Riding in the Pyrenees..this is what we came for!
Day5..30th August 2019..Alp to Ainsa 400Kms 7hrs
A bit chilly in the morning when we set off but this was soon forgotten as soon as we reached the fabulous N260 and the fantastic 50kms stretch from Alp towards Ripoll. Its a spectacular stretch of road, smooth surface through spectacular scenery; thankfully hardly any traffic the whole way at this time of day, just the odd cyclist, so an opportunity to have a real blast.. This is what we came for.. 🙂
The other side of Ripol, in complete contrast to the N260, we encountered nearly 3okms of very tight corners on the Col de Merolla..literally right-left-right-left no time to rest; by the time we got to the end it was coffee time and we were knackered.
We set off to climb higher into the mountains via an amazing road cut into the mountainside; a serious piece of engineering, but with solid rock on one side and a long drop down on the other it’s time to concentrate and read the road..every now and again we entered a short tunnel; not easy to see going from bright sunlight to instant darkness!! We blasted upwards between the corners and hairpins, good fun and then we were at the top and admiring the view https://youtu.be/789-HWOB9SQ
Bernard pulled over saying that an overheating warning light was showing on his K1300s..hmmm, must have been trying so hard to keep up with my GS! Was the coolant level low maybe? He decided to make a quick call to our BMW dealer back in the UK to seek advice. Let it cool down and check the radiator fins are not blocked was the message.
K1300s cooled down we set off again with Bernard taking it easy. The last segment to Ainsa included a a long stretch on the N123..nice fast, smooth road with sweeping corners and good visibility; another chance to make progress and have fun in the sun 🙂
We arrived at Ainsa, a nice town with a beautiful medieval Old Town high on the hill above; the hotel we stayed at last year was fully booked and ours for this year was the other side of the river out of town. There was some confusion finding the hotel as we parked up next to a cheap Hostal!! Thankfully ours turned out to be a nice 3 star around the corner.
That evening we walked up the 1000 steps to the Old Town, probably needed the exercise and certainly worked up an appetite for dinner!
On our way back to the hotel we passed an Irish bar..time for Jamiesons?
We finally made it back to the hotel and found they had a pool table..game on!!
Hustler? 
John’s bridge
Day6..31st August 2019..Ainsa to Burguete 350Kms 6hrs
It was sunny but cool when we set off, today would see us cross into the French Pyrenees and then back again into Spain. The first stretch was nice sweepers and we enjoyed an early morning blast; however this was followed by a sprinkle of rain and a ride through a narrow Col, wet and naggery road with some cow shit along the way..reminded me of Wales 🙂
We continued to climb up into the mountains and through a long tunnel then out into beautiful scenery again. Bernard and I stopped to admire the view and wait for the stragglers to catch up. We waited a long time and began to worry that something was wrong..then along they came. Turned out that on Stu’s Triumph a pipe carrying petrol from the tank had become detached, not good!! They had managed to fix it though.
As we crossed into France we were passing through ski resorts and decided to stop for an early lunch..a very nice burger 🙂 We chatted to a couple from Wales who were riding a tandem up these hills..not my idea of a holiday!! They reckoned we would meet rain later in the afternoon…??
Off we went and soon were even further up in the mountains and riding the brilliant Tormalet pass in the Pyrenees National Park on the Franco-Spanish border. Lots of cyclists to contend with and other bikers to wave at..why do these European bikers insist on taking one hand off the bars (even banked over mid corner) and waving the Vsign for peace?? A simple UK style nod I think is sufficient..and safer 🙂
The scenery really is spectacular, although the road surface on the French side of the Pyrenees is nowhere near as good as in Spain. Bernard pulled over again..K1300s overheating again..time for a coffee then. Lots of sheep around, who seemed to like motorbikes, maybe it was the heat from the engines? 🙂
See it live…Check out the video: https://youtu.be/S9pkghbzGbQ
Up in the mountains 
Fantastic
The temperature ranged wildly from 7c up in the mountains to near 30c once we were down in the valley. There were various Sat Nav moments that afternoon and the group became split up again. Last year we stayed at Saint Jean Pied de Porte, which is at the start of the 800kms Santiago Trail popular with pilgrim walkers; this year it was fully booked so we crossed back into Spain heading for Burguete, a small village on our route for the following day. The road twisted and climbed and as it did the rain started; a fine, cold drizzle; we were soon riding in low cloud and mist with very poor visibility and wet roads..just what you need after a long day’s ride..NOT! We were certainly glad to see the hotel that night 🙂
During the day my Sat Nav handlebar cradle had developed a fault and was not charging my Garmin, rendering it virtually unusable unless I could fix it! With Gary’s help I tried a fix, but no luck; at which point Gary said I could borrow his power bank/block and use that to charge it as I rode along..thanks Gary, you saved the day 🙂
Day7..1st September 2019.. Burguete to Cellers 400Kms 7hrs
A look out of the window at breakfast showed a very heavy sky which looked like it would rain any minute. Stu pessimistically reckoned it would rain all day; we should be wearing our rain gear from the off and we should shorten the route, he said. A quick look at the rain radar forecast app suggested that we would ride away from the rain and should actually miss it. After much discussion those needing rain gear put it on and we removed a few way points from the route to cut 45mins off.
It turned out to be a really great day’s ride; it was the weekend and there were loads of local bikers out..so many to wave at! Great roads; more of the fabulous N260.. fast, sweeping corners, smooth tarmac..we were able to make good progress.. and NO RAIN all day 🙂
Our progress was so rapid we arrived at the hotel at 5pm..our earliest arrival yet! The hotel was on the shores of a nice lake, it had a swimming pool which we sat around and downed a few cool beers.
Following a dinner of Tapas and lots of good value red Spanish Vino de la Casa, we found they had table football for after dinner recreation 🙂
Day8..2nd September 2019.. Cellers to Ripoll 400Kms 7hrs
A number of the group enjoyed the short day we had yesterday and requested that today’s route should also be shortened to provide another easier day..obviously 7 days on the road and riding the twistiest roads we could find was beginning to take their toll on some!!
Up we went into the mountains again and stopped at a nice picturesque view point..time for Stu to fly his drone 🙂 Take a look at this video (not HD quality) and you see towards the end a motorbike with rider and pillion cross the shot..a few seconds later all our heads turn and we realise they have just had a low speed tumble!
Drone time in the Pyrenees https://youtu.be/ACSx9WwMp0k
We rushed to help the guy pick his pannier laden bike up while his wife was holding her back and wincing, but putting a brave face on it. Turned out they were Americans and were part of an organised tour, the others in their group were somewhere back down the mountain. Our good deed done for the day we got going again.
As we climbed higher the temperature dropped to 9c, but soon we were back to mid 20c as we descended into the valley. Coffee stop was at a rather strange place with various animal heads mounted around the walls.
We were in a fairly remote area with just a few small one street towns; it was time for lunch for which Bernard had researched a possible place just off our route. As we got near my Garmin said “turn right”, Bernard’s Tom Tom said “straight on”..of course!! Steve, the other Garmin and fellow GS rider decided to follow his Garmin and turned off..the rest of us blindly followed Bernard. Some way further on we turned off and arrived at the designated lunch stop..it was a house and seemed deserted and closed up 🙁 so we rode on, only to meet Steve coming the other way..I waved at him, but he seem oblivious to us.
Finally we all stopped and decided that the place which was closed was our destination, so we should try again. Turned out that we were early and it didn’t open till 1pm..we didn’t want the full 3 course menu, but after some interesting sign language they made us very welcome and produced an great array of various meats and cheeses and some strange looking sausages..fabulous. Soon a number of locals turned up, although very remote seemed to be THE place to meet for a lunchtime beer for them 🙂
We rode on and enjoyed some really fantastic, smooth and even beautifully banked roads in the corners..its a pleasure to ride here and totally puts our worn out and pot hole riddled roads to shame back home!! The scenery again was wonderful and we stopped at one place up in the mountains where we could stand on a rock overlooking the valley way down below,just fantastic 🙂
That’s our road way down there!! check out the video https://youtu.be/G1hrKoHc3Qo
Time to continue our ride on these fantastic smooth twisty roads
YES!! 
Yes please!!
We arrived at our hotel in Ripoll, next to the Police station and were given directions to their garage around the back..by the time we arrived 6 cold beers were waiting for us!! Great service..the Spanish love bikers 🙂
Day9..3rd September 2019.. Ripoll to Millau 400Kms 7hrs
A long day’s ride ahead of us as we cross back into France and out of the Pyrenees; we made an early start at 08:15 so that we could enjoy the last of the Spanish roads. It was a chilly 9c and we were riding straight into the sun, as we climbed the mountain pass the temperature dropped to 6c!! The road twisted in and out of forests which made it a real challenge to see when switching from sun into shade and back; another factor to contend with was the dramatic change of temperature between the shady areas and the full sunlight..a change of 7degs in less than a minute!!
quick break
We stopped at the top of the pass to warm up and were right on the border between Spain & France.
French Dept des Pyrenees 
Back to France
The first thing you notice is the deterioration in road surface immediately upon entering France, certainly up here in the mountains. As we descended into the valley and plain below the temperature rose to 30c and the wind picked up strongly..was this the Mistral?
We picked up “La Route des Vins” and rode North for miles and miles through beautiful vineyards on both sides of the road and the hills. Time for a stop and a chance to get our favourite refreshing drink, “Orangina” which you can only get it seems in France
Mmmmmm 
Cheese balls and ham salad
After a tasty lunch we continued to ride on nice roads through rural France and again the group got split due to various conflicting Sat Nav moments. It was 30c and Bernard’s bike was still playing up, he pulled over again to let it cool down and then we set off on the last stretch to Millau and rode under the spectacular Millau Viaduct bridge..designed by an Englishman and built by the French.
Millau Viaduct 
Check out the Millau Viaduct video: https://youtu.be/jmK5RtIJVxg
Our hotel consisted of nicely appointed chalets built into a hillside overlooking the town of Millau and the bridge in the distance. This is the last night we would all be together as tomorrow 5 will head North back to the ferry and home and I will start 5 days of solo adventure; riding East to Cannes before heading North. In honour of our last night I wore my flowery shirt, which I had been saving for Cannes 🙂
view over Millau 
Chalets on the hill
Thank you Bernard for planning and booking the trip; thank you guys for your company. We had great roads and plenty of laughs along the way 🙂
Bye guys..ride safe video https://youtu.be/hy3DTQs7OI4
Stay tuned for Part 3 coming shortly; my solo ride through France, Germany & Belgium. Plenty of great roads and fantastic scenery and quiet a few funny moments along the way..
STILL LIVING THE DREAM 🙂