BARBIETOURS
VIII
THE
BRINKMANSHIP TOUR
SEPT 2010
Just to wet your appetite here are
the trip stats:-
Riding Days 14
Days Off 0
Total Miles 3350
Total Hours Ridden 82
Miles (Non UK only) 2150 aprox
Miles of Toll Road 10 (Millau
Bridge)
Longest tunnel 2 miles
Fuel consumption (Sprint only)
53.3 mpg
Ave speed 42 mph
Max speed 85 mph based on Tomtom Figure !!!
Number of Riders 3
Day – 4
Last working day before
departure. I receive a text from
Brittany Ferries to advise me that my ferry has been cancelled due to a French
Strike. Ferry crossing rearranged, now
going at 7am from Portsmouth instead of 7am from Poole. Cancel ‘Travelodge’ in Bournemouth (no
refund) and book ‘Travelodge’ in Portsmouth.
Day –2 – Haddington to Exeter
A solo trip to Exeter to meet up
with son. Finlay greets me with, ‘ Do
you realise this will be the first YOU are staying in MY house’. After a home cooked pie he takes me on a
pub-crawl (good) then reports to his mother how much I have had to drink (bad)
– He also fails to report that I drank less than him !
Day –1 to be later renamed Day 0 !
During a leisurely stop for
breakfast, and while my bike is being
given a going over by 3 policemen, I discover that as my ‘new’ phone and GPS
both have Bluetooth, I can get them to acknowledge each others presence.
Approximately 1 hour later, I get
my first text on my GPS. Its from
Brittany Ferries, advising me that my rearranged ferry has now been
cancelled. Their staff at Poole (I was within
5 miles) are very helpful and I can either get a slow ferry tomorrow or a slow
one TONIGHT ! As we have 200 miles to
reach our first French Hotel, I opt for the overnight ferry and am lucky to
catch John and Mac, who were currently on their way down from Edinburgh.
They hasten their journey and we
meet up at the Portsmouth Travelodge (which it had been too late to cancel).
After showers and dinner we don
our waterproofs to ride the 250 yards to the port – Ferry loading &
departure delayed by 1 hour. While
boarding, I (lucky me) get selected for a random search ! (Is there a major
problem with channel ferry hijackings or terrorism ?)
Day 1 224 miles to Angers
We rouse ourselves at 6am in
readiness to disembark at 6.30 (5.30 UK Time- was the extra cost for the cabin
worth it and will I ever be able to claim anything back on insurance). A leisurely french breakfast followed by an
educational visit to Arromanche (Juno Beach)
before resuming our planned route, which consist largely of boringly
straight roads before arriving too early for hotel check in time. The owner is contacted and books us in
although is extremely upset at the thought of 3 adult men sharing a room. His solution is to upgrade us to a 2 bedroom
suite and provide an extra camp bed.
That was counted as a result !
Day 2 265 miles to Uzerche
As our route leaves the Loire
through Saumur the straight roads get shorter and the corners come ever
quicker, making us look forward to days to come. A brief detour into Chinon excites John as he
had expressed an interest in seeing the castle.
His hopes were dashed as we turned round in a supermarket car park. An error by our temporary leader had resulted
in a wrong turn.
As we approached Uzerche,
waterproofs were donned for the best twisties of the day.
We enjoyed a ‘duck themed’ dinner
and a very pleasant night while the weather did its worst.
Day 3 245 miles to Millau
After breakfast we made ourselves
watertight for the first few miles before being forced by excessive
temperatures to strip off. The final 100
miles of the day in the mountains and canyons of the Central Massif could only
be described as outstanding and left us wondering why we had not visited the
region before. Nearing Millau, we turned
a bend in the road and the town loomed up before us with the bridge soaring and
shimmering in the mist and sunshine behind.
An awe inspiring site.
The hotel was, frankly
disappointing, with the owner quick to extort 10 Euro for – well almost
anything really. Dinner was in the
‘superior’ hotel restaurant (as opposed to the hotel greasy spoon café) and
similarly disappointed with my Salmon being undercooked and my potatoes
emulating one of Bridgestone’s compounds.
An apology was eventually grudgingly given and we (along with everyone
else) were offered a free glass of the local firewater. This was almost like adding insult to injury.
Bad news that we have 2 nights
here.
Day 4 200 miles Millau to Millau
Breakfast was as poor as dinner,
so we were able to make a swift getaway.
I swear that in the entire 200
miles, the longest straight was 50 meters.
Mac was heard to say that he didn’t ever think that you could have
enough twisties, but today got close.
The mountains and canyons were as
astonishing as the previous day.
We gave the hotel dining
facilities a miss and went to a local eatery where I ordered ‘Boeuf de
Tartare’. The waiter quietly asked me if
I knew that it was raw and gave me a funny look when I answered yes, but at
least I could be sure that it wouldn’t be undercooked. A good meal and cheaper than our hotel too.
Day 5 228 miles to Castres
Forgoing the hotel breakfast we
set off early and had coffee and croissants at a small bar enroute. We wanted to leave time to enjoy the Visitor
Centre for the Millau Bridge. Starting
off doing a small loop we rode first under then eventually (on the only stretch
of Peage) over the bridge.
Another long hot day in the saddle
was finished with a problem finding our Baroque Mansion turned ‘gay friendly’
Hotel in the pedestrian precincts of Castres.
The hotel was magnificent, only let down by the ‘secure garage’ being
over ¼ mile away.
We ate that night in the
pedestrianized square, and the local
mozzies diner later on us.
Day 6 237 miles to La Molina
A day in the French countryside
with a few straight bits of road. These
soon vanished as the Pyrenees loomed nearer.
After meeting up for a coffee with Dave, who lives in these parts we set
about the hills in earnest. Pausing to
fill up with expensive petrol we crossed the Spanish Border (and admired the
cheapness of the petrol), where it started to spit with rain.
Hmm choices – Put on waterproofs
or race up 12 miles of brilliant tarmac and try to get to the hotel before the
heavens open……. No choice really. Thrash up to hotel (still mainly dry) only to
find they have no record of our booking .
No problem, they have plenty of space, I have proof of booking so OK
! Unfortunately, the hotel is closing
for refurbishment TOMORROW and the bar is closed tonight. (The final straw).
The nice man arranges for us to
stay in a ‘ski apartment’ 7 miles down the road, assuring us of bars and
restaurants directly opposite.
Thrash down the road and check in
(still mainly dry). The ‘bar’ turns out
to be a bowling alley that serves bottles but no food. After several mimes, we set off on a 10
minute walk to someplace that may
serve food but may not be open.
Fortunately it is and after the locals have got over their shock enjoy a good
meal and drink while the thunder rumbles round the mountains.
We also managed to get back to our
apartment in a dry ‘window’ in the weather.
Day 7 226 miles to Labuerda
The storm has vanished, leaving
only slightly damp roads for this very special days riding. Without deliberate planning today’s route
included 3 of probably my 5 bestest, most favourite pieces of tarmac. (N152 Alp
- Ripoll, Berga to Isona via Col De
Nargo, and the N260 Pont de Suert to Ainsa).
We arrive again, almost keen for a
straight, to be informed by matrix signs that the Bielsa Tunnel, which is on
tomorrows route (and had been closed 3 years ago resulting in a 150 mile
detour) was closed from 15th
Sept to 1st Dec. After a hurried discussion in the car park,
we established that tomorrow was the 14th September – whew!
The hotel was superb and the
waiters ran out of space on our table when bringing our evening (14 Euro set
price 3 course meal – including wine –til you stop drinking apparently)
Day 8 199 Labuerda to Labuerda
Breakfast followed the pattern of
last nights dinner and we set off, determined to make it through the tunnel
before it closed. A day of 4 superb
mountain passes including the Tourmalet and the Aubisque and this time in the
blazing sun. Not even a 15 minute delay
while they dug a hole in the Tourmalet could dampen my emotions.
There was an unfortunate incident
at the top of the Aubisque when one of our number met a Dutch motorhome
reversing up the mountain because it had missed the car park. Stopping on the road, he put his foot down to
find no road underneath. Miraculously
there was almost no damage to his bike, thus proving, in these circumstances,
crash bungs are well worth their cost.
With one slightly shaken rider, we
completed the day at (a slightly) more sedate pace.
Day 9 258 miles to Vitoria
The first 50 miles were through a
wooded fringe of the Pyrenees and again well worth the ride before the roads
opened up for the next 75 miles of fast sweeping bends leading to lunch at
Yesa.
Leaving the Pyrenees and heading
through the Navarra the roads became straighter and quicker, leaving us
arriving in Vitoria in good time. The
hotel was beautifully restored and had very pleasant gardens but we couldn’t
understand why it had an Italian Restaurant.
A walk round the park was just
what we needed before dinner.
Day 10 250 miles to the Ferry
The final ride to the Ferry was,
as traditional, a damp ride (although the rain did mostly hold off until we
were waiting to board the ferry. As we
had only a short journey we headed off down the final twisty roads over the
hill to Santander and were again blessed with some superb roads, although a bit
greasy in the damp. Another bit of drama
as another one of our group attempts to drop his bike on the ferry, is survived
and then off to the ‘pool bar’ for a drink.
We were just querying the fact
that the pool had been emptied when Gordon Henderson and his ‘Equinox’ Tour
party join us for drinks and a debrief on our trips. Gordon also explains that the crossing is to
be so rough, that they have emptied the pool and asked him to remove his
topbox.
This is my queue to start worrying
about the 5 litres of extra virgin olive oil that I have left loosely bungeed
to my pillion seat. I spend a restless
night thinking of the reaction of 100 bikers finding the metal deck under their
bikes nicely oiled. Fortunately it is
still there in the morning.
Day 11 Plymouth to Telford
So after breakfast, we re-enacted
‘the breaking of the fellowship’ as Mac heads straight home.
John and I went to play on
Dartmoor before saying farewell as we headed over the Bristol Bridge.
After surviving Europe, I manage
to get myself hopelessly lost in Wales (never liked the place) and after seeing
a sign for Raglan Castle and thinking I had passed that about 2 hours ago, gave
up with some of my planned route and made more directly for Telford and my
overnight halt.
Day 12 Home again
Joining the M6 at Liverpool, I
decided to try and sprint through the slight gap in the black clouds. Achieving this I was greeted at the Scottish
Border by bright sunshine which enabled me to make the final run up the A7 at a
‘brisk’ pace, before enjoying a couple of days by not going near the bike.
CONCLUSION
The weather was again a bit too
hot for comfort at times and any rain that we did encounter, was again kind in
its timing and severity.
The route was a great success
especially in the Tarn Gorges and the Central Massif. The Pyrenees being a well kent friend these
days. I will definitely be planning a
return to Millau.
We had the usual disagreements
between our GPS systems, despite exactly the same routes being programmed. The Garmin, seems to prefer taking you
through the centre of towns while the Tomtom opts more often for
by-passes. I also cannot understand how
the same route on 2 Tomtom’s can predict over 45 minutes difference in
predicted time ?
Which brings me back to thinking
about next years tour.
A return to Portugal would be
nice, but leaves a long drag across the plains and NW Spain seems to have
village after village. I think I can
hear the Pico’s and the Pyrenees calling.
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