An eventful day

This morning we woke after a great night in Siresa. Gavin was first into the shower and stayed in there longer that a pubescent teenager, OMG, how can anyone spend 20 minutes in the shower, particularly when you realize that the shower was crap and the holder did not work meaning that you had to hold the shower in one hand. At least you had one hand free hey Gavin?

Richard was next, he was only in there for a couple of minutes before he started shouting profanity much to the amusement of Rob and Gavin. Next we heard a clatter and a massive bang. We continued to laugh but the following silence was a bit worrying. Next thing we knew old man Edwards came stumbling out of the shower with blood running down the side of his face. It was like a scene out of Psycho. Turns out he had not tucked the the shower curtain in and had flooded the bathroom curtain. This was the initial profanity. He then stepped out, slipper and cracked his head on the bath. This was the clatter, bang and following silence. We were more that a little worried for 5 mins but that soon passed and the piss take started.

The shot above is where Richard butted the bath. From now on in we are only going to stay in places that have disabled facilities especially for the old man.

We set off on our bikes with a plan to get at least as far as Bordeaux. We had to pass through the mountains into France first and this is when the fun and games started. If anyone has ever been to Knowsley Safari park will recognize the route as they just let the animals roam wild out here. We passed cows, bulls, dogs, cats and best of all horses which decided to huddle in a tunnel we needed to get through.

Gavin started to get worried and refused to ride through. Rob approached them reving his engine. To say they were unimpressed would be an understatement. Rob got of his bike and started to clap at them to move them forward. This worked well until a car came the other end of the tunnel and they turned and galloped back towards him. By this point the brave Richard and Gav were standing behind a barrier as Rob ran back towards his bike. The car drove the horses away and we carried on.

Next was sheep.

Then dogs chasing us, we never got a photo of them in the interests of not getting bitten.

We stopped at the top of a mountain pass to take some photos and get the drone out. We tried the active track on the drone with Richard riding his bike up and down the pass and then we were joined by a group of British riders who had been coming that way for the last 15 years

The last picture below is Gavin turning up after falling 20 mins behind, we have no idea how he could get that far behind but somehow he managed it

Happy

We spent the night in the hidi hi restaurant and bar eating pizza and chips. Gavin spent most of the night worrying about his bike and Richard and Tob spent most of the night not helping and making him worry even more.

When we got back to the chalet Gavin was on his phone until the early hours of the morning allegedly researching his bike, we have our doubts that is what he was looking at but don’t really want to think about it.

We set off in the morning and decided to hit the toll roads. Gavin was amazingly chippy and we are not really sure why but we are sure we can fix what ever it is. Breakfast consisted of donuts and sweets from a petrol station.

Drones, soakings and shocks

So we set off from Puebla de Benifasar at about 10.20. Lovely place to stay an lovely people who were putting us up for the night. We decided we would head out to the coast to see the sea and ended up at Vinaros. The plan of action for the day was to head back up to the Pyrénées so that we could pick up the N260 tomorrow and ride the length of the mountains from easy to west. We started off heading toward Siurana as Richard and Rob had been there before an they really wanted Gavin to see it. They had planned a fantastic and twisty route in google maps using a mobile phone. 

Unfortunately someone’s wife decided to text them while they were rideing and obscured the directions on the Nav and they spent the first 30 minutes riding on some dry dull roads. In the interestes of not causing a domestic we will keep the peoples identity secret. It should be noted however that neither Gavin nor Rob are married.

We eventually stopped, dumped wifies txt and found some very twisty roads. We stopped just outside Siurana to fuel up the bikes and give them a wash.

Rob jumped in ‘I will wash them lads’ and was happily jetwashing Richards bike not really sure why the other two were pissing themselves laughing. 

Turns out that the jet wash lance had a bit of a leak and Rob had put more water on himself than on the bikes. We all topped up with bananas and chocolate (the corner  stone of any nutritious diet) and got ready to set of to Siurana.

It was at this point that Rob notified the reason for his itchy head for the last hour. He had been providing a home for a live wasp. After a bit of girlie screaming the wasp was removed and they set off. 

They reached Siurana after riding up a brilliant mountain pass. The bikes were parked and Rob and Gavin waited while Richard tried to figure out how he was going to store everything on his bike, Top box was opened, top box was closed, items were moved from panniers to top box and back again, seat was removed, top box was opened again and then he just took everthing with him.

Rob had been complaining about feeling hot and told the other two that he was going to remove the liner from his leather trousers. Off he went in search of the toilet which turned out to be about the size of  a small fridge . He returned sweating even more than before  in bear foot as there had not been enough room for him to put them back on.

They had coffee and ice cream and then set off to do some dronning

After spending a very enjoyable hour at Siurana the trio headed back down the mountain. We pulled over about 30 minutes outside Burgar, our chosen destination for the night as it had started to spit with rain. While there Gavin stated that his bike felt funny and decided to tinker at the side of the road (never tinker with your bike when on holiday). Richard and Rob were looking at booking.com in an attempt to find somewhere to stay for the night when all they heard was crack ‘f*ck’. Gavins tinkering had turned into Gavin knackering his rear shock. What a Tool!

OMG! Richard and Rob then spent the next hour having to listen to him moan about how this was a disaster and he was going to have to get it recovered to the UK,  and then a painfully slow ride to their lodging for the night ‘resort Bergar’ which turned out to be a hidi hi holiday camp.

Oh well, off for a beer, Hidi Hi campers

La CaserA - Puebla de Benifasar

What a fantastic apartment we found. 3 levels, each with our own rooms. Gavin bagged the penthouse suit with its own balcony, walk in shower and washing machine. Yep, that’s right he had his own washing machine of the top floor. It took some explaining to him what it was and what it was for and he finally remarked that he seemed to remember his MUM having something similar.

The living room had its own real fire which we lit on returning from quite a few beers and a bottle of wine, not a great advert for health and safety but somehow we managed to not burn the place down. Took some time to gather enough items from the living toom to burn but who needs seats anyway

Gavin pretending he can read for the photo (very sophisticated Gav)

Our kitchenette, apart from finding a bottle opener this never saw a lot of use

Our route to get there, we decided to only do the roads once today rather than retrace our steps (never trust Tob and his BMW shat Nav again)

Our apartment was set in a National park and was simply stunning. We found the only restaurant in the area and he agreed he would open up to make ya breakfast in the morning.

Anyway, better set off I think the owners want us out!

Finally admitted the front tyre might not make the distance

The hotel Castellote was a bit of a find, literally a bit of a find because we could not find it. Having finally reached the town of Castellote we drove around for a bit and Rob disappeared off up a raised path barely wide enough for pedestrians. We arrived at about 8.40 and they stopped serving food at 9 so Rob legged it inside and switched off his headset as Richard and Gav were still taking the piss out of him for getting the Sat Nav so wrong. 

Breakfast was a plateful of bread, meat and cheese. 

Fully fed and watered we headed off for Teruel down some of the most amazing roads you are ever likely to ride. Simply fantastic, sun on our backs and bends for as far as the eye could see.

We stopped several times just to check the maps not wanting to make the same mistake we had made the previous day and while stopped we fitted Gavin’s £10 aldi GoPro copy to Robs bike to do some filming. We arrived in Teruel and every agreed that Robs front tire was not going to survive the trip. Richard remembered there being a tyre garage near by from the last time we had been here so we stopped off and google translate came to the rescue again. Unfortunately they only sold Michelin and Rob had a Bridgestone on the back and did not want to mix so with the help of google translate we were given directions to a garage that may sell Bridgestones. Sure enough they did and they set to work fitting the tyre. Richard and Gavin set off to get petrol and here promptly stopped for crossing a solid white line in the road €100 each lighter they fueled and headed back to meet Rob. Of course it was all his fault.

When is hotel Castellote not the hotel Castellote?

The day started out eating breakfast at the hotel Turmo with a view of the mountains in the background. Fried eggs, fried bacon, fried sausage, fried yogurt, in fact you could have anything you wants fried
 The night before the owner had explained in pigion English and using a tourist map several places that we should seek out the next day. 

We started for the first of these that was supposed to be an abandoned monestry. Rob set his trusty Shat Nav and they headed off. Problem was that Shat Nav decided that a rockey mountain trail unfit for mountain goats was a suitable route for a 300kg fully loaded touring motorcycle to take.

We did that thing that every biker knows only too well, we headed off down the path, stopped and then debated if we could make it or not. Truth is we all thought it was stupid but no one really wanted to admit it. We all breathed a sigh of relief when one of us admitted that we were not keen so we turned around and headed to tourist spot number two. The 1000 year old oak tree of Lecina. We drove though the village searching out this mythical tree. Really how hard can it be to find a 1000 year old oak tree? Very difficult by all account. After spending 20 mins looking around we gave us and just took a picture of this big tree for the blog

We headed out the next tourist location called Eripol. Not sure what the history of this place is but it basically looked like and abandoned village and church built into th mountain. The first thing that struck us what the single track lane runnning up to it that someone had decided to put line markings in the middle of, not sure what vehicle would be narrow enough to drive up one side or the other of such a narrow road and what the point of the white line was but impressed someone had took the time to paint it. 

Epirol was lovely and someone had built a new house amoung the abandoned village overlooking the mountains. It was very windy and Richard and Gavin dared Rob to take the drone up in the air. Never one to pass up a challenge Rob tracked back down to the bikes to pick up the drone and then walk back up the hill again. The drone was sent up into the air and much to Richard and Gavin’s dissapointment it did not crash.

After a number of miles we stopped for one of those pee break where you all head off to find different bush, it was very windy, you can make the rest up yourself. The group photo was one only one of several attempts that retained the trio’s heads.




We pulled over in Caspe to book a hotel and settled on Hotel Castellote. The BMW Shat Nav was programmed for the Hotel Castellote. Who would hav thought there was more than one Hotel Castellote and that they were 86 miles apart? More to the point who would have thought that we had already passed the hotel once! And that we would find ourselves riding back over the exact same 86 miles that we had already ridden. At least Gavin never moaned once, once we could have copped with. He moaned the whole 86 miles. My arm hurts, my shoulders hurts, I am going to need more fuel, its windy, its cold, I’m hungry. Still makes a change from moaning about his Sat Nav. 

Highlight of the day was Gavin trying some Spanish. After Richard had had his bike filled with fuel by a female attenndent Gavin confidently said ‘Porfavour the same’. Brilliant.

Anyway, T Bone Steak and ice cold beer was I reward when we eventually got to the hotel

Tour D’France

Go to the Pyrénées they said, chase he sun they said, follow the tour d’france climbs they said. they never mentioned the snow though did they, who ever they are.

The day started with Gavin tripping over his bottom lip because his SAT Nav was not working, Apparently waterproof does not mean it can get wet. He was obviously upset so Richard and Rob did their best not to make him cry.

Richard started the day by proudly showing the other two his 15 year old Puma Motorcycle boots which he had recently repaired the sole using Prit Stick and spit. Puma you probably know better for producing slightly uncool running shoes.. Their runnning shoes however are Uber cool compared to Richards repaired boots which Jimmy Cricket would not have been seen dead in.

Above was our planned destination or the day. We planned to leave the hotel and head to Argeles-Gazost. We checked the weather forecast and it appeared that we would be chasing the sun. This route would take us through one of the famous hill climes in the Tour d’France, the Col De Solour. It started well, we stopped in Angels-Gazost for a photo and in relatively bright weather booking a hotel in Labureda while we were stopped. We then headed up the 1400 meter climb. We got about 1/2 way up and it started to rain, at 800 meters the rain turned to sleet and at 1400 meters we were in a full on blizzard that would would have made Edmund Hillary turn back. To top it all the route we had planned to take was closed due to the weather and we were directed down an alternative pass.  Did we let it beat us though, did we moan, did we bottle it, did we turn back? Of course we did.

We took the photo below and then Gavin, in true Top Gear fashion decided he could not be bothered waiting for the other two and headed back down the pass on his own. Richard and Rob waited for 10 mins to see if the snow subsided and then set off back down the hill after Gav who they caught. 5 minis later. The speed he was traveling down the hill actually defied physics, he really should not the able to stay that upright going that slow.

We got back to Argeles-Gazost and started to look ath the maps to see if we could find an alternative route. ‘I know a good way’ Richard stated which when programmed into the Nav turned out to be the route we had just turned back from. We decided to have another go, take some man up pill, put our heads behind the bike screens and travel back up the pass. God it was crap weather. It rained, rained, snowed, rained, rained, snowed. We stopped at a salt yard to take cover.

By this time Richard had stopped going on about how proud he was of the repair on his 15 year old Pumma Wellys which were leaking like Neil from the Young Ones shoe. Gavin and Rob pissed themselves laughing as Richard backed is bike from under the salt dispenser and stepped into a 2ft deep puddle. 

Richard had spent almost as much on his gloves as he did not his boots, ‘piss wet through’


We finally found the sun 



How Much???

We are eating dinner and it Richards turn to trip over his bottom lip. His IPhone has stopped working. Those that know Richard will know that this is like cutting off his hands. He perhaps would moan less if you cut off his hands. Today we managed 450Km which considering Gav was being overtook by runners for half of  this was pretty good going.

Cats and Dogs

‘OMG, I have never ridden in rain like that’ was a common saying on the way down to Gignac. The road was completely obscured by running water, the outside line was filled with kamikaze  Pergeot drivers who were trying to force us off the road and the 8 wheelers spraying up what looked like a tsunami off the road.

The strange thing is, that when the weather is that bad and dangerous you just want to get through it which forces to ride faster and it just gets more dangerous. You know this to be true but you are so desperate to get to where you are going that you just go faster and faster.

Speaking of getting to where you are going, we didn’t, we all agreed that not reaching Toulouse was not such a bad thing and having done 447 miles we did not feel too defeated.

We stopped to give our aching bones a rest at a service station enjoying a coffee and some worryingly heart shaped pastry’s 

We booked into a hotel in Gignac called Hôtel La Truffière. This turned out to be a bit of a find with a cellar where we could park the bikes, a roaring real fire and an outside swimming pool ad tennis court. We are currently drinking beer and if we drink enough will probably try the pool despite the rain.

Dinnner was a 4 course affair costing just 22 Euro and consisting of bread, a starter, more bread, beef main course, bread, cheese, with bread and desert, followed by bread, they like their bread do the French.

The hotel had the strangest lift we have ever used. It had a glass door that just pull open yourself, a platform you stand on and various buttons that you have to keep pressed otherwise the lift just stops mid floor. A lot of childish fun was having starting and stopping the lift just to see how much we could make it shake.

Plan for tomorrow is for it not to rain and to get into Spain (that rhymes.....so proud).