Sunday 7th Jan 2024
Last year’s Scottish trip to ride the NC500 was certainly eventful for lots of reasons. I have been busy over the Christmas/New Year holiday period creating a video record of the trip. Take a look and learn about the “Legend of Saucy Mary” and find out how one of our group returned home with a new motorcycle!
15th Dec 2023
I’ve been busy catching up with my action cam footage; check this one out.
There is also another video in the pipeline covering the September Scottish adventure..its gonna be a good one! Probably won’t finish it before Christmas, so watch out for it in the new year.
Thanks for following in 2023; you’re one of 700 visitors from 15 different countries!!
Best Wishes to you all and Happy New Year 🙂
Big John
10th Dec 2023
Well I’ve finally managed to review and edit the on bike video footage taken during our May Welsh trip. I’ve chosen the ride over the Devil’s Staircase and Llyn Brianne reservoir in the Welsh Cambrian mountains as the first video to publish. This is a very remote and picturesque area of Wales; the ride is certainly an adventure and not for the faint hearted. Check it out; hope you enjoy.
https://youtu.be/23qhtHaM_nQ?si=XgGbYFzYPb_zXmJQ
I am also working on a second Welsh riding video showcasing my two favourite roads in Wales. Make sure to watch out for that before Christmas! 😉
Nov 23
Hi Folks, well its November already and its turned cold & wet, so that brings to a close another touring year. Seems only yesterday that it was early May as 4 of us set off for the first trip of the year to Wales! The plan was to follow that with a trip up to the Scottish Borders and Lake District and then the big one..a round trip to Corsica. That’s where it all went wrong; two of our group suffered unexpected medical issues not long before we were due to set off! One of the casualties was Bernard, the Corsica trip organiser, so it was agreed that we would postpone this great trip and do it in May 2024. The good news is we now have a great start to 2024 booked already! 🙂
NOTE: I am in the process of creating a YouTube video of the 2023 trips to include a mix of on-bike footage + phone video & photos and hopefully some of the drone video that Stuart took at the top of Bealach na Ba ( Pass of the Cattle). This post is therefore just a summary overview of this year’s trips. youtube.com/@BigJohnMoto
May 23 Wales trip:
This was intended as a warm up trip, so just three days riding, 650miles with 2 nights away; first night staying in Bala, north Wales and second night in Llandrindod Wells central Wales. We were a group of 4, Bernard, Stuart, Mick and me. BMW K1300S, Triumph Tiger Sport 1050, BMW R1200GS and Suzuki VStrom 650.
Day1 We rode through the Cotswolds, then skirting Hereford aiming for lunch in Wales at Crossgates, Powys. This was followed by 20 miles of the fantastic A483 north to Newtown; one of the best roads in Wales if you can catch it early afternoon when there is very little traffic! 🙂 We stopped for afternoon tea at Lake Vyrwyn and then took the narrow mountain road over to Bala. Before checking in at the hotel we did a quick loop towards Snowdonia to ride the brilliant B4391; what a road, open and fast..but with the odd sheep to watch out for!
We started Day 2 with a good loop through Snowdonia and back to Bala for an early lunch. Then riding south along the banks of Lake Bala aiming for Machynlleth, then taking the great switchback mountain road to Llanidloes in mid Wales. From there heading west on the fast A44 to Devils Bridge and tea at Two Hoots café. From there the mountain road via Elan Valley to Rhayader and on to our hotel for 2nd night in Llanrindod Wells.
Day 3 home via the infamous Devil’s Staircase and the beautiful Llyn Brianne reservoir.
The road from Abergwesyn to Ystradffin is approx. 20 miles of very narrow windy road through very scenic countryside, sometimes with a steep drop on the left with no barrier; passing places are few and far between. The road is remote and does not carry much traffic but it gets very tricky when on a downhill stretch you suddenly meet a massive logging lorry completely filling the road coming around the bend towards you! Exactly this happened..no way he was going to back up and no way we could back up on a road that steep and it would be very difficult to turn the bike around on such a narrow road. As luck would have it I noticed a small break in the fence up ahead which turned out to be to entrance to a sheep pen; just enough room for the bikes to squeeze into to let the lorry by!!
The Devil’s Staircase is an old drover’s track comprising a set of hairpin turns hitting a 20.1% of maximum gradient, running through the Cambrian Mountains. If you’re looking for an adventure..ride this road 🙂
x https://www.dangerousroads.org/europe/wales/3989-abergwesyn-road.html
https://www.dangerousroads.org/europe/wales/3989-abergwesyn-road.html
September 3rd – 9th Scotland trip…instead of Corsica!
So with our 14 day trip to Corsica unexpectedly postponed to 2024 the four of us fit enough to ride (Stuart, Steve, Rob and me) needed a replacement adventure; I offered to put a trip to Scotland together and it certainly turned into an adventure!!
7 days, 6 nights away approx 1600 miles; the route would take us up through the Yorks Dales, on via the Nth Pennines, then through the Scottish Borders, skirting Edinburgh and through the Cairngorms, aiming for Inverness. From there heading NW to join up with the NC500 at Tongue right at the top of Scotland, then following the NC500 down the west coast to Lochcarron, near Skye. The route south from there would take us via Glencoe and east towards Edinburgh, then through the Borders and Nth Pennines & Yorkshire, with our last night in Ilkley before hitting the A1 home.
The biggest challenge was selecting reasonably priced hotels that had 2 twin rooms available, the location needed to fit in with the intended route; not an easy task as it turned out at short notice in early September! The only way I could make it all work on our 4th night was to book Saucy Mary’s Hostel, just over the bridge on Skye. The accommodation would be a family room with 3 bunk beds, with a private bathroom down the corridor..and a sea view! Great price of £180 for the night. Well they said they wanted an Adventure 🙂
The good news is that we managed to pick a fantastic week weatherwise; it was the first time I’ve been to Scotland without rain! The sun shone every day and the scenery up in the Highlands and down the west coast looked all the better for it. The roads were a complete mix of fast A roads, sweepers and narrow single lane roads with passing places, one of which went on for 45 miles!!
Day 1 was a strange day; about 45 miles in the brakes on Rob’s old BMW K1200S (2005 I think) started playing up. It has a servo unit which went on the blink, which meant he still had brakes, but without the right amount of stopping power to ride normally. Should he turn round and go back, or ride on carefully and find a BMW dealer on route? He decided to carry on and ride carefully.
We stopped for lunch on the A1 just north of Doncaster; I was using my phone and some how left it sitting on my roll bag as I rode off!! I have a habit of checking phone and wallet in my jacket, but this time didn’t do it until we were back on the A1..I couldn’t feel my phone!!! As soon as there was an opportunity I pulled the group over and explained that I must have dropped the phone at the services lunch stop! Whilst thinking about what to do Stuart decided to call my phone and a guy answered; it turned out he was the guy in the yellow mini I had parked next to and had seen the phone fall off as I rode away and picked it up..he was travelling north a few miles behind us!! 10 mins later we waved the yellow mini down and I was reunited with my phone; talk about lucky!! 🙂
That night we stayed in Bishop Auckland; in the morning the sun was out and the sky was blue. Rob had decided to divert to a BMW dealer and would either meet up with us later, or make his way back home; rest of us headed north to Scotland.
At lunchtime we picked up a message from Rob, he had taken his K1200S to a BMW dealer near Bradford and they had looked it over; it was going to cost ££££ to fix and according to them the wheel bearings were shot and the bike should not be ridden! While the mechanic had been checking his bike Rob had a wonder around the showroom and found a very nice K1300S at a reasonable price AND they would give him a good trade in price on his unrideable K1200S..no brainer!! The deal was done and Rob rode off on his new bike to join up with us.
As luck would have it (in his case no luck) Rob stopped for coffee and noticed his rear tyre was covered in oil!!! The final shaft drive had sprung a leak and the bike could not be ridden further!! BMW were very apologetic and to cut a long story short they came to pick up his bike and supplied a R1250RT as a replacement so he could continue his journey; all of this meant that Rob had lost 3 days of the trip and would meet us at Saucy Mary’s on Skye which would be our 4th night away.
In the meantime the rest of us were having a great time enjoying the weather, the roads and the scenery 🙂
I’m saving the main scenery and NC500 video footage for the YouTube video, so make sure not to miss that when I post it! The Deer above is real ; Stuart risked his life to get some close up pics. The bridge is the famous Kylesku bridge north of Ullapool.
Our night in Ullapool turned out to be great fun; after dinner we discovered a nearby pub called The Arch with real ale and live music entertainment from a very talented, unique and totally crazy musician Ruaraidh Maclean. What an entertainer this guy is..between swigs of whisky to keep him going 🙂 He links his accordian up to a synthasiser
Check this out.. he really gets going after 60 secs + https://youtu.be/gi92JBgw7Xs?si=hCtLbFpklSxiUzSp
Its now Day 4 and from Ullapool to Skye on the NC500 and the sun is still shining and not a midge in sight 🙂
That night we stayed at Saucy Marys; the biggest challenge was remembering in the middle of the night to take the key for the bathroom down the corridor, and to leave the door to our room on the latch to get back in! We’ve done the Portsmouth- Bilbao crossing many times, 4 guys in a very small cabin, so 4 in a six bunk relatively large room (with sea view) was a doddle. 🙂
Saucy Mary was married to a McKinnon clan chief, it’s said she controlled the narrow straight between Kyleakin and Kyle of a Lochalsh by hanging a chain from her home, Castle Maol, to the mainland and charged a toll for ships wishing to pass; if sailors refused to pay, they had to take the longer, more dangerous route round. If they paid the toll, they were able to continue their journey in safe, calm waters and, as the story goes, Princess Mary flashed her breasts at the sailors. This is how she got the nickname, ‘Saucy Mary’.
Rob was waiting for us when we arrived, so we are now back to a group of 4 for our ride south.
Day 5 we are aiming for Hawick for the night; on route we would call in at Eilean Donan castle and later a well know bikers café at Queensferry, Edinburgh.
Day 6 to Ilkley via Kielder, Nth Pennines and Yorks Dales.
Our last night was spent in Ilkley, the perfect mix of real ale and curry 🙂
The guy in the black T-shirt with the glasses is “Knob head Tim”, he was sitting on his own, all the other tables were packed out..we gate crashed his table and soon found out why he got his nickname 🙂
The next morning we all rode over to the BMW Motoradd dealer in Shipley to pick up Rob’s new K1300S which had been repaired with a brand new final drive unit. Finally he was able to ride away on his own bike, which in spite of the hassle he suffered and missing the entire NC500 portion of the trip, had ended up as a good deal.
This trip was hastily put together following the postponement of the Corsica trip; turned out to be one of the best trips I’ve had to Scotland..its much more fun riding when the sun is out 😉
October 2nd- 6th Scottish Borders, Yorkshire , Nth Pennines & The Lakes..Nick’s first adventure!!
Nick is someone I met through work back in 1994, we have worked together in several companies since then; back in those days Nick had a Yamaha Thunderace 1000. We have kept in touch since I retired and last year he called me up to say he had got back into motorcycling after many years away and intended to buy a BMW R1250GS Adventure and go touring; we agreed that when he got it I’d help him take it out for a proper adventure ride. Sure enough, earlier this year he had taken delivery of his new bike. We managed to find a week when Nick could take a week off from his stressful global role with a large software company and I put together a 5 day trip up to the Scottish borders which would take in a complete mix of roads and scenery to provide his first proper biking adventure! 😉
Nick lives in Nth Lincolnshire and I thought it would be wise if we met up before the trip so I could get a feel of his riding ability. We met at BMW in Peterborough and went for a ride on a loop of some of the good back roads in the area. It was soon obvious that Nick was still getting used to the big GS Adventure and was somewhat nervous in the corners and would struggle to keep up at my normal touring pace. Our trip would serve as an opportunity for me to pass on some of the good stuff I’ve learned over many years and several 100,000 miles of riding motorcycles. Credit to Nick, he was well up for it and said “bring it on” 😁
Day 1 we met up just off the A1 towards Harrogate; from there the route would take us through the Yorks Dales, up onto the moors and finally to our first night hotel in Barnard Castle. The rain started mid afternoon just as we were into some of the narrow and twisty lanes leading to the moors; this was Nick’s opportunity to practice wet weather riding..somehow he managed to cope with some demanding conditions and we made it to the hotel, by which time he was very tired..well he did ask for an Adventure!!
Day 2 the roads were wet, but the rain had stopped..it started again later in the day! More challenging roads across the North Pennines and it was chilly. We rode up the west side of Kielder Water and on up to Scottish Borders and lunch in Hawick. There was quite a stretch of narrow moorland liberally sprinkled with wild roaming sheep..all part of the adventure!
The afternoon took us deeper into the spectacular scenery of the Scottish Borders, the route went through some remote territory with more challenging roads, it was quite cold as well and we had our rain gear on. This was a 220 mile day and by late afternoon we still had 60 miles to go to our next hotel at Moffat. I took a look at the rest of the route and could see that it was more twisty roads; there was the option to cut it short and make a 25mile dash south on the A708 from Selkirk to the hotel in Moffat. This turned to be a good move and was a great stetch of road to end the day with.
The Buccleuch Arms is well known in biking circles, its run by bikers, for bikers. When we arrived there were probably 20 bikes there. We received a warm welcome from members of the host family who originate from Zimbabwe; we were shown to our individual garages which would house the bikes overnight. I hadn’t specifically booked these, maybe it was special treatment as I had not been there before? Everything in the hotel is geared to bikers, its quite a unique place and you’re made to feel very welcome.
The main man is Dave who has a little dog called Blue; now I’m a cat person, but Nick is very much a doggie person and always strokes and fiddles with every dog he meets, including Blue. We then learned from Dave that Blue comes with him on touring trips in a custom built box which sits on the back of Dave’s 1250GS..the box has a hole in the top so the dog can put his head up, protected by a small windscreen to enjoy the scenery. In fact the next day Dave was off to the Pyrenees for a trip with his dog..whatever next!😺
It was raining in the morning of Day 3, so we would need to start with our wet gear on. The plan was to do a loop of the local Borders roads and then aim for Kielder and the Nth Pennines for our overnight stop at Greystoke, near Penrith. In view of the weather we decided against the loop, we could see the rain was forecast to get heavier further south on our route.
As we entered the Pennines the wind was strong; the crosswind on the road across the moor to Alston was really hard to ride against, thankfully the rain had stopped at the point. We had a late lunch in Alston and debated whether we should ride the loop of the Pennines I had planned, or due to the high wind cut it short and go straight to the hotel via the famous A686 Hartside Pass. The wind really did spoil the riding and the dark clouds suggested it was due to rain again soon, so we set off on the more direct route.
Alston is England’s highest market town, the A686 road climbs via the Hartside Pass to a height of 1904 ft, from where there are magnificent views across the Solway Firth to Scotland. From the top viewpoint you can see Helvellyn, Great Gable, Skiddaw, and in Southern Scotland – Criffel.
On a nice sunny day this would be a great ride on a fantastic road with great views, however today we would ride it in a very strong wind and with driving rain!! Poor old Nick was certainly getting a baptism of fire on his first touring adventure!!
We were pleased to get to Greystoke and the Boot & Shoe Inn, our overnight stop. This was a really friendly old pub with real ale and home cooked food, just what we needed. Turns out that there is a strong connection between Earl Greystoke (Tarzan) and the village of Greystoke as the writer who created Tarzan would regularly visit Greystoke castle nearby.
The plan for Day 4 was to ride a loop through the Lake District, however the weather radar showed heavy rain sitting over the Lakes. It looked clearer over to the East so we decided to take the A66 and have a quick dash across to the Nth Yorks Moors instead and ride the B1257 : Stokesley – Helmsley, known as the North Yorks TT.
Unfortunately by the time we got to Stokesley it was raining again and it was necessary to ride the 20 miles to Helmsley at a sensible pace. The road probably could be a good ride in the dry if you got a clear run and not stuck behind slower traffic, but I’m not sure it deserves the TT nickname!
We spent our last night in Ilkley and repeated the real ale and curry night out that I’d had on the return leg of the Scottish trip a month before. No sign of “Knob head Tim” though😊
Day 5 started dry as we headed out to the A1 via Ilkley Moor. The ride south was uneventful apart from strong gusts of wind on the A1; Nick and I parted company at Blyth Services, leaving me with another 140 miles to home.
Well Nick had wanted an adventure and he certainly got one! He had coped well with everything thrown at him; narrow, twisty roads, fast open A roads, sheep, strong winds, country lanes with mud and leaves, and rain every day apart from the last day. He had ridden at his own pace and had become more confident as the miles went by and he got more used to the big GS. His next challenge?..cleaning a really dirty BMW GS! His solution?..pay a man to do it for him!! 😁 My solution?..booked in at BMW Northampton for an MOT the following week and they throw in a steam clean for free! 😉😁
So apart from a few 2 day mini trips in between, the three describe above were the main trips for 2023; even without the big annual European trip I still managed to rack up 7,500 miles this year. My trusty GS has now reached 67,500 miles in 7 years, an avg 9,600 miles per year! I have had it regularly serviced at Wollaston, Northampton and am now on the last page in the service book! Apart from a water pump failing in the first 18mths (replaced under warranty) the bike has been super reliable with only consumables like discs & pads being replaced. At 60,000 the rear ESA shock did fail; BMW say they are only good for 30,000! A new rear shock from BMW is £1800 + fitting; I had mine refurbished by Firefox Racing, Keighley, Yorks for £250 and currently going well.
So that’s it for 2023, another riding year done and a great 2024 to look forward to with the delayed Corsica trip all booked and ferries paid for 🙂 Thank you for following my biking adventures; I hope I’ve been able to pass on a feel for some of the fun and adventures I’ve had along the way riding my bike ! Stay tuned for the summary of 2023 video for YouTube which I’m just about to start, hopefully I’ll finish it in time for Christmas.
Hi Folks, hope you’re all well and looking forward to spring? Personally I can’t wait to see the back of winter, so I can get the bike out of the garage and let the next adventure begin!! 🙂
2022 was a great motorbiking year, lots of good memories; two big European trips covering France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Spain & Portugal; followed by a fantastic 2000 mile motorcycle tour of California USA. In between those trips managed a couple of trips to Wales & Scotland and other best parts of UK such as Yorkshire & Nth Pennines. But that was last year….!
So where to go in 2023? Winter is a time for planning and 2023 is really taking shape !
My first trip of the year is traditionally to Wales and this year’s trip is already booked; Four of us will have 3 days away covering all the good roads in Mid Wales & Snowdonia. This is always a great start to the biking year 🙂
Following that I am in the final planning stages of a 5 day trip taking in Yorkshire Dales, Nth Pennines & Scottish Borders: on the way back a loop of the best scenery and passes in the Lake District.
This year’s big European trip is also booked, to somewhere I’ve never been before..Corsica! However, I cannot claim any credit for this as all the hard work has been done by my friend and ace planner, Bernard!
At the end of August six of us will ride a nice twisty route (including Route Napoleon) down through France to Toulon in the south to catch an overnight ferry to Corsica; where we will spend 4 days riding the excellent roads there and taking in the spectacular scenery. Our route home will take us back through France via the Route des Grande Alps.. this is a 15 day, 2750 miles, trip..it promises to be a really good one!
On the family front, my son Tom & his family are coming over to the UK from the USA in June and we all, 5 adults and 2 grand kids, will spend a week in the sun in a lovely villa on Croatia’s Adriatic coast.
With brownie points in the bank I reckon it should be possible to slip in at least one more big motorbike adventure before autumn..watch this space 🙂
Have a great 2023 and thanks for following, that’s all for now; but if you haven’t watched any of the 2022 trip videos..just click this link to catch up!! youtube.com/@BigJohnMoto
Well folks I’ve finally finished the video of my last big adventure..2000 miles round trip of Northern California, taking in all the best motorcycling roads and scenery with video clips and on-bike footage. Highlights include:
I have dedicated the video to the memory of my riding buddy, Bo Harper, who sadly was taken from us less than 2 mths after the trip. It was his last motorcycle ride!
17th Dec 2022
Two weeks ago I was shocked to find out that my American buddy, Bo Harper, who I rode with on the recent California trip, had been diagnosed with late stage liver cancer. Just a couple of days ago I received the sad news that Bo had passed away!
It is less that 2 months since Bo and I finished a fantastic 2000 mile tour of California. Bo told me at the time he had some health issues which were under investigation; but if he knew then the extent of the problem he never let on; nor indeed did his physical condition affect his riding on the trip, or his ever positive and dynamic personality.
I first met Bo in Feb 2019 during a motorcycle tour of Rajasthan in India; we were introduced by our mutual friend, Fred Dion, whom I had met on a previous motorcycle tour of Thailand & Laos; Fred had known Bo for many years. We spent 10 days together in India and the 3 of us had a great time and got on really well. We kept in touch via WhatsApp and the plan was always for the 3 of us to ride together again one day.
I had hoped that my California trip would be the opportunity we needed, but Fred lives in Malaysia and was unable to make the dates. Bo on the other hand said yes straight away and the plan was set for him to fly in from his home near Chicago and hire a motorcycle from the same rental company and we would ride the trip together.
We spent 8 days together riding the 2000 mile route I had planned; we shared a twin room on 4 of the 7 nights away, so during that time I got to know Bo fairly well. We had our “moments” along the way; Bo’s style of riding and mine were very different, but overall the mix of Brit and American got on well and it was great for me having a “local” with me. Bo was the sort of guy who would strike up an instant conversation with anyone and we certainly met some interesting characters during the trip.
We kept in touch since the trip finished, sharing photos and video clips; when I heard the news from Fred regarding Bo’s diagnosis I reached out to give him my best wishes. He came back with these words “the ride that we did in California was stupendous and wonderful and a great learning experience. That might have been the last motorcycle ride of my life..hopefully we’re not done yet”. A week later he was gone!
There is a message there for us all…Life is a gift..so make every day count!
I am still working on putting together a video of the California trip..it will be dedicated to Bo.
16th November 2022
Its nearly 4 weeks since I returned from California, my last big trip of 2022; and what a great ride it was, with lots of adventure along the way! Fantastic scenery from sea to mountains, great twisty roads without a pothole in sight, very little traffic away from the towns, lots of good on-bike footage and photos captured.
A few incidents, as usual, during the 2000 mile trip.. stopped by the National Park police for speeding and crossing double lines when overtaking; nearly running out of petrol miles from anywhere; then finishing off with a minor collision involving a truck and a car while lane splitting (filtering) on the San Fransisco freeway 30 mins from handing the rental bike back!
Coming home from this trip it took me a whole week to get through the 8hr time difference and have a full night’s sleep. I’ve been so busy ever since catching up with things that I haven’t found time to update the Blog, or put a YouTube video together..yet.
So, this post is just to give a taster of what is to come, I’ll do a proper job in the next few weeks..there’s lots to tell 🙂
John & Bo picking up our rental bikes in San Francisco.. BMW F850GS & R1250GS
Route 1, Pacific Coast Highway..riding right next to the ocean
Mountains & Canyons
We didn’t see a bear, but we did see deer and Big Foot!!
Lots of great twisty roads & remote places visited
More great scenery
2000 miles round trip..start and finish in San Francisco
I can recommend October as a great time to visit California..lots of sun, no rain. Can be chilly in the morning but up to 90f by lunchtime. I was really surprised how good the roads were, smooth surface, twisty and seem to go on for ever through great mountain & forest scenery. Our route was often very remote (California is big place) with no cellular signal and small one-horse towns along the way..we stayed at some “quaint” motels and met some interesting people along the way for sure; During the trip I was able to meet up with my buddy, Jay, whom I had met several years back on a riding trip to Myanmar..all in all this was a great adventure and the “incidents” along the way were all survived with only minor hassle.
So stay tuned, during the next few weeks I’ll work on putting the pics, video clips and on bike footage into a video and post on my YouTube channel youtube.com/@BigJohnMoto
It’s time for the last of my 3 big adventures of 2022..on Monday 10th October I will fly out to San Francisco, USA, pick up a rented BMW F850GS and then ride a 2000 mile circular route, starting and ending in SF 👍😎
I will not be riding alone; one of my American buddies, Bo Harper, will be joining me! We met via our mutual friend Fred and all rode together when we did the tour of Rajasthan, India, back in 2019. We have kept in touch ever since and have been working on co-ordinating a ride in USA; unfortunately, Fred couldn’t make this trip. Bo is flying in from Chicago and also renting a bike for the trip.
After arriving in SF I will spend 3 nights initially at my son’s house in Walnut Creek, a short distance from SF and catch up with the grandchildren, whom I last saw back in January when they came over to the UK for Christmas.
On 12th Oct we will pick the bikes up from MotoQuest in SF and head South on the morning of 13th. My route has been planned to take in as many of the best biking roads and scenery as possible in NorthCal. We will take Mines Rd, which is a nice twisty road, over Mt Hamilton and then skirting San Jose, ride down to Monterey. From there 17 Mile Drive and Route 1 down PCH to Big Sur; continuing for about 100 miles before turning inland and heading for Sequoia National Park and then Kings Canyon in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The route will then head north through Yosemite National Park and on to Lake Tahoe; finally heading west across to Interstate 5 for a blast further north up to Klamath National Forest on the Oregon border. From here we will head back south on Hwy 96 and finally join Route 101, Coast Hwy at the quaintly named town of Eureka.
Further south after riding Redwood Hwy and Avenue of the Giants we will join Route 1 Coast Hwy (northern PCH) all the way down to San Francisco, then ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and return the bikes to MotoQuest on Treasure Island on 20th Oct
I will then spend a further few days with my son & grandkids, before flying back to UK on 23rd Oct.
The sun will be out in California and its going to be a great trip 😎 I’ll be taking loads of pics and on-bike camera footage which I’ll use to make a video of the trip highlights when I return. So stay tuned!!
FRANCE, SPAIN & PORTUGAL – 3000MILES, THROUGH FOREST FIRES & 40C+ TEMPERATURES!!!
I’ve made a 10 min video of the trip which includes on-bike footage of me riding through a wild fire, video clips of helicopters fighting wild fires and some great drone footage filmed and donated by Gary; here’s a clip to whet your appetite!!
Full video link is at the end of this post!
After returning from the Balkans adventure at the end of June I had 2 weeks to get the bike serviced and change tyres to be ready for this trip, leaving on 7th July 2022. I had booked the service date with BMW Northampton well in advance; my 6 year old R1200GS had covered 56,000 miles trouble free, apart from a faulty water pump early on which was replaced under warranty. When I picked the bike up they mentioned that there was only one space left in the user manual service record for the next service at 61,000! Apparently they very rarely see bikes with this amount of miles as the average British only does 3K miles per year..I’ve been doing just over 9k..3 times the average. This is my 3rd GS and in total I will have covered 120,000 so far on them..absolutely great bike the GS !! 🙂
So on 7th July I rode down to Portsmouth to meet up with Bernard, Stuart, Mike, Rob & Gary for our overnight ferry to Cherbourg, France on Brittany Ferries.
This will be the 4th big trip I’ve done with these guys, always to the Pyrenees (the roads are great) these trips are planned and booked by Bernard. This year we called the trip BLAST 22..(Bernard’s, Long, Arduous, Stupendous, Tour ).
Having planned many trips myself I know that a great deal of effort, organisation & planning goes into making these trips happen, especially when there is a group of 6 involved. The roads Bernard plans are always great, good hotels booked and even suggested coffee & lunch stops are included on the route plan..the rest of us just turn up!
On this trip there should have been 7 of us, but poor Steve came down with a nasty case of Covid just a few days before we were due to leave and had to pull out. To make matters worse he had just bought a new Triumph Tiger 1200 2 weeks before!! The fact we were going in July, rather than September, was due to the July dates being the only dates Steve could make. Shame he missed the 43c heat that we had to ride through on some days!! 🙂
The ship sailed at 23:00 for arrival in Cherbourg at 08:00 French time. We had a couple of beers and then to bed, 3 to a cabin. We arrived on time and pushed our way past the queue of cars to the French border passport control; soon were were riding on small D roads in rural France on our way to Amboise, a nice town on the Loire river, our first hotel. 240 miles.
All was going well, until 150 miles in Rob suffered a rear tyre puncture on his BMW K1200S. The team set about trying to repair the tyre by plugging the rather jagged hole..3 plugs later things were not looking good. So I did some Googling and found there was a reasonable looking motorcycle dealer that sold tyres about half mile away..I rode off to check them out. Good news; the place looked good..the bad news: they were shut for their 2 hr lunch break..don’t you just love the French!!
We managed to get enough air into the tyre for Rob to ride the bike to the motorcycle dealer and we waited outside for the 14:00 afternoon opening. As luck would have it they had the right tyre and were prepared to fit it immediately. This was a real result, otherwise Rob’s trip could have been over on day one!! 🙂
We made it to Amboise on some great rural roads and after several cold beers we walked into town for good dinner.
On the morning of 9th July we set off riding South for Condat in the Massif Central region of France, 250 miles; from here on in we are having fun on the really good roads 🙂 As shown in the video at the end!
Our hotel that night was Le Lac des Moines (lake of the monks), in a really nice position beside a lake. It was warm so we ate dinner outside next to the lake. Check out the video..you will note that I’m not present yet at the pre-dinner beer drinking..I’m still in the shower, or applying the moisturiser 🙂
The next day our destination was a small town near the famous Gorge du Tarn, a ride of 200 miles. The following day we did a loop through and around the Gorge riding through rock arches as the roads followed the gorge ..check out the video. We stopped for coffee in a small village, which I realised I had stayed at during my first ever riding trip to France way back in the early 1990s! We rode further south on more great roads and spent our final night in France at a rather posh (for us) hotel.
Its now day 6 and we enter Spain, skirting Andorra and pick up the fantastic N260 into the Pyrenees. As you will see from the video, the roads in the Pyrenees are fantastic; great road surface, twisty and seem to go on for ever. Motorbiking heaven 🙂
On 13th July we set off West for our one of our favourite overnight stops in the town of Anisa. More great roads. During the journey Stuart’s Triumph 1050 Super Sport somehow fell over and broke one of the riders foot pegs (well it was the 13th!!)..the service team soon had it fixed by replacing it with the pillion footrest.
The temperature was rising as we rode through the Pyrenees, we are now getting afternoon temperatures up to 36C, which is certainly hot enough!!! After a great day’s ride arrived at Anisa; a shower and several beers later we climbed the 1000 steps up to the Old Town and headed for the pizza restaurant.
For the next two days we rode south west across Spain on more great roads, heading for Portugal and the famous Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela. The temperature was rising every day, we saw our first 40C..which is 104 Fahrenheit!! With the sun and the heat it was not a surprise when we saw smoke on the horizon where we were headed. We stopped to decide it it was on our route..it was! We had a coffee stop planned in a town very near the fire; as we had our coffee helicopters were flying low overhead to water bomb the flames! As we left the town the road was closed so we did a quick diversion and carried on into Portugal.
Make sure to watch my video which shows the helicopters coming in dropping their water bombs..
We had a great day riding in Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela before heading north through Portugal aiming for Potes in the Spanish Picos de Europa. The temperature was rising even more and mid afternoon it hit 43C..109.4 degs F!!
I can tell you that riding in that temperature is like having a hot hairdryer blowing in your face! You have to close your visor and your jacket to keep the heat out. At 15:00 there is not a sole to be seen on the roads..all the locals are tucked up behind their shutters and don’t come out until later in the evening. Only people on the road was us crazy Brits on a mission to get to our next hotel for cold beer!!
As we rode north through Portugal the roads were great, but soon we could see smoke again on the horizon. We stopped and looked across the valley at a raging wild fire, with our road running straight through it!!
We carried on and thankfully the road took us through parts which the fire had already ripped through..it was an eyrie scene with burnt trees; white ash everywhere and heavy smell of smoke in the air. Only at one point did we actually pass within feet of the flames, which had just sprung up in a new area. Time to get out of there ASAP!
Check out the video, which shows us riding through the fire!!
We carried on and soon crossed the border back into Spain and into the fantastic Picos de Europa and our final night at our favourite hotel in Potes. We stopped on the way at the top of the Picos by the famous statue of the stag and looked out across the mountains.
We were greeted by the hotel staff as long lost friends ( we must have stayed 6 or more times over the years). Our dinner was steak, with lots of red wine to wash down the pre-dinner beers. 🙂
The next morning we set off for the port of Bilbao to catch our 14:00 departure, overnight ferry back to the UK. The arrival time the next day was 20:45 ..so 30+ hours at sea!!
In the end we didn’t dock until 21:30 and then the great British passport control staff made all the bikers take their helmets off to check faces against passport photos! What a total waste of time..how many illegal immigrants arrive on expensive motorcycles, having paid to catch a ferry to the UK??? !!!!
It rained on the way home, but luckily my route missed it.. arrived home around midnight.
What a great trip..3000 miles, 3 countries, great roads, great scenery, good company and lots of adventure. Thank you Bernard for all the planning and organisation ( can we go in September next year?); thank you Gary for allowing use of the great drone footage!!
Thank you for reading..here is the video..make sure to watch and bring this adventure to life 🙂
And finally, I’ll leave you with a couple of thoughts 🙂
Can’t wait for for my next advenutre..2000 miles riding in California during October 2022..stay tuned folks!
20th August 2022
I actually returned from the Bosnia trip, first of my 3 big trips this year, on the 23rd June; its taken me since then to get my thoughts together and produce a record of the trip. Two weeks after returning I was back on the bike setting off for my second big trip of the year to France, Spain & Portugal. Just enough time to get the bike serviced in between. In my rush to prepare the action cam for the second trip I managed to delete all of the on bike footage from the Bosnia trip!! Thought I’d transferred the video clips from the SD card to my PC, so I formatted the SD card; to my dismay found I had actually wiped the lot 🙁
However, the good news is that I had also taken lots of photos and video clips on my iPhone and I have been able to put them together into a 14 min highlight video which you can watch on YouTube at Big John Moto Touring Adventures. The link is at the end of this post..make sure to watch it!
The first 5 days of the trip I was riding solo to Croatia; travelling through Belgium, France & Germany, then across the Alps via Austria and into Italy and Slovenia, to meet up with my friend Bernard in Split, Croatia; we would take 8 days to ride back together via Bosnia & Herzegovina, then up through Slovenia and across the Italian Dolomites, before heading back to Calais via Austria, Germany and France. The trip turned out to be a great Adventure, with a few “moments” along the way, through some amazing scenery, with great roads, and 9 countries each with their own special culture 🙂
On Saturday 11th June I set off for the Channel Tunnel to make the crossing to France; on the M20 I saw signs “long delays at Eurotunnel”, my heart sank. Thankfully I found that the long queues were only for lorries bogged down with all the Euro zone paperwork. I’d hate to be a lorry driver! The queue for me at check in was short and I was through in no time and on the train, which left on time 🙂
(You can double click on any of the photos in this post to see full screen)
Once in France I took motorways and N roads to crunch the miles to Metz and my first night hotel, 400 miles from home. On arrival at the hotel I was told that the restaurant was closed and would only be serving breakfast!..but they were serving beer at the bar 🙂 Using my schoolboy French I found out there was an Italian restaurant 5 mins walk away. I arrived to be told they were fully booked, but I could have a take away pizza. After pizza and a few beers I slept like a log.
My second day destination was Weingarten, in Germany..285 miles. The route would take me via Les Vosges Nord and then on to the famous B500 through the Black Forest in Germany. No more motorways, nice roads all the way.
The B500 turned out to be a real disappointment as all the best bits now had 50kms/hr speed limit (31miles/hr)!! Last time I rode the B500 was probably nearly 10 yrs ago; It was a great road and fun to ride; it had the reputation of being somewhat of a race track for motorcyclists however..not any more! 🙁 The Black Forest is certainly a picturesque area; I managed to find a track leading deep into the forest and a quiet spot to have the rest of last nights pizza for lunch ( make sure to watch the video at the end).
The hotel that night was a nice family run guesthouse right in the middle of Weingarten, serving good beer and a nice dinner 🙂
I woke up on the morning of day 3 to find it was raining, the forecast suggested I should be clear of it by lunchtime. My destination would be Mittersill in Austria, a ride of 250 miles on increasingly twisty mountain roads through ski areas and mountain passes across the Alps.
As I rode to higher altitudes in the rain I was often in the clouds; it was good to have the SatNav to show me where the road was going! Mid morning I came through a small village and decided to stop for a coffee to get a break from the rain.
The rain stopped and the afternoon was dry; the roads were fantastic, as was the scenery. (Check out the video) Towards the end of the day my route took me to the fantastic Gerlos Alpenstrasse, a toll road pass in the Austrian Alps. Wow! what a road, I had real fun riding it..a great way to finish off the day.
I arrived at my hotel about 19:30 and the place was packed with people drinking beer, dressed in Tyrolian hats and lederhosen! They had a big fish tank, so fish for dinner it was 🙂
Day 4 was to be a big day. My route would take the Grossglockner High Alpine Pass across the Alps, down into Italy briefly and then on through Slovenia and my hotel for the night in a small rural town called Retje. 245 miles and 7hrs 15 riding time according to my SatNav.
The Grossglockner is one of the main passes over the Austrian Alps; 3798m high and 48kms (30miles) long it is a toll road and costs 28 Euro for a motorcycle. Sounds a lot but well worth it for the views and the great road, which is the highest paved road in Austria. Thankfully it was a really nice sunny day and it felt like being on top of the world at the highest point. Lots of bikers were out, as well as crazy cyclists puffing and panting up the steep inclines. (check out the video)
My second major pass of the day would take me from Austria into Italy..this one turned out to be a real adventure!! Deep in ski territory I wound my way up the Austrian side of the pass and at the top was the ski resort of Nassfeld, ahead was the border with Italy..and a sign which I interpreted as “Road ahead closed”!! I certainly didn’t need that and a long detour back the way I’d come! As I was stopped wondering what to do, a cyclist waved at me and indicated for me to carry on; chances were I thought there would be road works ahead, but enough room for a motorbike to get through..so I rode on.
The road surface of the SP10 on the Italian side was very poor as I started my winding decent into Italy. I had ridden for probably 5 or 6 miles and rounded a corner to find road works and a big truck blocking the road, but with enough space for a motorbike to pass..there were 3 guys working there and one of them stood in front of the gap and started shouting and waving for me to trun around. I stopped my engine and said “parlare inglese” (speak English) in my best Italian. He continued to shout at me in Italian and I pointed to the gap and indicated that I wanted to go through. At this point I thought I heard him say “three coffees”, and wondered what he meant; he said it again and suddenly the penny dropped..did he want payment for him and his friends to let me go through? I had to laugh and got out a 5 Euro note which did the trick and he waved me through!! I was happy to pay the “toll” as it saved me many miles and lots of time. 🙂
I reached the end of the pass and came into the small town of Pontebba, it was about 14:00 so decided to stop at a café for a cold drink. As I sat there checking the next part of my route I noticed the immaculately dressed local policeman “Polizia Locale” standing with a large glass of white wine, chatting to some of the locals. Maybe it was his lunch break I thought..or maybe it was a “public relations” visit..either way he was enjoying his wine and another large glass was delivered soon 🙂
I continued my journey and was soon crossing into Slovenia, which is a really nice picturesque country with great roads. I started to leave the mountains on rural roads, with good surface (unlike our awful pothole riddled UK roads) and arrived at Guesthouse Ana overlooking the small town of Retje. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the place had recently been refurbished, room was great and they had a nice restaurant with piped very jolly accordion music playing, which the locals all seemed to like 🙂 (check out the video)
Day 5 I set off on the Slovenia back roads heading for the Croatian border, my destination is Sebinik, a small seaside town on the Adriatic coast. 212 miles today. Taking it easy on a twisty road near the border I came up behind another motorcycle with pillion; I waited until I could overtake safely and we waved to each other. A couple of miles later I rounded a bend and ahead was a barrier and a small hut at the Slovenian border; the border police wanted to see my passport and went away to check it out. Couple of minutes later the other motorcycle arrived; it was a Slovenian couple, they saw my UK plate and the wife happened to speak reasonable English. We had quiet a chat and the husband wanted a photo 🙂 His wife said they were impressed with how fast I was riding..I didn’t like to tell them that I was actually taking it easy at the time! 🙂
The Slovenian police waved me through and 100 yds round the next bend was the Croatian border..another 15mins wasted checking passport!
I was soon on the Adriatic coast highway heading south; the sun was out and it was getting hot..30C. It was great riding down the coast with the blue sea stretching out ahead.
My hotel was right on the sea front, I sat with a cool beer watching the rich people on their yachts and enjoyed the “holiday moment”.
Day 6 I set off early to meet up with Bernard at our arranged rendezvous point just outside Split, about an hour’s ride away. We then set off together for the Bosnian border on our way to Mostar and the famous Old Bridge.
Mostar is quiet a large town, the bridge is in the Old Town area. The famous bridge was originally built by the Ottermans in the 16th century; it was rebuilt in 2001 after the Bosnian war and is considered to be a fine example of Islamic architecture in the Balkans. We didn’t want to park and walk into the Old Town in the heat, instead we managed to stop on another bridge just upstream and take a few photos without getting run over by the steams of traffic.
We spent the night in the town of Livno, about 100 miles north of Mostar; our hotel Dinara was a large rather grand, but faded, hotel in the middle of town..we got the impression that we were the only guests; there were no other people around whatsoever, other than the old guy on reception. Through a mixture of Google translate and sign language we managed to get a recommendation for a restaurant and an idea of how to get there. It turned out to be the best restaurant in town and we had an exceptional grilled fish platter for two at a very reasonable price; the only problem, there are no restrictions on smoking indoors in Bosnia..one forgets how nasty it can be when you’re eating!
Day 7 We continued our way northwards, riding some great roads through rural areas and small villages, with hardly any traffic. (check out the video) One thing we noticed was the large number of derelict properties along the way, with new houses built right next to them! Our conclusion was that this dated back to the Bosnian war in the 1990s when many properties were destroyed. Why they never demolished them is a mystery. Googling came up with the following….Housing destruction and forced expulsions were used as a method of ethnic cleansing during the war in Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH). Thirty-seven per cent of pre-war housing stock was partially or totally destroyed. When the Dayton Peace Agreement ended conflict in 1995 over half the pre-war B&H population had been forced to leave home.
It was really hot, so just before leaving Bosnia we stopped for a cold drink at a café beside a beautiful lake.
Day8 We had spent the previous night at a nice modern hotel/restaurant in Slovenia; today we would continue north through Slovenia and then west into Italy and through the Dolomites to Villa Santina for the night. 230 miles on some seriously twisty, scenic roads. It was my turn to lead and one point I must have missed a turning, so my Garmin quickly picked up a new route which took us up into the Slovenian hills on some nice back roads..there came a point however when the SatNav wanted to take me off on unpaved roads, so I decided it was time to stop and figure out where we were (much to Bernard’s relief). We used the opportunity to have a lunch break by the roadside in a very pretty rural area way up in the Slovenia hills..all part of the Adventure!!! 🙂
We found our way back to the original route and soon crossed into Italy, making for Villa Santina. We arrived at the hotel around 18:30; in the car park already were 8 German bikes, but no sign of any people; just inside the door of the hotel was a chair and on it was a key with my name on it..no hotel staff anywhere to be seen, also there was a notice saying that the restaurant and bar were closed for the night, but would be open for breakfast in the morning! The hotel had received good reviews on Booking.com, so this all seemed very strange!
We let ourselves into the room, which could best be described as “basic”, but at least the shower worked.and there was a plug for the sink 🙂 We then set about Googling to find a restaurant nearby and came up with a pizzeria a short walk away; a basic place with wooden benches..but they served beer and the red wine was inexpensive. The pizzas turned out to be a new experience..check out the pics. I reminded Bernard again that the trip was an Adventure..not a holiday” 🙂
Day 9 We set off after breakfast for our next destination, Merano in Italy, only 170 miles today; our route would take us through the very scenic Dolomites on some fantastic, very twisty mountain roads, it was a great day’s ride. ..check out the video.
Our hotel in Merano was a very nice restaurant with rooms above it..a big improvement on the night before! We celebrated in style with a seafood platter and a nice carafe of white wine to wash down the beers 🙂
Day 10 270 miles to Barental in the German Black Forest. This was always going to be long tough day, crossing from Italy to Austria and then a long stretch of motorway/major roads in Germany around Lake Konstanz to avoid travelling through Switzerland and paying their exorbitant motorway vignette charges. The day started well as we rode over the fantastic Timmelsjoch pass into Austria.
As we entered Austria the scenery was spectacular, we stopped to look down this fantastic valley. Check out the video…
As we entered Germany the temperature was 30C+, we made slow progress through heavy urban traffic; filtering past stationary cars as best we could..it was HOT, then we came upon a police roadblock. Thankfully they didn’t seem interested in us, only stopping and searching cars. As we entered the motorway we found four lanes of stationary traffic for as far as we could see. We squeezed between the cars; some were happy to lets us through, other hot and angry drivers tried to block us. We decided to come off at the first available junction to get away from the madness; at the exit there was a major police presence. (We subsequently found out from the local news that a policeman had been shot and all the chaos was due to the police activity trying to catch the assailant)
We were now well off the route and well behind schedule so we just plugged the hotel destination into the SatNav and let it figure out how to get there. The route turned out to be major roads full of lorries and roadworks.. a nightmare journey in the heat. Finally we arrived at our hotel in the Black Forest at 19:30, it was to be a 2 night stay. We were tired and ready for beer and dinner. But things were about to turn from bad to worse!!
At check in we asked about dinner, the manager replied that we should have reserved our place no later than 5pm, so they were fully booked and we could not have dinner! There was restaurant 15mins walk away he said! We argued that we’d had a long day and were tired, as guests of the hotel we expected to be served! When booking the room we had not been advised about their rules; voices were raised by this point and the manager then said “if you don’t like it go find another hotel”. I was really angry and told the guy in no uncertain terms that his attitude was totally unacceptable, we weren’t going anywhere so he better sort it out! We had the room key so we went to the room. 5 mins later the room phone rang, they had found a table for us as someone had “cancelled”, but we had to come down as soon as possible..result!! The meal was fine and the beer was good! Apart from the manager it was a really nice hotel with swimming pool and in a nice position (check out the video)
Day 11 Our original plan was to ride a loop of the Black Forest, but after the bad day yesterday we decide to have a rest day. We checked out the local village, did some bike maintenance to try and find out why my bike was overheating (gummed up radiator fins), had a nice lunch and a swim in the pool. That evening there was a spectacular sunset and we got talking and had a laugh with a German couple, the husband was a farmer and had definitely had a few beers.
Day 12 Our last night destination was Metz in France, 270 miles via a good route through the French Vosges. As we set off it was raining and continued to do so most of the day. Lunch was a roadside layby kitchen; the French version of the British one man band with his trailer.
Day 13 Metz to Calais Eurotunnel..We took the toll roads, 300 motorway miles and then another 125 on the dreaded M25 and finally A41 to home.
Conclusion: A GREAT trip ..3,200 miles in all. A real Adventure though 9 countries. Fantastic roads and scenery, lots of beer and red wine!!
We embraced the reality of unintended consequence 🙂
Thanks for reading my ramblings..make sure to watch the video which will bring this great trip to life 🙂
11th March 2022
Hi Folks..hope you’re all well and no doubt looking forward to getting back out into the World again after being cooped up for the last couple of years !
My start to 2022 could have been better; our whole family caught Covid during Christmas; including son, wife & grandkids who were visiting from USA. Thankfully our 3 jabs lessened the symptoms, but we didn’t do much partying!
Last week I had my 4th hernia repair (twice on each side); currently I’m taking it easy for the next few weeks recovering before getting back on the bike, raring to go as a new man!
Well they say that “Every cloud has a silver lining”; for me the enforced rest has allowed me to finalise plans for 3 great adventures in 2022; as follows: JUNE – ROUND TRIP TO BALKANS; JULY – FRANCE, SPAIN & PORTUGAL; OCTOBER – USA, TOUR OF CALIFORNIA.
So, unless Putin blows us all to hell..or we get zapped with another pandemic, 2022 is going to be a great biking year!! 😀😎
ROUND TRIP TO BALKANS – Approx. 3000 miles
One of the trips that had to be postponed in 2021 because of Covid was a return to Romania; my friend Bernard and I had visited in 2014. Romania is a long way from the UK and this was planned as a 4000 mile adventure. Fact is that during the 2 years of Covid restrictions time moves on and it just would not be possible to fit in a trip as long as this with everything else I wanted to do in 2022. So I decided to cut 1000 miles out of the trip and here is the new plan!
Channel Tunnel to Calais then riding through France & Belgium to Baden Baden, Germany; then the famous B500 South, before heading East through Austria and taking the Grossglockner High Alpine Pass further South and into Slovenia; skirting Ljubljana and over to Rijeka in Croatia; then South down the Adriatic coast to Split where I will meet up with my friend Bernard. Bernard will have ridden down a week or so earlier and spent a few days holidaying with his wife, who will then fly back to UK. Bernard and I will then head off into Bosnia Herzegovina making for Mostar and its famous bridge.
We will do a loop through Bosnia and then head North, finally crossing back into Croatia before entering Slovenia and then on to Italy and West through the Dolomites. All the very best roads and mountain passes and then back into Austria before skirting Lake Constance on the German side and spending 2 nights in the Black Forest for a day loop ride on some great roads.
From there we will cross into France and ride through Les Vosges heading North to spend our last night in Metz, before jumping on the motorway back to Calais and home.
FRANCE, SPAIN & PORTUGAL – Approx. 3200 miles
For several years in a row my friend Bernard has organised a trip to the Pyrenees; its always a great trip with great roads and there is a group of 7 of us who try to make the trip. I missed last year’s adventure as it was at the same time I was due to be in Alaska, USA, riding down to SF. My trip got cancelled however, due to Covid, and I ended up doing my own trip to Scotland instead.
I am very pleased to be able to join Bernard & the guys this year for what should be a really good one. 😀 There is one challenge however; this trip leaves just 2 weeks after we get back from the 3000 mile Balkans trip! So during that time I need to get the bike serviced and a new set of tyres fitted, as well as completing the long list of domestic “to dos” that I’m sure will be waiting for me!
We will cross the channel by ferry to Cherbourg and then ride down through France, avoiding Motorways, heading to the Massif Central region with its fantastic motor biking roads. We will then ride South, skirting Andorra, and into the Spanish Pyrenees. From Ripoll we will head West through the Pyrenees to Pamplona and then across Spain to enter Portugal through Serra da Estrela Natural Park, which is situated in the largest mountain range in Portugal. After enjoying the roads in the mountains we will head North and re-enter Spain riding through the fabulous Picos de Europa mountains, spending our last night in Potes. In the morning we head for Bilbao and our overnight ferry back to Portsmouth, UK. Total mileage approx. 3200.
USA, TOUR OF CALIFORNIA – 7 Days 2000mls
Back in 2020 at the start of the pandemic I was disappointed to have to cancel a riding trip to Thailand; later in the year during one of the lockdowns I decided to plan a really big trip for 2021 instead. This would be Alaska down to San Francisco; on the assumption that it would all be over by August 21 this would be my main trip for the year and would be tied in with a visit to my son & family who live in SF.
As we know now International travel restrictions continued right through the year, especially where USA & Canada were concerned. Therefore I was forced to postpone that trip until 2022. MotoQuest, the bike rental company, offered to carry over my non-refundable $1000 deposit and BA gave me a flight voucher, so my plan was to do the Trip in August 2022 instead.
However, time moves on and things change; by the beginning of 2022, with the Balkans trip & France, Spain, Portugal trip already booked, there is no way I can justify either the time (one whole month away), or the cost (approx.. £7K) of the Alaska trip in 2022. One option could be to try and reschedule again to 2023, but as I don’t have a crystal ball I decided best to focus on the short term!
So, I worked on planning a shorter and less expensive US trip which would enable me to use my non-refundable $1000 deposit with MotoQuest, and my BA flight voucher which expires at end of 2022. In view of my other 2 trips being in the summer months I decided to go to California in the autumn, which would still be quiet warm. Also, flights are cheaper and so is motorcycle rental at that time of year. As a result I managed to get 7 days rental of a F850GS and my return flight sorted for only £100 more in total than the money I had already spent last year! So this trip will be seriously good value 😀
I will fly into SFO and spend 3 nights initially at my son’s house, then pick up the bike from MotoQuest in SF and head South. My route has been planned to take in as many of the best biking roads and scenery as possible in NorthCal. I will take Mines Rd, which is a nice twisty road, over Mt Hamilton and then skirting San Jose, ride down to Monterey. From there 17 Mile Drive and Route 1 down PCH to Big Sur; continuing for about 100 miles before turning inland and heading for Sequoia National Park and then Kings Canyon in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The route will then head north through Yosemite National Park and on to Lake Tahoe; finally heading west across to Interstate 5 for a blast further north up to Klamath National Forest on the Oregon border. From here I will head back south on Hwy 96 and finally join Route 101, Coast Hwy at the quaintly named town of Eureka.
Further south after riding Redwood Hwy and Avenue of the Giants I will join Route 1 Coast Hwy (northern PCH) all the way down to San Francisco, then ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and return the bike to MotoQuest on Treasure Island.
I will then spend a further few days with my son & grandkids, before flying back to UK.
So 2022 is planned to be a really great biking year and I’m praying that no more awful World events happen again!
I intend to record footage of each trip and post videos on my YouTube channel, so thanks for following..and stay tuned!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUTWad2yIrN0hMHubRajEhUw
And finally, here is a pic of my Christmas present..a Tshirt from the grandkids!! 😎
Hi Folks, hope you’re all well?
Its been a quiet a while since I’ve posted, but thanks to the horrible cold and damp UK winter weather, and my bike wrapped up in the garage ( with its heater), I’ve finally had the time to look back to September, my last trip of 2021; as well as doing lots of planning for 2022!!
Due to international Covid travel restrictions for most of 2021, my trip to Alaska was just not possible so the big plans had to be postponed; my touring focus was England, Wales & Scotland. Still managed to clock up 8,500 miles exploring our best roads and countryside. In September the weather forecast looked good for a trip up to Scotland, so I set off on a hastily planned 7 day adventure 🙂
Make sure to click the YouTube link at the end of this post to watch the video which showcases the highlights of my trip, featuring the “Skyfall Road”, North Coast 500, “Pass of the Cattle”, the Cairngorms and lots of beautiful scenery.
I travelled up via a nice route through Yorkshire and the North Pennines, all the roads up there are made for motorbikes! I hopped on the M74 North to make up some time, then came off and headed West, across Ayrshire, to Irvine on the Firth of Clyde. Continued the journey North along the coast, avoiding Glasgow, to catch the McInroy’s Point to Hunters Quay, Dunoon ferry .
I can recommend this route which has far less traffic as it avoids Glasgow and the main A82, with the option to join the A82 further North. The ferry costs just £5 for a motorbike!
For my first night in Scotland I stayed at the Wistlefield Inn, at Dunoon. A really nice friendly pub/restaurant with rooms overlooking Lock Eck.
On the second day I rode through the fantastic Glen Coe, which is a beautiful valley with spectacular Scottish Highland scenery. I stopped off along the way to ride the “Skyfall Road”, so called as it was used as a dramatic location for one of the main scenes in the Bond movie “Skyfall
I continued riding North to my hotel for the night at Kyle of Lochalsh; my route took me along the fantastic stretch of the A87 from Invergarry to Kyle; 50 miles of some of the best riding in the Highlands!!
Kyle really is a one horse town at the start of the bridge across Loch Alsh to the Isle of Skye. I arrived at the hotel on Saturday night after 200+ mile ride, to be greeted with the information there would be no dinner served that night due to Covid issues!! So where am I going to eat in this shitty little town? I was not best pleased after a long day!!
The day was saved by the Chinese takeaway shack down the road, the food (which I ate in my room) was actually quiet good. Followed by a couple of pints in the hotel bar being talked at by an old local guy whose accent was so strong I had no idea what he was saying! That’s life on the road 🙂
For my 3rd day I would pick up the North Coast 500 and follow it hugging the coast all the way up to Ullapool for that night. Starting off with the treacherous and barren single track road Bealach na Ba..”Pass of the cattle” to Applecross. During my last trip it was raining heavily and the top was covered in cloud; this time I made it without crashing! (check out my 2020 trip video) Then on past great scenery along the coast, much of the road being single track with passing places. I had allowed for slow progress and planned on a short 150 mile day.
Around lunchtime it started to rain; it always does on a Scottish trip!! I stopped at a petrol station for some shelter and a coffee; got talking to a couple of other bikers, turned out they were also planning to stay in Ullapool. They had heard that none of hotels were serving dinner due to a shortage of chefs caused by Covid!
I arrived in Ullapool wet and tired; thankfully there was a very good fish & chip shop near the hotel that was doing great trade. When you realise where Ullapool is and in September the tourist trade is tailing off,I can understand why they would have trouble getting chefs to work there!!
The route for my 4th day in Scotland would take me along the A939 through the Caingorms National Park. This is fantastic motorcycling territory, with very little traffic. In winter it is a popular skiing area.
A quick stop off at Braemar to take a pic of the 17th century castle, which is currently being renovated.
That night I stayed at Kinross, on Loch Leven, between Perth and Edinburgh. Nice family run hotel, gave me a great big room and I’m pleased to say served a very good dinner, which I was please to see after the last 2 nights of enforced takeaways!
Day 5 would see me cross back into England then ride down the North East coast, through Northumberland National Park across the North Pennines to Barnard Castle. As a send off they gave me the biggest breakfast I’ve ever seen, certainly no need for lunch!!
It usually rains every day when I visit Scotland, but this time only wet for half a day 🙂 Each time I’ve visited Scotland before its been late September, this time it was early September and it was definitely still midge season! These things swarm around you, get in your hair and bite you..best to be avoided!!
Overall this was a great trip, about 1700 miles in all. I met lots of other bikers along the way and had many good chats during rest stops. One particular guy really made an impression on me!..and no I didn’t ask what we wore underneath 🙂
So thanks for reading this post; now its time to bring it all to life by watching the YouTube video which showcases the highlights of my trip, featuring the “Skyfall Road”, North Coast 500, “Pass of the Cattle”, the Cairngorms and lots of beautiful scenery. (Turn your sound on!!)
August 2021
Hi Folks..hope you’re all well in spite of Covid and Lockdowns; finally there is light at the end of the tunnel now with the vaccines!
Its been over 9 months since I last posted; 2021 has become a year of cancelled/postponed International travel plans for us all in UK and that includes what was to be my big trip for the year; riding from Anchorage, AK down through Canada to San Francisco, CA USA. I was due to leave on 20th August, everything was booked..flights, rental Vstrom 650, hotels etc.
However, as of today the American border remains closed to UK tourists, so I can’t get into USA and even if I could Canada has closed its borders to all tourists, other than double jabbed Americans; so no option but to cancel the trip for this year! 🙁
I have managed to get a flight voucher for the BA flight value and have cancelled all 16 hotels, without penalty via Booking.com. The motorcycle rental company, MotoQuest, has carried over my deposit and I have rebooked 21 days rental during end August/early September 2022. I’m just hoping the World will be in a better place a year from now and then I can finally get to ride the fantastic route that I have mapped out!
So for the time being it looks like bike trips will be confined to the UK only.. time to get some new tyres fitted!
Following the end of lockdown hotels were able to re-open in mid May and soon after that 8 of us went back to Wales and had 3 really good days riding there. Then in July a group of 4 of us rode up North, through Yorkshire Dales, North Pennines and into the Scottish Border country. Great roads and fantastic scenery made it a really four day day adventure.
In between these trips I am riding day trips whenever the weather is good through the Cotswolds, Midlands and East Midlands. There are lots of good roads and its nice countryside.
The thing about day trips; its always a loop.. and I get fed up with riding round in circles. I need to go somewhere I haven’t been before! “Ride” magazine had published a whole load of routes throughout the UK for us bikers marooned in the UK for 2021; so I decided I’d fit in a mini trip; just one night away, to explore the Lincolnshire Wolds & Fens, in the Eastern part of England.
The Wolds is designated as an Area of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB) and the Fens are flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system of drainage channels and man-made rivers dykes and drains. Lincolnshire has a long coastal area and I booked an hotel near Cleethorpes, just South of the famous fishing port of Grimsby.
In summary, it was a great trip; the weather was good, the roads were a mix of fast and twisty, the landscape was flat, the hotel was OK and they did a mean Jalfrezi for dinner. I had a nice chat with a guy on a BMW R18 I met at a petrol station and I rode along the promenade at the seaside town of Cleethorpes. It was just nice to go somewhere different. 🙂
I’ve made a short video of the trip..check out those roads!!
And to finish; stay safe & just remember one thing….
Wednesday 21st October 2020
Having already enjoyed trips to the North of England and Scotland it was time for a visit to Wales before the winter; I can then say I have visited all the countries of Great Britain in 2020!
Wales is rather like Scotland in that it rains a lot this time of year, so planning dates ahead is rather like playing roulette. Thankfully I have formed a good relationship with Martin, the owner of The Elan Hotel in Rhayader, having brought various groups of bikers to his hotel over the years. Not only does he kindly offer us a discounted room rate, but also will be flexible on cancellation terms in the event of heavy rain forecasted. I booked rooms for a group of 7 of us for 3 nights starting Tues 22nd Sept; when it came to our decision deadline sure enough rain was forecast during our 4 day ride. At the last minute Martin let us change the dates and we brought the trip forward a day; this turned out to be a great move as Monday 21st Sept was a beautiful warm sunny day 🙂
5 of us (Chris, Matt, Colin, Andy Shep and me) set of from Oxford on the Monday morning and by lunchtime we were in the Brecon Beacons National Park to meet up with our 6th member, Yorkshire John. (Big Richard, the 7th member would join us at the hotel the next day)
Our route took us through the National Park and then over the Black Mountains to the fantastic Llyn Brianne reservoir not far from Llandovery. The scenery here is spectacular but the roads around the reservoir are narrow, undulating, strewn with sheep and often areas of uneven surface..ideal for our Adventure bikes..2 x BMW GS, 3 x KTM and then Shep with his Yam MT-10 Naked street bike.
After more great roads our next stop was Devils Bridge and the Two Hoots café for a cuppa; unfortunately the café was closed because of Covid and the lack of tourists. There is a little shop opposite which sells ice creams and chocolate, so it was ice cream on a sunny day in Wales. From there we took the mountain road to Rhayader; fantastic open moorland, narrow road, lots of sheep..a great ride to the Elan Hotel and a couple of pints of the local beer at the end of a good day.
The next morning, after a full Welsh breakfast, we set off on a 250 mile loop up to Snowdonia.
The route took us via the fantastic Crossgates to Newtown road..20+ miles of fast twisty and sweeping road and after Welshpool to Lake Vyrnwy, where we stopped for coffee. We set off again for Bala via Bwlch y Groes (Pass of the Cross) a stunning, narrow mountain road. Some of the guys had a quick stop to water the foliage on the way..
We filled up with petrol in Bala and then headed off to Snowdonia. As we started to climb higher the temperature dropped and it started to drizzel; as we turned onto a long stretch of open moorland road we rode into thick mist. After a quick discussion we decided to abandon that part of the route and head back South to try and miss the worst of the rain..such is the weather up in the hills and mountains of Snowdonia.
By the time we had ridden 40 miles South and had lunch the rain had stopped, so we took the superb mountain road from Machynlleth to Llanidloes. On reaching Llanidloes I pulled in at a petrol station thinking that Andy Shep would need to fill up his small tank..and noticed coolant spurting out from the front of his bike!!! Turns out that a few miles back he had collided with a pheasant!! Upon closer inspection it soon became evident that the radiator was punctured. Colin tried in vain to fix it with Radweld purchased from the garage, so we concluded that was the end of Andy’s ride and it was time to call the breakdown recovery service, by now it was nearly 4pm 🙁
They told Andy it would be several hours before they would arrive to transport him and the bike back home to Chesham that night. Being decent guys we waited with Andy for a couple of hours and then decided it was beer’oclock and time for us to get back to the hotel and leave Andy at the garage with his wounded bike. Its all part of the Adventure 🙂
About 9pm that night Andy actually turned up at our hotel, having spent 5hrs or so by the side of the road waiting..change of plan; they would take him home by taxi in the morning (180 miles away) and deliver his bike back a couple of days later!
Day 3..weather forecast for our route up to Caernarfon and back via Snowdonia looked like we would miss any rain. Big Richard had joined us last night, but we were still 6, as we had lost Andy. We set out via the Elan valley and took the mountain road to Aberystwyth for coffee on the sea front.
After Caernarfon the plan was to take the A5 to Caple Curig; about halfway there I had planned a surprise for the guys in the form of a narrow side road that runs parallel to the A5 for a few miles through fantastic scenery. The entrance to this road even caught me out (and I was expecting it) so I did a quick U turn, followed by Colin, Matt & John Y; but Chris and Big Richard did not follow, believing I had made a mistake.
A mile or so down this narrow track I pulled over and shortly we were joined by Chris & Rich, who were surprised when they realised I’d actually researched and planned the route.
Day 4..time to head for home..in the RAIN! We’d had 3 days good riding so we took the shortest route back. Wales has great roads and scenery and if the weather is good its biking heaven..we’ll be back again for sure 🙂
So for me that’s pretty much it for 2020..3 great trips within Great Britain. As winter closes in only a few odd days riding now until the Spring; so my thoughts turn to 2021. I’m already committed to a 4,500 mile ride from Anchorage, Alaska to San Francisco, CA via the Canadian Rockies..bike rental deposit paid and BA sale price ticket bought to SFO! Hopefully the World will be more settled place by September 2021 when I will do the ride.
I’ve just checked the site stats for bigjohnsmotobikeadventures.com and I am amazed to find that I’ve had visitors from 52 different countries, covering 6 continents of the world during the year to date. Not bad for a little blog that was only ever aimed at friends and family!
Thank you all for following me during 2020. Please stay tuned and stay safe and watch out for updates as I plan for the big Alaskan Adventure of 2021.
