:: @ Choepie’s ::

We’re back now, long sleep, few washing machines and a couple of times down on the swimming pool… It is definitely too hot in Madrid now… must be around 35degrees and there is little or no wind. With big pauses I will try to insert the diary I kept of the trip around Spain on the bike, but it will take some time…

One of the days we all looked forward to : entering the pyrenees on only secondary roads ! The sky was still covered with clouds when we woke up early today, we all had a kind of bad night because next to the hostal big trucks started up from 5 o’clock in the morning to warm their engines.
The owner of the hostal told us that no rain was expected before noon, so we were comfortable untill around 3 or 4 o’clock and by that time we should be on our destination for that day.
No bar was open for breakfast in this village so we packed our stuff together and road to Azpeitia for a croissant and a coffee. The road to Pamplona (or Iruna if you want) was full with trucks and slowed us down too much, so we decided to take some smaller roads instead. Pamplona toke us about an hour to cross and by the time we got out de discovered we were on the wrong road (actually we were on the N121 direction Madrid!), but a nice shortcut brought us back to the N240 towards Jaca. Again rain was our part, but luckely it was for only 20minutes. The clouds were still there when we made a stop at a very nice lake just between Pamplona and Jaca. We were now on the Camino de Santiago and landscapes changed very quickly and were at times bizarre. Neverthless, besides the rain once in a while, the roads where great !
We had a late lunch in Jaca and because our destination for that day was only 60km away, we decided to add some more to it, to be able to enter the mountains today. So up to Broto it was. Now there was no rain anymore but heavy winds rolling through the valleys made the drive a bit more spicy. By the time we stopped for a hotel and we checked in, we discovered that we were not in Broto as we intended to, but in a small village at 8km from Broto : Linas de Broto and actually there was nothing to do there. We went for some shopping to Broto and now we realised how it was to drive the bike without the luggage. On the way to Broto we also saw some snow left aside the streets… I couldn’t believe this, I still had 15degrees on the termometer of the VFR but still snow there… it must be cold at night.
We had some beers in a local ‘auberge’ where in toptimes it must be crowded, but now completely empty. The owner wanted to go to bed as well I guess so the bill was presented without asking and we had an early night.

Today we had a coast ride in the planning : from Santander to Deba. It was about 180km with very nice roads and great scenery of the bay of Biscay. We tried to stick to the N634 but got lost near Bilbao what made the total distance 224km today. Just after Bilbao we searched for the road to Bermeo, and followed this one through Gernika-Lumo, Lekeitio towards Deba. Deba had only one hostal next to the beach, and unfortunately it was a bit above our budget (we tried to stay below 20euros a night a person) so on advise of a local tourist guide we headed for Itziar, a little town only 6 kilometers from Deba. We ended up in a hostal Pension Zumardi where we where the only guests and the bar downstairs was closed, and we were away from the sea, but that didn’t really matter because big clouds covered the sky in a very short time and by the time we were watching the Grand Prix of Canada in a local bar, the rained poured down and reminded us we were in Pais Vasco.

Saturdaymorning 9 o’clock, I meet up with Nico for the start of our trip around Spain on the motorbike. The goal is to go from Madrid to Santander and then clockwise around the whole Iberian Peninsula in 14 to 16 days. The whole trip will take us between 5 and 6ooo km into a big variety of landscapes. As the big cities will be left for weekend trips, we’ll try to stay out of them during this trip.
Todays planning is to go from Madrid to Santander, starting with some highway to get out of the city and the surrounding suburbs as fast as possible, but then taking the national roads, which in Spain, still allow you for a decent speed but less boring.
We have a youthhostal pass and the complete youthhostal guide with us, no tents and a variety of clothes to cope with the mountains of the Pyrenees as well as the heath of the South of Spain.
I put a 48l topcase on my Honda VFR800i (’99), got sidebags of Skippy and a brand new big tankbag with magnets in front of me, this holds hopefully everything Ana and me need for the 2 weeks. Nico has my old tankbag on his Suzuki Bandit 600 and that’s it. Off we go !
I have 55860 km on the counter.
The idea is to have a short break every 100km or 1 hour drive, just to make it doable on the long run.
The first hour was the N-VI north-west of Madrid to the junction where we could get the N601 direction of Valladolid, this part is quite curvy and I needed to get used to Ana as a passanger and the weight of the fully packed bike while going up and down the mountainpass of the Sierra Guadarrama : puerto de Guadarrama (1.510 m) .
From Valladolid there was the most boring N611 to Palencia and Alquilar de Campo where we stopped in the middle for a quick lunch. The weather was hot, we were all wearing protective clothes and with temperatures of 35C it wasn’t too comfortable, but going at speeds of +140 it helps as well agains all kinds of little stones and bees crashing against the helmets and jackets. We knew the first day was going to be a fast one because the actual trip starts in Santander. We sticked to the N611 to Santander, but with about 70km to go the famous Cantabrian rains surprised us and in no time we had to hide under a bridge for a authentic storm. Lightning, thunder and showers made considering myself a happy man sticking to the plan to take my raingear with me. It’s not a default thought if you spend the last weeks in more than 30 degrees with little or no raindrop.
Finding a hotel wasn’t big trouble, we had a Rough Guide of spain with us and chosed the Caracola for 36euro’s for the 3 of us. The bikes illegally parked in the pedestrian zone and after a good shower we head out for some beers and cheap food in the center.
The first day wasn’t too bad, but there was still no vacation mood in it. 450km from Madrid, watching the Bay of Biscay. (also Vizcaya or Mar Cantabrico)
We have a long way to go.