at work... The last couple of days were smooth and we got to Bilbao, stayed in some grubby little Airbnb (run by a chap called Luis, absolutely not recommended). As we were locking the bikes up, a local suggested we move them to a secure parking down the road - we decided to take his advice... and it cost us another €19 each for overnight parking...!! I think he had a stake in the business! In hindsight we would go for a more expensive hotel, which includes parking. Bumpy ferry crossing back on Tuesday night - the restaurant was strangely quiet... and there were a lot of grey faces the next morning. Mysterious... I'll do some reviews of the gear used over the next few days if anyone's interested, and I'll happily share details of all the routes/hotels/lunch stops if anyone wants to know for a trip of their own down that way! Thinking maybe Ireland for a week in midsummer next year...
Looks a great place to go. I might consider a holiday there, but for my own safety will have to schedule a time when @F1CT1C10U5 has his bike off the road!
