7 days of great riding in the Pyrenees…Part 2

So here is the trip summary Part 2..7 days of great riding in the Pyrenees 🙂

Those who haven’t read Part 1 yet might want to start with the previous post 🙂

In Part 2 we are starting from the right hand side of the map (East), going West.

Day 5: 3rd September 18, Roses to Berga, Spain..305 Kms

This morning I had a thick head..might have been last night’s red wine 🙂 Thankfully the road was straight to start with, then we got onto the very picturesque twisty coast road down to Tossa de Mar. A stop along the way gave Stu another chance to fly his drone.

We had coffee in Tossa and had parked our bikes on the pavement outside the café. Up drove the Guarda Civil and a “nice” policemen gave us the option of paying 200 Euro fine, or moving the bikes to a free car park nearby!…we drank up and went on our way!! 🙂

As we left Tossa the road was smooth, fast and sweeping..Bernard and I soon caught up with a local biker who was wearing leather jacket and shorts! This guy speeded up when he saw us behind him and really went for it, very smooth good rider; we were flying. Bernard on his 170bhp K1300S missile managed to take the guy on a straight between the corners, but my GS didn’t have the speed to take him as well, so I sat on his tail round the corners for several kms before we turned off..all good fun 🙂

Later there had been a rain shower as we approached a particularly narrow and twisty piece of road often under trees..the combination of wet road and wet leaves was not ideal, very slippery, it was hard work so took it easy!!

We arrived at our hotel and after a couple of beers walked to the old town of Berga to find a restaurant..it was Monday night and everything was closed! The receptionist at the hotel had mentioned a restaurant, but that was 15mins walk in the opposite direction.. when we arrived it was closed as well! In desperation we asked a local if he knew somewhere to eat that would be open; he didn’t speak much English but understood and asked us to follow him. The first place he went to was also closed; but the second he tried was open and we had a good meal; Gracias senor 🙂

More Catalan demonstrations in Berga

Day 6: 4th September 18, Berga to Ainsa, Spain..373 Kms

The weather forecast suggested that that we might catch a thunder storm or two today.

Off we went and were soon up into more fantastic roads and scenery.. in my opinion this was one of the best day’s riding of the entire trip. The roads are so smooth and very little traffic, this really is biking heaven 🙂

See for yourself https://youtu.be/E7NJFWO3QqM

We were soon up high and passing through deserted ski resorts looking for petrol and a lunch stop; we stopped a couple of times only to find places closed. Finally we found a nice place for lunch and a petrol station nearby.

Just look at this view https://youtu.be/0sZXPTnyYBA

After lunch we were still way up in the mountains on a great road and were brought to a halt due to a temporary traffic light as a big tree was sawn up and put on a trailer. We waited and shared the road with about 20 cyclists who were also caught in the hold up.

Here’s a quick video of the scenery, cut short because they opened the road again https://youtu.be/f0wk2spznug

We let the cyclists go first on the fast windy downhill descent..some of these guys were total nutters! Lycra shorts and skinny tyres and going at 70kms downhill..and taking the racing line between the corners trying to race us!! Finally we cleared them and went on our way 🙂

So much for the threat of rain, it was now blue sky and 30c 🙂 Down in the valley we reached a flat, sweeping piece of road and caught up with several Dutch bikers; we picked them off one at a time and then came up behind the leader, who decided to speed up. We took him on the next straight going well over the speed limit passing a policemen on the other side of the road who was just packing up his speed trap…lucky or what! 🙂

We arrived at Ainsa and after shower and a beer we climbed lots of steps up to the old town on the hill for Pizza and red wine; good way to end the day 🙂

Day 7: 5th September 18,Ainsa, to Pamplona Spain..322 Kms

That night I was woken by thunder & lightning ..well I think it was; either that or it was my room mate Gary! Good news there was no rain in the morning, but the roads were damp. Up we went to the twisty mountain roads, taking it easy dodging rockfalls, cattle and at one point held up by a full flock of sheep being driven along the road..see video below.

A musical encounter https://youtu.be/Kk6wpBObMBM

(sorry couldn’t figure out how to turn the video round)

It was only 13C up on the mountain top in the clouds as we rode through the deserted ski resorts. We had crossed into France and the road surface was not so good. The road then snaked through a gorge with overhanging rocks; picturesque but needed to concentrate on some of the tight damp corners. Finally we emerged back into Spain and more lovely smooth, sweeping roads and the temperature climbed to a nice 24C

After lunch we had the final 80kms which was a fantastic smooth sweeping road ending in the large city of Pamplona. To my surprise our hotel was quiet posh, a 4star and we were escorted to the parking garage underneath by a couple of flunkies.
That night after dinner we finished up in the Irish Bar (why not) for our last night in Spain..Guinness and Jamesons of course 🙂

1/2 Day: 6th September 18, Pamplona to Bilbao Spain..215 Kms

We decided to leave earlier than usual this morning so we were not rushing for the ferry; I set off in the lead but missed a turn in the city which resulted in Stuart being in front and taking over the lead. Soon he took a turn that my Sat Nav didn’t have, by now I was at the back trying to follow the group and then got stuck at traffic lights. When I got moving again found Mike waiting for me at the entrance to a motorway!!…this cannot be right surely? But can 4 Tom Toms be wrong?

My Garmin was showing a totally different route and soon it became clear that this was a TOLL Motorway, which we were suppose to avoid!! Bernard pulled in at services for petrol and discovered that his Tom Tom had decided to take an unplanned, different, route to the first coffee stop.. 🙁 Guys, you should have stuck with me and my Garmin 🙂

To Bernard’s credit he found a route off the motorway before the toll booth and got us back on the planned twisty route; then it started to rain. Time for Gary, with his cute AlpineStars leather jacket, to stop and struggle into his wet over suit 🙂

Those of us wearing good waterproof textile riding gear just watched his struggles and smiled 🙂 It continued to rain for quiet a while, but we continued our twisty route right to the end.

Our morning coffee stop was an interesting one…the lady who owned the café insisted on providing us with coffee and pastries for free! She came out and said she wanted to get on the back of Bernard’s bike and be whisked away..apparently she could also find 4 other girls for the rest of us too..whatever next ! 🙂

We rode through more rain and then we arrived at the ferry port..and the sun came out. A delay in loading and a medical emergency evacuation by helicopter during the night meant we arrived at Portsmouth at 5.30pm instead of 2:15, but the crossing was smooth and the ride home was dry 🙂

So..another Adventure is over; no dramas to report this time and no speeding tickets..I think!. A short trip, only 1750 miles in all compared to the 4,500 miles of my last trip, but lots of great scenery and smooth twisty roads with no traffic; Pyrenees = biking heaven.

Its my last big trip of 2018 and its already time for another bike service..I’ve ridden over 6000 miles in the last 2 months!

Well done Bernard for your meticulous planning and finding all the twistiest roads possible. Thank you Gary, Stu, Mike and Bernard for your company..shame about the snoring! 🙂

The question for me now is where to go in February 19.. to find somewhere warm to ride and break up the long winter ahead? I’ve done Thailand/Far East for the last 4 years so I think its time for a change.

I’m favouring Rajasthan in Northern India: riding the iconic Royal Enfield “Bullet 500” . I had spent a week in India back in the 1990s and have always wanted to go back. Bikes and curry..what a great combination!..watch this space 🙂

Thanks to all my followers 🙂