Spain 2015

Been waiting for one of the other lads to kick this ride report off as I have very few photos and typing with only your left hand takes ages (not that my right is doing anything but it doesn't even obey the simplest of commands yet). Hopefully they'll pop in soon and fill in the gaps with pictures, anecdotes and tales of their own.

After a year’s worth of planning, a few of us were setting off to sunny Spain for the annual European jaunt. Dates were limited due to work patterns but eventually we agreed times and the UK-Spain ferries all booked up.
First f**k up, a good friend of mine organised his wedding to coincide with the weekend we were planning to leave, meaning I was now departing a few days later than the other guys. Not a major problem, new ferry booked, work rescheduled and my holiday was 2 days shorter than everybody else’s.....

Fast forward a few months and after lots of discussion, map gazing, bike fettling and essential purchasing and we're ready for the off!

They others get away (almost) without problem; I'll leave them to fill in the details.

Tues 30th June: I set off from Richmond early to catch the 17:15 ferry from Portsmouth to Santander, it was a glorious day and despite the dull and dreary motorway route I was enjoying the ride down and looking forward to the next couple of weeks. My new intercom and satnav combo were working perfectly so I was listening to my music and watching the miles click away. The new Garmin smartphone link is ace, all traffic problems and length of likely delays flash up on screen and alternative routes offered. A large accident had closed the M1 and the satnav routed me around it adding only 3 mins to the journey! My new panniers are a lot slimmer than the last set too, allowing me to filter with relative ease. If the bars fit through, then so will the rest of the bike  
It was all going too well, passing through some roadworks near Winchester I had an almighty tankslapper at about 40mph! The rear had picked up a puncture. I had to ride on for another 4-500 mtrs as it was single lane, not nice! On the plus side, by the time I pulled into the coned area the bead was already broken on the tyre  
I had levers, a spare tube and all the necessary tools…..except an air compressor….. In an effort to conserve packing space, we’d had a chat about who was bringing what. Stevecat had mentioned he had a motorcycle compressor so I didn’t bother with mine, big mistake.
So, at the side of the dual carriageway and in the 34 degC heatwave I had pulled the wheel, changed the tube and was ready to go but couldn’t get the wheel up to pressure. After calling several recovery firms and almost 2 hours later one turned up, tyre filled and back on the road. Unfortunately, not in time to make the boat. I booked the cheapest room I could find at the Gosport Premier Inn, called a bike shop to arrange for parts in the morning and got settled for the night. I popped over to the pub at the Premier Inn for a bite and a couple of pints and walked straight into a big, fat, gypsy wedding. Drunken travellers and their scantily clad companions seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, such was the quantity of flesh on display that I didn’t know where to look. Nor did I want a bare-knuckle fist fight with Mickey O’Neil from Snatch for ‘looking at his bird’. Eyes dead ahead, I ordered a pint and a burger, wolfed it down and headed to bed just as the scrapping started! It’s not a family wedding until somebody gets battered in the car park  

Wed 1st July: Packed the bike up under the watchful eye of the younger members of last nights wedding party, endless requests of ‘Gis a go mister!’ and 'Gwan, gimme a lift to the f**kin' shops!' were ignored. To be fair to Brittany ferries they were fantastic, the only additional charge was due to the cheap cabins all being full the next day so I was given a deal in the posh section. Luxurious comfort from Portsmouth to Bilbao awaited, so I picked up new rim tape and a spare rear tube, pushed the bike onto the Gosport foot passenger ferry and checked in nice and early onto the Cap Finesterre.
After a few afternoon beers in the sun on the rear deck and an excellent meal, I settled down in the bar with decent book and a few drams. The entertainment was dreadful, a p**s-poor comedian who also had the most incredibly easy quiz it was embarassing that people got any questions wrong. I drew the line when he reappeared later as Elvis and went to bed!

Thurs 2nd: Woke up, watched Mad Max in the onboard theatre then got kitted up to disembark. The real riding gets started, a wonderful journey along the Cantabria coast alternating between the motorway to get some miles covered and the lovely twisty coast road when the tedium got too much. Before long I was turning south along the Desfiladero de la Hermida to Riano to meet the others. What a fantastic road! It runs along the bottom of a gorge following the turns of the river for mile upon mile then climbs up over the top to some wonderful views before heading down a series of incredible hairpins to a road which gets faster and faster until you reach Riano, our stop for the night.
Beer, wine, food, bed.

Fri 3rd: Desfiladero de la Hermida again, this time heading north. It’s as good in either direction! More great roads in scorching heat brought us to Ramales de la Victoria, where my bike became the first casualty. Searching for the campsite we stopped to check the map, as we were about to set off again I spotted a sign just over my left shoulder. As I turned to point it out to DBD I lost my footing on my right side and the bike went over, she’s a heavy old girl and rather than risk a hernia I just jumped off. No harm done, my new heavy duty panniers took the brunt and we were off again in 5 minutes.
Beer, wine, food, bed.

Sat 4th: A bit of a dull day, Stevecat unfortunately had to leave us to get home sharpish and we wanted to get up into the mountains. So some more motorway interspersed with a few twisties to alleviate the boredom. We eventually picked up the fabled N260 and settled at a campsite at Gavin where I drew the shortest straw and ended up sleeping on the tiled floor listening to the Orchestra Nocturnal (a harmony of synchronised snoring from 3 of my travelling companions at any one time).

Sun 5th: We set off the following morning along the N260, it really is a fabulous road. Tight and technical sections, fast and sweeping in places, up mountains, along valleys. There is something for everyone here. I enjoyed it as much as I could but lack of sleep took it’s toll and we made a beeline for apartments I had booked for the next two nights in Sort, a town we have stayed in a few times before.
Beer, wine, excellent Tapas, bed.

TBC

Great write up so far Chris. Next time you're planning on heading down Winchester/Portsmouth might be worth taking my number down as I can pop out to you with some air quicker than a recovery company no doubt! Plus I know some garages too.

Oh and they probably weren't gypsies in the hotel, that's just Portsmouth

Listening with interest, & worry!

Good stuff lads, great to be reading an account of trip by somebody else! I did Northern Spain last year, the roads are amazing , and I smiled at the description of the onboard 'entertainment' on the Ferry. Mirrored my experiences almost exactly!

Haha, this was a trip of many many up and many many low points...I'leave it up to the original authors to continue......high points for me were first few days in the Pico's ...... Amazing roads, very cheap food and accommodation and we had a blast...low points for me on the trip was Steve having to head home early, then Chris having his off...and the heat!!!! Biking in 40deg heat is not funny.....Terry Less was always apprehensive about us going there in that time of year....he is old, and he knows who he's talking about..........we really should've listened!!.....but with all that going on, I still managed to keep smiling, even after I spilt the Pani over... Great bunch of guys, wouldn't ride so far without them....
Here's to the next European adventure!! And terry will be with us no matter what he says about being an old twat!!
Looking back it was a bit of a hard slog....but we still had a right good laugh... That's why we're still all here on this forum!!!

Although I do have a cracking video of how Rosco's liar dice game should be properly played to post up........Watch this space!!!...lets just say.....this video shows bullshitting sometimes is the best option...lol........to be continued...........

Great pics Steve, some stunning scenery (and I'm not referring to Ross as he's in almost all of them). I will definitely have to embark on such adventure in the near future.

Keep the stories coming boys, I'm enjoying this.

Great pics Steve, seem to be quite a lot of BOS Mk. 11 receiving mechanical attendance etc. How many litres of oil did BOS 2 actually consume over the 14 day period Rosco?

Just over 6 litres Tez and it came out in sympathy with DBD's bike (BoS III) when both had electrickery issues.

Bikes really haven't come on that much have they. Pre first world war bikes used a total loss oil system in their engines as well !

Mon 6th: Some of the chaps fancied a bit of a rest day today so not much was planned. Robcat headed north into France to go and visit an old friend and forum member who has settled there, Rosco, DBD and I fancied doing a few Cols and Terry and Furballs just wanted a wee run out and to be back at the digs by lunchtime. Rob set off early and the rest of us started north along the exceptional C13 and C28. I’d been looking forward to this road for ages and it did not disappoint, it was unbelievable!

After lunch at Vielha, Terry and Furballs turned back to Sort and we continued on into France for a while, aiming for the Col du Tourmalet. We never got that far but took in some lovely roads anyway and decided to turn south and head back for a few beers and a dip in the pool. Riding on one of the major roads which cut straight through the mountains the tunnel was bliss! A mere 16 degC and it felt like riding through a fridge after the heat of the day.
After an extremely rapid 40 mile wrong turn (I couldn’t catch those bloody hooligans on their 1000cc sportsbikes to tell them we were on the wrong road!) we headed over a cracking wee pass to Tremp and then north to Sort for some Paella and Pizza.

Beer, wine…….you get the picture!

Tues 7th: We were looking for a base for an easy day trip to Tossa del Mar and the ‘Road of 1000 Bends’ and had previously stayed at an excellent campsite near Camprodon. Setting off once more on the N260 we had a lovely ride following the Pyrennes east towards the Med. Everyone was knackered so it was supposed to be an ‘easy’ day.

Camprodon had no availability, and the food was awful so we headed off to seek alternatives. After 3 more campsites which weren’t suitable and tempers getting frayed we decided to head north into France and see if we could find somewhere there. The roads were good but I think we were all a bit ‘overtired’ and it was difficult to enjoy them in the oppressive heat.
We got to the bottom of the pass on the French side and I heard DBD on the intercom, ‘I’ll wait and mark this roundabout….’ Next message was some ‘oofting’, a lot of curses and ‘I’ve dropped my f***king bike!’ By the time I’d turned round the other lads had arrived and were helping, Dave had lost his footing and as the bike was in gear all 195 horses had been unleashed on the tarmac. The impromptu donut was only halted by the ridiculously large kerb. Cosmetic damage only but he was not a happy camper. This pretty much topped the day off and we decided to throw in the towel, a quick search on booking.com found some rooms at a good rate 12 miles north in Amelie-les-Bains, where Terry lowered the average age of the visitors by a good 10 years or so.

A cracking meal in town and a few more beers before a proper nights kip in a decent bed with AC turned up full blast!

Wed 8th: We were about half way through the trip now so it was time to thrash the bikes down to Tossa then turn back west. The roads we took weren’t the best. Busy, poorly surfaced and far too straight for bikes but they got us to the coast and more of the good stuff quickly. The coastal road at Banyuls sur Mer was wonderful, tight and technical with gorgeous views. Unfortunately traffic was dreadful! We dropped back into Spain through the old border crossing at km 1 of the N260 and turned back towards our destination for the day at Banyoles. I had found a campsite online with cabins suitable for 6, with no double beds or stupid sofabeds for midgets.
Unfortunately there were none available when we arrived but the guy at reception spoke good English and rang round a few other campsites to help us out. We found one with space near Olot a few miles along the road.

As we left the campsite with the satnav set and map in the tankbag I was leading and heading for a twisty road to our destination. Less than a mile further down the road we were approaching a right hand bend and a car travelling in the opposite direction had cut the corner and was stealing quite a lot of my side of the road. I thought I was heading straight for her so started braking hard to scrub the speed off and head to the tight inside of the bend. Squeezing the brakes harder & harder to avoid a potential head-on I’ve managed to lock the front wheel and before I can even think about releasing them and regaining grip I’m off. I hit the ground HARD with my right side and instantly know I’ve broken something. Not good at all!

The driver speaks no English, we speak no Catalan. I think she understands ‘Police’ & ‘Ambulance’ though, as soon as they’re mentioned she jumps in the car and buggers off! DBD heads back to the campsite to summon help and soon after, Fire, Police & Ambulance are there. At this point, I can’t move my arm or fingers at all, the pain is horrendous and it hurts to even breath. My shoulder is misshapen and I can feel the bones moving around, holiday is over for sure.
Formalities dealt with I’m off to Girona hospital whilst the other guys help sort the bike and deal with recovery. I think the bike is fine, superficial damage but there is no way I can ride it home.

The ambulance crew are helpful and strap me up good and tight for the journey but ever bump is agony! ‘Unfortunately Chris, we are not like your English paramedics. We cannot give you any medication.’ As soon as I arrive at hospital a nurse comes to examine me, asks if it hurts, if I’m allergic to anything and requests to see my backside. Not sure what was in the needle but the relief is almost instant. I’m poked, prodded and x-rayed to death (only after strapping on a lead loincloth!) They’re not sure about the wrist and elbow as xrays are inconclusive, there’s a lot of pain and swelling. Ribs OK, lots of bruising from knee to shoulder so nothing serious there, but my collarbone is in several pieces. The bone doctor comes for a look and instantly recommends surgery, but they won’t do it here as the bone hasn’t broken the skin and it’s not life threatening. He writes a report up for me to take, straps on a fancy sling, prescribes pills and sends me on my way. The police are waiting for me outside the hospital to take a statement, they’ve already seen the driver of the car and I get the impression it’s all my fault because I was going so fast! As I’m able to give them such a detailed description of the road, signs, nearby school, corner, road furniture and speed bumps they seem to discount the stupid foreigner riding too fast theory and become a little less arsey. Who knows what will come of it should I put in a claim…..
I jump in a taxi to meet the others and find the lovely Alba has arranged for a full lodge for my carer and I at a knock down price.

Water, Paracetamol, Spanish super strong painkillers, food,  bed (well, kind of. Lying down comfortably is impossible!)

Thurs 9th: Up at the crack of dawn and on the phone to insurers, both medical and bike recovery. Eventually all is sorted and paperwork emailed, taxi arrives and takes me to Barcelona airport where I’m on the next flight to Newcastle. Not a comfortable flight at all but it’s so nice to be back in the UK and heading home. A taxi is waiting at the airport to take me to James Cook A&E in Middlesborough and they know I’m on my way, I haven’t eaten or drank all day as they’ve told me that they might want to operate that evening. When I get there the take x-rays again but there is no orthopaedic surgeon on duty, the A&E doctor isn’t certain I’ll need surgery but says that the break is very serious. Good news is that the new xrays of the rest of my arm show no other damage so should be fine once the bruising goes down. He also checked out my Spanish medication, apparently only vets are allowed to use it in the UK. He can’t give me anything as strong as these things to take at home so says ‘I make no recommendation either way, it’s entirely up to you whether you continue to take them.’

Back home at around midnight after a looooong day.

Fri 10th: I was referred to the next available fracture clinic even though there aren’t any appointments available and I’m seen fairly quickly. X-rays are examined again and the consultant is hopeful that surgery can be avoided, I’m given an appointment for 4 weeks away where a decision will be made once the bone has started to heal. He seems shocked when he asks how long I would like to be signed off for and I say ‘No, I need you to sign me as ‘fit to work’.’ This self employed malarkey isn’t all sunshine and rainbows……

So, back at work on light duties and recovery is not going well. Some of the fractures seem to have healed up quickly, I have full mobility of my wrist and elbow now that the swelling and bruising have reduced. However the joint between the shoulder and collarbone shows no signs of improvement, the bone still protrudes at an odd angle, limited range of movement and I have no strength at all. Struggle to even cut my food up!

Surgery looks likely, they’ve brought my next appointment forward and time will tell. I’m determined to be fit enough to go out to Mugello with the track bike as planned on the 27th August as there is a ‘no refund’ policy (W***ers!) so I would lose a lot of money.
I might just end up being pit-b**ch for the other lads though…..


I’ll keep you all posted!

SteveCat wrote:Want to read anymore?

Aye, get it written up!

Eddie990 wrote:

SteveCat wrote:Want to read anymore?

Aye, get it written up!

Thanks will try and get back onto it soon, just been blown off course at the moment. Was settling into the final plans for the Alpine trip with Pam but last night that changed and I've got her onto a plane to Mauritius tomorrow night. She received some news yesterday her brother is not well and it could be life threatening. As soon as all the travel changes are done, I'll carry on. Need to get it all down before I head off next week, otherwise it'll be overwritten in my memory cell.

Sorry to hear that Steve, send her my best wishes.

Thanks Chris for the write up, was good to follow some of the parts I missed.

Sorry to read of your accident and injuries. Amazing how painkillers used in other parts of the world are not allowed here, maybe Brits are made of sterner stuff and don't need them
The bone description sounds a bit like mine when I hit the deck very hard a few years ago, I know just how painful it is - hope you are able to get some sleep. I found I couldn't do the most basic of things, holding a toothbrush was an effort, opening a jar was impossible, sorry not much help am I! Hope the fracture clinic staff are able to sort you soon.

Thanks for the write up guys - I'm enjoying the story. Sorry to hear about the off Chris, that sounds nasty. Get well soon!

Tuesday morning dawns and yet again I doubt I had disturbed anyone with my snoring, another restless night. I have to admit I’m rather apprehensive about leading the ride today, don’t want to spoil the other guys riding enjoyment with a too slow a pace.

Before we set-off a fair amount of activity was taking place around some of the bikes – I’d taken off my pannier rails, Robcat was busy doing a bit of a valet and chain lube on his bike, some other bikes got their chains lubed too.
Attention then centred around Roscos’ R1 whilst the owner was inside the cottage and was oblivious of what we were up to. The bike has a bit of a drink problem and smoking habit, seems to be addicted to oil. First order of business was to check the oil level, yip it needed some more so the rest of the oil Ross had been carrying with him went into the bike. A few other checks to make sure everything was there and working, that front tyre’s not looking good mate (oh hang on he can’t hear us), otherwise we are good to go.

The road down into Someido, the microphone is playing up and eventually packs up, most videos are silent. This is the only one with an overlay on it.



Get into the town at the bottom of the mountain and stop for breakfast. We can’t believe the prices, everything seems so cheap – even petrol was under £1 a liter.

Unedited 30 min video of setting off after breakfast




Still not sure what my tyres are going to do after yesterday’s scare, I’m being a tad cautious into the bends, also can’t get my head around all the brown in the road, my brain see’s mud and reacts accordingly

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Spanish civil engineering, quite a few of these majestic bridges. turned the picture so you can see the bridge straight on rather than at a 16 degree lean

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Maybe you'd prefer the way we saw it

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As we are nearing our first stop alongside a Hydro-electric dam the road surface worsens, I can hear excruciating shrieks over the comms and was fearing some may be doing themselves an unpleasant injury. The stop couldn’t come soon enough for many, oh dear that’s not a good start to the day – one thing a map won’t tell you is what the road surface is like.

Serene, you wouldn’t have guessed minutes earlier our Dave’s nearly became Davina’s ….

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This was the stretch of road we needed to double back on, so an on the fly route change, throw the rules in the bin, we could do the autovia or a non-green route. Trying to change the route on the satnav on the fly proved more difficult and all I achieved was to muck it up totally and have us go along roads which we didn’t want to do. Nothing for it but to ask Terry to lead, decided against a quick blast up the autovia. Turns out the road was a good un’ surface a bit patchy in places, but that didn’t deter folk. Am pleased Terry’s in front, the guys were able to have a ‘play’.
Some of the bikes were getting hungry so a splash and dash was in order. One of them was being particularly greedy and demanded more oil, none to be had at that garage (they did have, but wanted the Greek national debt for 1L ) so continue into Villablino. It was here a bee decided he liked Ross and bit him.

This should be enough

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Right, let’s fill this baby up

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What happens if I put in too much? Nothing it’ll burn off quick enough.

On the road again and some more good roads and a lunch stop.

Shot from Bikecam (it’s taking better pictures than I did!), the green arrow on the map in the hairpin is where we are in the pic, the F marker is the lunch stop

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Relaxing at a ski resort, no fear of snow today, it was hot but cooler than the 31c seen earlier in the day

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The roads after lunch are glorious, but my lack of quality snoring time and the heat is starting to take its toll and I slow down (again), I catch up with the group as they had stopped at a junction in Cangas, (Dirt Bike) Dave found some shade off road and was trying to take refuge there – I’m sure they were stationary in the sun longer than they said. We’d only been riding half an hour at this stage but had to stop at the nearest petrol station in the town to rehydrate and try and cool down, the temperature now was 40c. We see guys on scoots with their T-Shirts, shorts and flip flops, suddenly all the gear all the time seemed wrong!
I was probably out of step, but went straight to the pump and filled up with blue stuff which smelt worse than Ross’ rear (I’m talking about the rear of Ross’s oil burning bike!)

Take the lead after this stop and I surprised myself with my second wind (could have done with a breeze in my helmet too), ride home was a decent pace. We needed to stop at a supermarket and buy things for breakfast – getting it in Cangas seemed a bad idea, the butter would have melted before we had left town.
Get closer to our destination and decide to ask the satnav to go to the supermarket, no problem it directs us to a Café/pub!
'no hay problema' get on and do the last bits

Video of last 15 minutes into Someido



Stop at a small shop to buy bits and pieces and news starts to trickle in (internet very slow) that Chris had tyre problems. Free format ride or maybe race up the mountain back to base. By now I've completely forgotten about the tyres not being to my liking, they worked well today. Had a bad habit of scraping the right hand hero blob, think that suspension setup mentioned earlier of mine being softer than the others had something to do with it, Robcat said he felt I ought to crank up the preload, OK think it goes 1 or two notches more  

The evening to follow

Some great pics and videos Steve. The scenery looks spectacular and the twisties lots of fun.

Back at base and peel the leathers off, that was some day, bit longer than planned and way hotter than expected, but none the less everyone enjoyed most of it.
I'm busy moving my videos off the SD card and am oblivious of what's going on,  partially because I can't hear anything said behind me.

Terry's wandering about, so that's OK he'd be amongst the first one wishing to sort out his parched throat, but after a short while we become aware no one's about
Where the hell is everybody?
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Yip, they were already up at the pub.

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The off bike antic's match the enjoyment of riding and great evening was had.

Surprisingly for an alcoholic I'm a very fussy drinker.  I had a beer the night before, something I very rarely do, and the taste stayed with me all day, in an attempt to shift it I plumbed for having a few more this evening and it seemed to have worked. My other vice is tobacco and I try as far as possible to move away from others whilst partaking, well an interesting result, I'd walked around to the side of the building and came across a farrier and blacksmith

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A little while later all the horses had been re-hoofed and needed to be taken home, not possibly the way many would have been

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Where else are you likely to see that!

Time head back down the hill, some choosing to take the 'short cut' whilst some of us stuck to the tarmac. Back at base the Liar Dice came out and some serious gaming was under way.
Terry decided to go walkabout and try out his head strapped torch, he comes back in complaining he's walked into a mud bath
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Heaven knows where he was planning on going needing a map, but we have to take his word for it - I just thought he'd been out and the aim wasn't as good as intended, given I was a few beers and rums down he's probably right.

Time to retire, need to release the cloth catch on my fold up bed, oops, sprung apart with a bit of gusto - sorry if I woke anyone, get into it and went to sleep, think I've found the cure to insomnia     zzzzz

I'm enjoying this...

Thanks Nick, I do feel I'm getting a bit OTT and should trim it a bit, but my account as I felt it. Glad others are enjoying the read. Will try and get it all done by the end of the weekend.

Keep it coming chaps

Great reading this, it's turning into one of my Assen trips, some cracking roads there by the looks of it and some terrible bad luck, please continue...

loving this chaps! Great read! Looking forward to the rest of it