We decided after last years tour that we were fed up with just munching miles just for the sake of it, to be honest we were finding Europe a bit boring which is sad I suppose but we have been doing the same kind of trip for years so a change was required. Plan A was to take the Nortons to the International rally in Spain and the ferries were booked last year in order to get a better price, not that it was cheap in any way shape or form which seems to be the case with everything these days. The outward trip from Portsmouth to Bilbao and the return trip from Caen in France three weeks later, the plan was to keep the miles down and enjoy the small roads without being knackered each day, in other words have a holiday!
Plan A was still on until a few weeks before we left despite the Norton Club charging in my mind ridiculous prices for the rally, about 3 weeks before the off I was having Norton stress, little niggly things with both bikes were starting to stress me and when we failed to make it on a trip up North and had to limp home that day I decided that to hell with the stress and we would take the V85's and not go to the Norton Rally. Because of the NOC thing and ferries being booked early we also missed the Meeting in Kilmac in Ireland which also pissed us off but it was done so we just enjoyed the trip anyway, no plans except the ferry landing in Bilbao, Spain and leaving France 3 weeks later.
We left of the Friday and took the A702 via Edinburgh and stopped at the Big Red Barn Near Biggar for lunch, another motorcyclist was there who looked vaguely familiar, a quick chat and he asked if I knew Gino Rondelli, I replied I think so that's me, transpired Ian worked with me in the Cellnet days, that's why he was familiar, small world. We stuck to the small roads until Carlisle and joined the M6 Hell which was a nightmare with traffic , luckily we were only going to Penrith where we turned off to find our hotel.
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| Big Red Barn |
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| Leaving Penrith |
We left early on the Saturday and made our way down the video game that is England's motorway network down to see our Guzzi pals Martin and Sue in Didcot just south of Oxford where we had a enjoyable night and then on Sunday we rode down to Portsmouth to catch the ferry, we stopped next to the port to get some food in scorching sun I have to say and spotted a couple of Rotary's coming in, Alister from Tain and Tony Duffield and his wife Sandra from Aberdeen, of course heading to the Norton Rally. We boarded the ship, loads of bikes but only 5 Nortons that I could see including some of the Preston boys.
We spent the next day chatting before disembarking at 8am into a warmish Bilbao, clear of Bilbao we skirted Vitoria Gasteiz and stopped at a services to eat and to try and figure out where we were going, we decided on Jaca and booked a Hotel for that night. Nice town and 34 degrees, what's not to like.
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| Waiting for the boat with our fellow Norton travellers ( they were still speaking to us) |
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| Sunshine |
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| And sunset |
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| Norton Guys and me |
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| Waiting to exit |
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| Early Lunch stop |
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| Nice lake |
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| We stopped to chill for a bit |
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| Jaca |
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| Fort in the middle of town |
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| Interesting |
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| Bikes at rest whilst we had breakfast |
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| Breakfast bench |
We decided the night before to spend a night at the old railway station at Canfranc which was just a few miles up the road just on the French / Spanish border https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canfranc_International_railway_station
When we got there we met Graeme and his wife who had been touring Europe for a month but who were preparing to go home, Graeme it transpired was a Guzzi man who happened to be on a BMW!
The Hotel was excellent, they didn't seem to bat an eyelid when two Tinks appeared with their bike gear on, they offered us a glass of Cava whilst we checked in and it would have been rude not to partake!
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| Stalling for time just South of Canfranc |
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| It was hot |
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| But snow on the Mountains |
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| Guzzi enhancing the view |
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| Stunning Building |
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| Railway carriages for show |
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| You can eat in these at extra cost (We didnt ask) |
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| Nice |
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| Seemingly you have to book well in advance to take advantage of the even dearer prices |
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| Reception hall |
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| Packing up to go |
And so because we had been in luxury we thought we should camp for a couple of nights and headed to Ager, stunning roads again and I even got close to a vulture which was eating roadkill in front of me, these things are huge, Fi managed to get the go pro on to capture one of his pals flying overhead!
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| He wasn't as close as his mate! |
Apart from that incident we had a great run to Ager and got booked into the campsite for a couple of days, nice campsite with a pool and a nice bar / cafe but a tad expensive at 76 Euros for 2 nights considering hotels are about 65 Euros a night. The Town was nice as well!
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| En route, a water stop in this town |
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| In the shade |
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| Nice but can't place the name |
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| Tent up in Ager |
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| Relaxing |
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| The town |
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| From the campsite |
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| Fi enjoying a swim |
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| Nice view from the Pool |
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| Me relaxing |
Stay tuned for part 2...........
