A fabulous French and Spanish Pyrenees Adventure..Part 1

I’m back at home now; its been my first chance to update on this adventure following a hectic 14days on the road; always rushing for the shower and the cold beer at the end of a long day’s ride, or stopping too many times to see sights and take pics that time rushed by and suddenly I was late and it was getting dark 🙂

The short summary; 3600 miles ridden, lots of great roads, 1000s of corners, fantastic scenery..many interesting moments along the way and plenty of beer and cheap red wine supped..only one speeding ticket (so far), fabulous trip!!! 🙂

If you want the full story read on… I’ve spilt the trip into 3 parts:

Part1.. The ride down through France to the Pyrenees

Part2..The ride through the Pyrenees

Part3..My solo ride East through France, then back home via Germany and Belgium

PART 1…Day 1: Bank Holiday Monday 26th August 2019…Crossing to France

It was a nice sunny morning and forecast to warm up through the day. I arrived at our meeting place, Loomies bikers cafe, on time at 12noon; the others (Bernard, Mike, Gary, Steve & Stu were already there and had managed to get a table in the shade..hot 28c by now. Being a Bank Holiday and sunny the place was rammed with bikes and the BBQ was cooking; one poor guy managed to drop his bike during a low speed manoeuvre in the car park; very embarrassing. After cuppa and a sausage and egg bap (messy to eat) it was time to set off to catch the 15:30 ferry to Le Havre in France. We had decided to ride down through France this time, rather than take the 24hr ferry trip to Northern Spain.

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There was only one other biker in the queue for the ferry; a French guy who had spent the weekend at the Silverstone MotoGP. The boat was half empty and we were soon on, showered and ready for the sun deck with our first of many beers of the trip 🙂

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Very suddenly a thick sea mist descended as we headed out into the English Channel..we retired inside to play cards. This ferry arrives in Le Havre at 22:30 so we had booked in to an Ibis near the port and would start our journey down through France tomorrow after a night’s sleep. 🙂

Day 2 & 3: Tues 27th/ Weds 28th August 2019…Riding South through France, heading for the Pyrenees ..800Kms

A 9am start heading for Chateauroux, 400kms to get us started on the trip. It was cold and misty as we set off. Our route was on D roads (small roads) through rural France; its a few years since I’ve been to France and it felt good to be back. Earlier this year the French decided, in their quest to improve road safety, to reduce their National speed limit from 90Kms/hr to 80Kms..this is only 50Miles/hr !! There were big protests from the “Gilet Jaune” (the militant Yellow Vests protesters) but it has stayed. Not really a problem on the rural country roads where there is little chance of getting caught by the Gendarmes, or speed cameras! We were all pleased to arrive at our coffee stop mid morning in a small town.

By now it had warmed up and we set off again in good spirits. After a couple more hours riding through green fields and quaint villages it was time for lunch and we stopped at a Boulangerie/Patisserie and had very tasty French bread filled sandwiches 🙂

We continued our ride South and as we did so the horizon turned rather dark; could be some rain ahead? Suddenly, without warning, the heavens opened and it rained so heavily you could see the rain bouncing off the road! We made a hasty stop and those not wearing waterproof textiles (everyone else) began struggling into their wet gear. Gary happened to notice there was a bridge a few 100yrds up the road, so we quickly headed for some shelter. Under the bridge off the road the ground happened to be a muddy mix of grey slime..Wet gear now fitted we set off with dirty bikes for the nearby town of Amboise on the banks of the river Loire. We stopped for coffee/tea and nice pastries 🙂

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We set off again to cover the last 100kms of the day to our hotel in Chateauroux; first 80kms were OK, but then we hit the town of Levroux and the D956!! This road was dead straight for the last 20Kms with white lines and 80Kms speed limit..lots of traffic, no overtaking. Suddenly you feel every ache and pain as the mind wanders 🙁

We arrived at the hotel around 18:00 and the host suggested that we could put our 6 bikes in his restaurant later!!! :)…after the diners had finished at 21.30. The alternative was to leave them in the road opposite the hotel. After some discussion we decide that by 9.30pm we would have consumed various amounts of beer and wine, therefore it was probably best to leave the bikes locked up in the road…good decision 🙂

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Bernard’s brother Mike had spent many years as an officer in the RAF and I had noticed how upright and well turned out he was. His shiny black K1200s was covered in grey mud from the earlier rain, as were his boots. Over dinner I mentioned this and asked jokingly whether he would be up early in the morning to wash and polish. Come 8am in the morning there he was with a bucket washing his bike and come 9am leave time his boots were clean and shiny..well done Mike, you’re my hero 🙂

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Our destination for the night would be Olemps, near Rodez, deep into Southern France. Another 400Kms ride and 7hours+. Our route would take us through the Massif Central region of France which brings with it spectacular scenery and great twisty roads 🙂

The sky was blue but the road out of Chateauroux was straight again; after an hour or so we entered the Natural Park Region of Limousin and beautiful countryside with nice long windy roads, a mix of sweeping and then tighter corners, right-left-right-left for miles and miles. Time for a coffee stop.

We set off again and after a spirited ride Bernard, Stu and I stopped for rest to let the others catch up; it was a pleasant mid 20’sC as we waited and waited,, and waited; then Steve came along..where were Mike & Gary? Somehow we had managed to lose them. Steve can track Gary on his phone and soon established that somehow they were actually ahead of us…! so we set off making for the planned lunch stop which was in a small village en route. It was nearly 3pm by the time we arrived and any food they had was gone; all they had was some well past their sell by date ice cream cones..its tough on the road sometimes 🙂 After “lunch” we continued on our way and as we passed through a town further on who would we see just leaving a café?..Gary & Mike!! By then the 4 of us were ready for a coffee so Gary & Mike were dragged back to the café and we were 6 again 🙂

The last lap to the hotel included a twisty ride through a very nice Gorge with steep sides, great fun with the noise of the GS exhaust bouncing off the walls. The hotel was a step up from the previous night and was above the busy town of Rodez, we parked out bikes in their underground garage and headed for the bar..another day done and Spain beckoning tomorrow 🙂

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Day 4 Thursday 29th Aug19…Crossing into Spain

We are riding today to ALP, a town in the Catalonia region of Spain just south of Andorra..400Kms again and 6hours+ of riding…now the roads and scenery are going to get really good 🙂 A nice sunny morning again and straight away onto great roads; the road surface on all but a very few roads is superb..smooth, no potholes!!

We rode through wine country with miles of vineyards and then into Natural Parks again; the temperature rose to 33c and we began to feel the heat. We then we started climbing up into the mountains and riding through deserted ski resorts; the temperature dropped to a more pleasant 20c. on the way down back up to 30c.

We crossed into Spain through the Pyrenees Parc Naturel, the scenery was getting good.

Somehow along the road we managed to lose 3 out of the 6 this time..another Sat Nav moment :)..need to keep up boys!!

As we rolled into Alp it started to rain, good time to arrive! Strangely the other 3 were already at the hotel..we went straight to the bar

One strange thing about Spain is the that the restaurants don’t open until 9pm, by which time bikers are well hungry. We set off into town to see what was open, finally finding a nice one and we were the first ones in..6 giant prawns for me and plenty of the Vino de la Casa at 8Euro per litre 🙂

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So this is the end of Part 1..we have arrived in Spain and tomorrow the fun really starts as we ride Westwards across the Pyrenees, criss crossing between France & Spain and then returning Eastwards to ride as many of the great roads and mountain passes as we can in the next 5 days. Stay tuned for Part 2 shortly. 🙂