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Radar's Spanish Adventure - Part 1

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Radar's Spanish Adventure - Part 1 Empty Radar's Spanish Adventure - Part 1

Post  Radar Sun Jul 13 2014, 01:15

Days 1 and 2. The functional bit...

After a tough few weeks at work it felt to be on the road to the better part of two weeks of freedom, with just a few good friends and my Ducati for company. The weather wasn't great, but who cares? I met up with the lads on route and in Portsmouth. This was a purely functional 165 mile ride; a just 'let's get this done' sort of run.

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Most of the group on route to Portsmouth

As for the bike, the Ducati had proved very comfortable and getting my luggage into my tail pack had not been the issue I thought it might. All good stuff.

What struck me as we queued and loaded with the other bikers was just how sports bikes were in evidence...loads of HD's, BMW GS1200s were everywhere, as were KTMs. There was even a matching pair of Africa Twins, but only a couple of sports bikes.

The ship taking us on the 24 hour trip to Santander was more Ferry than cruise ship, but we were grateful for our comfortable cabins to dump our kit off and then head to find food and drink. We sneaked into the truck drivers lounge as the food was cheaper in there muttering loudly about Foden's, Yorkie Bars and splitter boxes...nobody noticed us in truth and it was a few euros saved towards the fuel when we get to the good bits!

The trip was pleasant and we had a laugh in the bar, unofficially answering all the quiz questions loudly much to the benefit of those around us in the bar.

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We make our Children so proud...

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The all important first beer

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The sun setting on my everyday woes as 10 days of biking Nirvana beckons..

24 hours is much longer than I have ever spent on a ferry, but the weather was good in the Bay of Biscay, so we had a nice smooth trip. Once in Santander we quickly off loaded up the she steep steel ramp...however as headed into Spain and weather wasn't great. A little light rain, not what we had hoped for..for my part, I had not packed for bad weather. Lets hope things would improve.

The 80 mile ride to Ribadesella was another easy one, we took the direct route as the weather continued to be a little drab. The town itself is beautiful, and as we rode into town a local bar was hosting a local traditional concert and the music drifted out over the town to where we parked up on the harbour front. A good welcome, even if the bag pipe music was really my thing exactly! The Ferry and short hop combination, is a way better option than a 800 mile drag across France by the way...

The house we stayed at was large and set in the centre of its' own plot with off road parking for the bikes. The business...fully equipped and everybody had a room to themselves too.

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I suppose this will do...

We quickly settled in, grabbed some beer and food and started making plans for the next few days while watching a world cup game with a German commentary. The weather forecast for the week was bad, and at this points our spirits did dip a little it has to be said. But lets see what tomorrow brings...

Day 3: The fun begins!  

As the weather for the morning was good we hit the road early heading along the N634 for Cangas D'Onnis and Arviondeas. A cracking road, with smooth bends that smoothly flowed one into another the camber just so, to give you a little help as glided along. Fantastic! The view all around was stunning, the Pico's are one of the lesser talked about European mountain ranges, but on the evidence of these early miles it hard to see why. They are imposing, lush and simply beautiful.

On route we even stumbled across a little classic bike meet where we treated to rare sights for us Brits such as Bultacos and a little single cylinder Dukes and BMWs. Back on the bikes things just kept getting better and better as we travelled along the superb AS114 and utterly sublime N621...these are both pieces of road you must try at least once in your biking life if at all possible. I would happily ride up down the 114 all day given the chance..it really is that good. We passed through Panes and the utterly charming town of Potes as we reached our target for the day. The 1926m peak at Fuente De. Rich is a bit of fitness nut, but we did manage to get him to take the cable car ride to the top rather scale it on foot! This is well worth doing as the views are amazing from the car, and the blue tint of the windows and slightly surreal edge to it all as the vistas stretch out before and below you...

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Impressive line up

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The pictures don't really do the magnificent backdrop justice

The cable car doesn't run quite to the top, so we went for a little explore, bumping into some fellow Brit bikers we had chatted to on the Ferry.

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The cable car and the Pico's with a surreal blue tint....

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New boy band F*ck That on tour

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Striking the pose

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Rich headed for the snowline, on foot, not in the Landie...meawhile the rest of us headed to the little cafe for a coke...

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It was a long way down..

The ride back down the valley was better still...corner after corner...I love Spanish roads! The run to Potes was quick and fun...some of the best biking I have done ever. one of the lads nearly got wiped out by a nut case coming the other way in a 4x4 straight lining bends, but these things are sent to try us! We checked out Potes properly on the return leg, having a cooling drink in the shade of medieval keep whilst being served by a charming, dark haired waitress. As you can tell we were having a terrible time!

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Checking out Potes

We retraced our steps back to Ribadesella, the run along the 114 even better this way if anything! The weather had been superb all day, so much for the gloomy forecast.

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Biking heaven

A superb day was rounded off with a few beers over a great meal knocked up by one of the ladsr...lets hope the coming days are good as today...
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Post  sir digby Sun Jul 13 2014, 10:57

Fantastic write up as always tony and iam liking the sound of the ferry idea the long slog across france has always put me off spain.
Cheers
Mark
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Post  Radar Sun Jul 13 2014, 18:47

sir digby wrote:Fantastic write up as always tony and iam liking the sound of the ferry idea the long slog across france has always put me off spain.
Cheers
Mark

I did the across France run last year to get to the Pyrenees...the Ferry is way better and cheaper too, if you take into account all the costs
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Post  robertcains Sun Jul 13 2014, 20:20

Looking forward to the next instalment you lucky bugger
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Post  Robcat Mon Jul 14 2014, 11:04

Yes a nice heads up on what and how your enjoying yourself.

Just reading the ' Ride' Spanish riding supplement in this month's edition and I think in 7-8 years time, a family biking holiday in Spain for a week or 2 sounds good to me.

Enjoy your trip .
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