Have had a really busy summer and not been able to get away untill now so have just booked the Santander ferry for early October. It will be my first proper trip on this Blade, although my old RRX could probabilly find its way there on its own. We went to the Pyrenees in Oct a few years ago and had great weather as long as we were south of the mountains and looking at the average temps it SHOULD be good.....and Portugal is further south. Just got to prep the bike, tyres, oil etc and learn how to load it, having had the old Blade for 13 years I knew how to load that but the new rear is just so small. Will be doing cheap hotels and just taking it a day at a time. Am really looking forward to letting this bike loose on those roads.....
Sounds great, just an idea but been told the area called the Picos is very good and worth a few days. Mate did similar trip last Autumn at end Oct and said well worth it. Portugal is a long way down.
Yep, the Picos is one of the worlds best places for bikes as has been said by others many times, if you had to design roads for bikes you would make them like they do (as the add goes....hic.). The area around Riano Lake really is biking heaven and may spend a day or two in the Picos but have been lucky enough to have been there a few times before and the Portugees boader is only a good days ride from the Picos even on a little trail bike with full luggage. I was in Portugal last year on a DRZ400 doing some trails and saw some awesome roads, one in particular going over the borader to Braganca had juat been redone and was like a race track. By the time we had finished it we all wanted some straight stuff. The weather will probabilly dictate the route to some extent.
Well Brittany Ferrries kindly decided to end their strike just in time for my sailing to Santander, arrived last Wednesday and so far have only had a half day of rain and mid to high twenties in spain and portugal, although it does look wet tomorrow. Have done as great loop down. into portugal and back and am now just south of Riano. Wifi have been iffy at best but will post pics on return. The bike has performed perfectly as you would expect. There seems to be a fair few polcia about this year but more of that later, got three days left now before hoeading back to reality.....
I got stuffed by Brittany Ferries (or rather the strike prone french workers who caused it all when company withdrew free food for employees NOT working on board the boats) - sounds like good weather down there - That ferry def. the way to go this time of year - I almost fancy it mid November when Pyrenees passes are still open, but snow on hills, then dive south for warmth and long ferry home to Portsmouth.
Sorry to hear the strike caused you problems, I was looking at LDlines when the strike was on, they go acrooss the chanel and then from southern Brittany to western spain, Grijon , I think but it take a day longer. The weather is deff better down here as you would expect. had 30deg in Portugal a few days ago, was down to one layer under the leathers and thin gloves, am now back to three layers and middle gloves and have got the thick ones ready for home in a few days. If anyone does come to the Picos area be on the lookout for "unmarked" silver citreons........ Would deff reccomend a late rip to this area, the ferries are cheaper than summer and the roads are v clear, no snow yet.
Oh dear, you too....????? Have been coming to Spain for quite a few years and it was my first time being stopped, just clipped a white line but was unlucky enough to do it overtaking said silver car. Trouble was it happened on the very first morning,but then again maybe it was better that than something more serious......
Did you get the 'we don't understand you, you dont understand us' to read on some paper, a sketch of the offence and then 'pay us €150 or €100 if you pay now with your credit card...'
Just got back tomight. Something like that. They pulled a wad of A4 paper out of the boot and gave me the english page to read and pointed to the no overtaking sign, and said 100euro, I did not have that on me so they lead me to el banco. While following them studying the unmarked car the only give away feature were two small ariels on the roof, one front and one back, not much really to go on so be aware.
All sounds horribly familiar! Look forward to a trip review in a few days - interested in how you found it taking the long ferry both ways - huge boredom or relaxing way to start / finish the trip?
Part 1 This was a later trip than usual for me due to work stuff etc, and ended up going solo as my usual riding mates had either used up all thier holiday or had gone in Sept. The choice was go alone or not go, but I was itching to try this Blade in Spain. Once the ferry was booked Brittany Ferrys decided to go on strike, but it was better being stuck here wishing you were there than the other way round and only had 24hrs notice that my ferry was sailing on time. The bike was loaded and of I went the 260 miles down to Portsmouth. There was a classic bike rally on in the Pyrenees too and the boat was full of all sorts of stuff. Arriving in a warm and dry Santander The ferry arrived late afternoon so had already prebooked a cheap hotel 30mins away and thebike was tucked up in a garage for the night. The morning started well with a nice healthy breackfast of pancakes, chocholate and cream.
Part 2 The weather was perfect, blue skies, sun, dry roads and in the mid 20's and headed for the Picos region and Riano via Cangas de Onis, I would normally have gone via Potes but had not done the Cangas route for a while. At some point I misread the Garmin and the recaluation took me here. The track lead into a farmyard with a pack of dogs to greet me, the biggest one was on a chain and his forward motion was equalled to my rapid backward paddling action. He just got to the front wheel when the chain went tight and the other smaller dogs just barked so I turn round pronto and set the garmin to avoid unpaved roads. Leaving Cangas I was thinking about the next 10 days on superb roads etc , came up behind a silver car and cruised past thinking nothing of it, just one more overtake so far that morning, a glance in the mirror saw it was full of blue. You know the rest. The views and roads around Riano are fantastic This was taken in March The views improved my mood if not the wallet and the rest of the day continued to Ponferrada via mainly secondary roads The next day was even more perfect, dry, warmer (I was down to one layer under the leathers and thin gloves by the end of the day)
Part 3 One thing I forgot to say about the ferry was that normally we have a cabin, but as I was solo and funds were tight I booked a relining seat and was quite impressed, got plenty of sleep and as the ferry arrived about 6ish in the evening there were no issues with riding a long way being half asleep. I took a small bag with a change of cloths(my only set of cloths) and was very comfortable. While on the subject of ferries the return ferry was a different boat, the Cap Finistre and is not as good as the Pont Avon, and has no relining seats but if you ask when booking there is an option for sharing a cabin which again saves money. I had a 4 berth cabin with one other bloke. I had prebooked a hotel the prevoius night just south of the Douro valley which I had been told was the place to go, but my route became increasingly tourturous as temperatues rose and speed dropped, again i misread the Garmin and ended upgoing though a village and lots of cobbled streets. All I will say is both me and the Blade were over heating in 30deg and 30mph. The area is full of small vinyards with many slow moving vehicles moving there produce, the scenery was beautiful but the roads in this area seemed to be either small local ones or new motorways, not Blade territory. I finally arrived at where the hotel website said the hotel was but could not find it and for some reason had not written down the full name and address, it was all done on the netbook the night before when having a few beers....!!! A phone call home and my other half found the hotel address and she texted it over, I asked a local and with much pointing and the Garmin and a phrase book we located the hotel about 3 miles out of town. When I got there they had no record of a booking but had a room ( have since checked and the website location was wrong and it was the right hotel !!) They were very friendly and I had two nightd there with breakfast and evening meal with wine for 68euro !! I was feeling a bit off the following day and did not want to ride solo like that so had a day off the bike and had a little visitor on the patio. It was only about 9" long but being a wimp I closed the sliding door just in case. Later he seemed to have gone but then noticed he was under the sliding door and could get in the room so wearing my thickest gloves I persuaded him to leave the door frame and flicked him onto the patio but he seemed to spit several times, he was obviously not happy as was I but he slithered of down a drain gully. Later that day I found a new use for duct tape on all the door gaps...... Feeling refreshed from the day off the bike I decided to head east towards the Spanish boarder, a trip on a enduro bike last year revealed some good tarmac and I was not disapointed After a great days riding another hotel was found on spec and had two nights there. They had no parking but assured me there would be no problem and there wasn't, my room was right by the bike.
Part 4 The next day was sans luggage and it was fantastic, my base was just south of Braganca at Macedo de Cavaleiros and is surrounded with great tarmac, there is everything from tight twisty to flowing twisty. The roads just flowed from bend to bend, on one long section I did not go above 60 and just used 4th gear to roll on and off the power, there was a distinct lack of straights and when I filled up the ave mpg showed 60 !!! I have never had so much before. I could have stayed another day but like to keep moving and there was some weather moving in so headed north back into Spain to miss the worst of it. Another road on my list was from Braganca in Portugal to Puebla de Sanabria in Spain, I did it on a DRZ400 with TKC's last year when they had just laid it and was itching to take the Blade there but the weather God's were against me and it was damp but still fun. A long stop for cafe-con-letche in Sanabria and the rain eased and the water proofs soon came off.
The plan was to go back to the Picos area and stay at Cangas but thought better of it as they don't seem to like UK Blades there this year, so headed for Cistierna just south of Riano and found a simple cheap hotel in town and had two nights there. It seemed to be totally run by the fairer sex and was most pleasant. However during a stroll around town that night I saw 2 Guarda Civil cars and one Polcia Traffico.....ummmm, oh dear. The next day I set of for a loop around the Picos but when leaving town I clocked the police two cars back, I thought what the f**k is going on this year, in over 10 trips to this area I have never had this before, but they turned off towards Cangas and I carried on to Riano, Potes, up to Cervera Pisuerga and back to the hotel. It was another great days riding but was back up to three layers and my middle pair of gloves with the heated grips on occasionally. More weather was coming in from the west the next day so ended up running along the back of the Picos Rain on the plain...... you know the rest I spent the next two days exploring the area between Santander and Bilbao as I had not been there much due to usually just heading straight for the Picos from Santander or the Pyrenees from Bilbao and found some cracking roads All through the trip the roads seemed quiter than previous years (something others have commented on too) but finally found loads of bikers on the N629 in Ramales. While having another cafe-con-letche this old Spanish biker seemd to adopt me and was prattling away for over half an hour,, we could not understand each other but so what, we both enjoyed the moment and them we went our seperate ways. The last little twist was on the run into Bilbao for the ferry, on leaving a small town the road turned into dual carrageway but with a 80kph limit and I guess what I spotted a few hundered yards back, yes one of my favorite cars with blue lights on ! They followed for a few miles coming closer and them backing off a little, but I just sat there at 49mph they eventually turned off. I would just like to say that I have never had anything like this in Spain before, I don't ride very fast (mostly) and have no points on my license, so to anyone who has not been to Spain before don't let this put you off. I know of someone else who happened to be in the Picos area round about the same time and he did not see any police at all (they were all probabilly following a red Blade) So there we are, about 10 days over there, did about 2200 miles, the bike ran perfectly and became more comfortable as the days went by, the weather was a great relief from back home and it certainly extends the season a bit. The ride home to Wales was good too but had to wear everything and nunber three gloves with heated grips on. The End
