Day 1, July 1st 2001, Venlo(NL)- Chissey-en-Morvan(F), 729km
Done. First day has come to an end.
But lets start at the beginning. I left Venlo at just over 9 this morning. After a quick (and cheaper) gasstop in Germany, I headed south. Good weather, no wind, and not much traffic. Traffic consists mostly of caravans. All from the Netherlands ofcourse.
The new tunnel in Luik (Liege) is a big detour. That's the last time I took it. Near the town of Metz (Fr), a gasstop was in order. Still not much traffic. Near Toul I took another highway anf left the "Autoroute dus Soleil" (highway of the sun). A few kilometers further I left the highway (not to ride another mile of highway until I accidently found myself on a highway in Spain, some 3000km further on the road).
Via national roads (2 way, 90km/h speed limit) and smaller roads towards Neufchateau. I remembered this town from when my parents, my sister and I headed to Spain each year before the big highways were built. I definetly enjoy them more this time. The roads are in good order and one can ride his own speed here. Lots of hills, forests and the occaisonal wineyard.
The destination of today was planned to be on the map of southern france. So I had to ride almost to Autun. Well, I succeeded in that. A small (1 road) village, 20km north of Autun, is endstop for now.
A small hotel with a parking lot behind it. It takes getting used to the french laguage again. It's been about 10 years ago that I have spoken my last french. But I got a room, and everything is in order. Shower feels pretty good. Although the price is still somewhat of a surprise. I think 33FF for food+lodging. It kinda follows from the price-list on the door. Jst bed+breakfast is cheaper, so I guess I have the food+lodging thing.
I think I was told that dinner was at 7, so I'll go below and check things out.
It's now 9pm. I agreed to breakfast at 7:30. French is getting better. I'm curious if I get what I ordered. I'm sitting outside now, and ordered a glass of red wine. Ah, here it comes...Yep..red wine...good.
It's still warm outside. Much better than the Netherlands.
I just called to my parents with the only phonebooth in a 10km radius. My mobile doesn't work here. No network found...haha...
My room here is on the street-side. I hope I can sleep. Too much silence. About 1 car every 5 minutes or so. And thats in rush hour. ;)
In this village they have 1 hotel, 1 terrace (belonging to the hotel), 1 phonebooth, 1 donkey, 1 gaststation (with 1 pump), but they have 3 churches. Well, 3 towers with bells in them, of which 2 are working. Ofcourse, these people here need to know the time, and every 15 minutes the donkey is quiet but the bells ring :)
The way south was easy to find today. Just look at the sky, and there where there it's least cloudy, that's south. Ofcourse that means that it is totaly cloudless here. I wonder how I'll find my way tomorrow.
Day 2, July 2nd 2001, Chissey-en-Morvan - Lasalle, 551km
Well, that was a pretty long day.
Early departure (8:30) this morning. Had to give 415FF to the lady. Pretty much. I don't care, I'm on holiday. Was pretty chilly this morning, but not cold. So that was a good start.
I just headed south. Had a lot of fun roads. Mostly through forested areas. Not much traffic, so I can keep a brisky pace. No more 'pucker-stripes' on the tires. :)
As the day progresses, the temperature is getting higher. The sun is doing its job. Black bike, black helmet, black gloves, black trousers, black jacket. I'm wet, and it's not raining. Bought some chocolate-chipped croisantes somewhere at a supermarket. I wished I bought some water too. Thirsty afternoon. Stupid me.
A lot of miles later, and a lot of degrees hotter, I need a hotel. Unfortunatly I don't have enough cash with me, and I need to find a cash machine. Ofcourse, when you need one, you don't see one. So, instead of driving through a village while trying to spot one, I park the park in the next village. Well, 0 banks, 0 cash machines. I'm almost fainting from the heat. Luckily I find an apple in my top-case, and I feel a lot better after eating that one. Again, the black jacket warms me up again in just a few hundred meters. Second village where I park the bike. No cash machine. Although there are a few banks, but by now they're closed (17:30). So while returning to my bike, I spot a cash machine! And it's working! :)
A while back along the road, I saw a sign for a hotel, just a few miles down another road. So, I pointed the RT in that direction. Arrived at the hotel. So I checked out the menu (which was outside). 260FF for just a meal. I'm not gonna pay that. Back on the road. So I enter the little village of Lassale. There is 1 big advertised hotel. Parked the RT at the central park, and walked to the hotel. "Ferme Definitive". Walked around for another hotel, and scouted a late-night supermarket (whooh!). Bought something to drink. I cool off at the town's fountain. While contemplating my misery, I see a cash machine. And a small sign to a hotel, which I had overlooked initially. So back on the RT and 500meters further, I spot the hotel. They have room! I'm the only guest.
The lady who runs the hotel, is very patient with me as I try to make clear what I want, and while I try to comprehend her french. I like this. Only 180FF :). Good food, good everything. While I'm writing this, it's still 25.5C (77F), but that won't keep me awake. I'll have to sleep till 8:00. When I said I would like to breakfast at 7, she got that big eyes, that I quicly settled for 8:30.
I hope the Pyrenees will be cooler tomorrow.
Day 3, July 3rd 2001, Lasalle - Alue, 426km
It is indeed cooler, only 26C (78F) during the day. I'm in de middle of the pyrenees now, and found another nice hotel.
The first 20km of today weren't that great. Small little bumpy roads. Not good for getting out of second gear. It was good to ride in the shadow of the mountains and trees though.
Breakfast was good, and I was indeed the only guest. So quick service guaranteed.
After those initial 20km, back to heading south. Unfortunatly traffic was not as sparse as yesterday. So I had to ride their speed. Via Mazamet and Carcasonne towards the real Pyrenees. At Quillan I took some less traveled road. Less traffic and more fun. Finally I could let the RT dictate the speed. The sun has gotten behind some clouds, so I have eternal shadow.
The last few kilometers were lotsa fun. Not even the locals can keep up with me.
I stopped early (5pm), 'cause I don't want the same as yesterday. And I ran into a cheap hotel (160FF for the room). There is a little river here along the hotel. Must be cold water.
I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with the RT and the trip. The only target I have is that I should be in Portugal next Monday.
For today there was a small possibilty to visit Andorra. But, as I doubted I could return to France via Andorra on time, I took another road. Maybe on the way back.
I encountered some more fellow riders today. But still not many. 'bout 20 in the course of the whole day. And these are great roads. Maybe it still is a bit unknown to the general rider.
Right now, the weather is looking more and more suspicious. I think I can hear some thunder and see some lightning.
With an average of 500km (310miles) a day, I'll ride 10.000km (6215miles) for the entire trip. Something to look forward to.
Day 4, July 4th 2001, Alue - ?, 357km
Again, the only one in the hotel. Outside it was cloudy. Weather forcast in the newspaper predicts some rain.
I did a number of "cols"(Passes) today. The highest (Col du Tourmalet, 2114m) was also included in the Tour de France this year. Maybe the other were too. So that meant lots of cyclists. At the col d'Aubisque there was a heavy fog. I could see for about 5m. And that for miles and miles. There this one seciton with a tunnel. The tunnel wasn't straight, so there was absolutly no light in there. Dark, foggie, you can see the road, but not much else. Scary. I think it was about 10-15 miles of fog. Later on it started raining intermittently (sp?).
At Arudy it started really to rain. Streets were filling up with water. I had enough of it. The rain even hurts. I stopped at the next hotel to check it out. 170FF for a room. I stayed. It was only 16:30. For tomorrow it will be (hopefully) dry Spain.
Day 5, July 5th 2001, ? - Barbadillo del Mercado, 478km
Spain, with indeed better weather and Julio Iglesias on the radio.
This morning there was indeed some blue sky to be seen. Far off in the south. So I quickly pointed the black beast south. Without seeing the border, suddenly everything was in spanish. Fuel prices in Ptas. Good :) The sun was shining, the road was curvy and through a large forest.
A few km into Spain, there were some clouds again. But at least it didn't look like the rain/thunderstorms like yesterday. First priority was ofcourse getting some spanish currency. But in the villages I encountered there was no cash machine to be found. So, I headed towars the nearest village, Lizarra Estella. I tried at 2 different banks to get some money. No go. The second machine sais something about the magnetical strip on the card, and that I should contact my bank. Right. Bankcard was finished. Luckily I also carry a VISA card with me. So I tried that, and got away with enough pesetas for the entire week.
I picked out a nice road on the map, and got going. There's even less traffic over here than in Spain. At the most beautiful road I've seen so far, I looked for a parking space to shoor a photo. Finally found one, but by then the best part was already behind me. But picture 9 and 10 are nice.
Arrived here in Barbadillo del Mercado at a road-side hotel. Pretty good
hotel for only 4000Pts.Tomorrow I'll head for the atlantic coast. There's a natioanl nature reserve which I would like to explore. Maybe I'll even make to the city Leon. If not, I'll get there on saturday.
Day 6, July 6th 2001, Barbadillo del Mercado - SotoSerranno, 555km
It rained all night. Even in the morning it was raining. I slept late till 8:15, and even now it's raining. When I looked at a newspaper yesterday evening, I already got the idea this would happen. So I opted for another route. "I'm going there, where it is dry". Which meant way south. Another national park (Sa. de la Pena de Francia) looked interesting, so that became the goal of the day.
No breakfast, eveything was still closed up. And somebody broke into the place! Nice idea that my bike was standing just a few meters away....NOT! I packed my bike in the pouring rain, then headed south. All gray overcast. At the first gasstation I got my winter jacket liner out. Much warmer, much better. The heated handlebars are already at full blast. This should be Spain! The road itself is straight and boring. The sky keeps looking better. Stil rain though.
After 3 hours of heavy rain, finally the rain stopped for good. After a few more kilometers of straight roads, finally some mountains again.
The national park here is great fun. One stretch of road with nice (well advertised corners, each with its own advised max speed) corners. A few corners like that, and you know just how much you have add to make things fun. And there's also a great view. I stopped by at an old monastry on top of a mountain. They wouldn't want me, so I took a pic and continued. See photo 12. At home I've got this photo as poster.
At this perfect road there are some small villages. In one of the villages I found this hotel. Just perfect.
Day 7, July 7th 2001, Sotoserrano - Vitogudino, 600km
Lots of driving. Nice roads, some boring. Not a hotel to be found. :( Finally at 20:45 I found one. With hotel-garage :)
Had dinned, now I need sleep
Day 8, July 8th 2001, Vitogudino - Chantada, 619km
Again a late-nighter. Finally found a hotel somewhere. Went up north. Waether is worse. Tomorrow a fast ride into Portugal. Let EP6 start.
Day 9, July 9th 2001, Chantada - Caramulo
See this link for the EP6 stories. Didn't write myself. Total distance for EP6 was about 1125km, but some of it ( 415km?) was the trip from Chantada to Caramulo.
Day 10, July 10th 2001
Day 11, July 11th 2001
Day 12, July 12th 2001, Averro
Day 13, July 13th 2001, Averro - Leon, 717km
Okay, I included The hunt for the black tankbag, starring Leon at Moto Leon, Leon, Junta de Castillo y Leon, Spain.
EP6 was way cool! Seen lots of beautiful things of Portugal. Met the nicest people of EP. We were the talk of the week in many towns, I'm sure. Trucks were honking, flashing their lights, cars get out of the way, but
Day 14, July 14th 2001, Leon - Paramo del Sil, 437km
First I went to Moto Leon for the continuing search for the tankbag. After a few more calls to various BMW dealers, we decided to call the the cetral BMW depot in Madrid on Monday. I'll be back in Leon on Monday at then 10 then.
The weather is cooler here in Leon, but the rain wasn't necessary, really. But I headed north-east, although the sky looked clear in the south. I haven't seen the mountains here yet, and the map is full of green roads in the north. And they were right. Awesome roads. I definetly want to return here. When the weather is better, that is.
After a while on the road, I tried to get a hotel. It is much harder to get a hotel here in Spain than in France. At the first hotel everything was booked. Which was surprising considering the surroundings (middle of nowhere). The problem was a fiesta in a town close by. Unfortunatly the people at the hotel were so nice, we had to try 4 other private owned addresses before I was allowed to continue a bit further down the road. That took a while.
Finally found some hostal in some town. The last few kilometers I wasn;'t checking my map, so I didn't know where I was :). In this hostal there isn't a curtain in front of the window that won't open. I bump my ahead against the ceiling. No warm water. The other rooms are still under construction. I like this place. The last hour on the road was in the sun, so I'm warm again.
Tomorrow I need to get a hotel near Leon.
Day 15, July 15th 2001, Paramo del Sil - Mansilla de las Mulas, 472km
Day 16, July 16th 2001, Mansilla de las Mulas - Coronte, 500km
This morning I went to Leon. My bike was allowed to sleep on the closed private BBQ garden of the hotel. That's a plus :) 4000Pts for dinner plus room. Good!
In Leon I had to wait a while before Moto Leon would open. But the owner came up driving his HD (tsssk...) at 9:30! He informed me that he had some bad news; no tankbag in Madrid. He called anyway, and gave me the Madrid operator. There would be a tankbag in 2 or 3 days (read: 4 or 5) in Vitoria. Not feasable for me. I'm already somewhere in France by that time.
Got my map, and choose a route for the day. (If I had waited for another hour or so, I would have met Jim and Verna again...). Well, the route I picked was really awesome. I've never seen anything like it. Such small road, and on the left and right side it went up for several hundred meters. Terrific! And that for miles and miles. At several place the road was cut out of the cliff, zigzag road, little traffic. Oh boy!
After a short touristic stretch along the atlantic coast, I went back to the yellow roads.
Eventually headed towards a big lake for a hotel. Found a hotel. Expensive :( 7700Pts for just a room. But there was another Graphit Metallic RT outside, so my bike is happy tonite. The other RT is from a swiss guy (accoriding to his license plate). I wonder if I'll meet the owner here...
The news on tv here in Spain is one big rerun of something a week ago. Looking outside is much better. Here there are a lot of birds of prey. Falcons? Eagles? I have no idea. Weather is good, not too warm, and sunny. I did have an encounter with a herd of sheep on the road. I just stopped along the rail along the road and waited for them to pass. I'm not alone in a hotel anymore. That's good. Still the only one in my room though.
I'm writing this down, while I watch the view over the lake (Emb. de Embro). Nice and sunny. The map for tomorrow is laying in front of me. The route is already planned. A beer is waiting for me. This day-to-day planning is growing on me. I like this. All day I had a song by Skunk Anansie playing in my head. I miss my music. Well, let's see what food I get for 2700Pts.
Day 17, July 17th 2001, Coronte - Oronz, 500km
Again I had some beautiful roads. Am I lucky or what? The first part through the spanish Basque country was not that good tho. Lots of trucks and very warm. And the signs (and hence, the names of the towns) were in Basque, not in spanish. So my map was almost useless. Ofcourse they had to change the roadnumbers too. After a while I ended up back in the Pyrenees. No more searching for the correct road, just follow _the_ road. :)
Overtook 1 Belgium guy and 2 Germans. That's going okay then :)
My way back home is almost planned. Tomorrow will be Pyrenees-day. Thursday some more raods in Spain, then France to the hotel in Lassale.
Day 18, July 18th 2001, Oronz - Montferrer de Segre, 506km
Had to pay 9500Pts this morning (including a good breakfast). Not too cheap either...
The first pass for today was closed. At least, I think it was. I couldn't make much up out of the big sign. But it was probably closed. So I turned around, and I took a red road on the map. I prefer the smaller yellow ones. At least I made some miles. It is beautiful here.
I had to go through a very long tunnel at Vielha. After the tunnel it was really cold. No sun, cold wind. In total the wind is very mild. Some winds when you're crossing from flat lands into the mountains. Not much more. After Vielha, it went up and towards blue skies.
Just as I started to look for a hotel, there was none to be found. Just a miles back there were a lot of hotels. Darn. Back on a red road towards Andorra, I found a hotel at last.
And what a hotel! 10% discount for bikers :) And a great room. Parked my bike next to a R1100S. German folks from "SAD". I didn't them (her??) at the bar.
Saw some more bikers today, passed 1, 0 passed me.
The right side of my tires are not as far gone as the left side. But they are wearing of almost till the rim :) Not as far as the swiss guy in Concorte tho. I'm getting there. Tomorrow my odometer will show 20.000km. That's more on this bike in 8 months than the bike I had befoer this one in 5 years.
Andorra is scheduled for tomorrow. If I see a BMW shop, I'll stop. If I don't see one, bad luck. I should have taken some more photos today. I don't want to stop, I'm bad...
Day 19, July 19th 2001, Montferrer de Segre (ES) - Lassale (F), 542km
Last night it started to rain at 6am. Really hard, including lightning and thunder. The rain didn't stop. So I left in a drizzle towards Andorra. Brrr..
In Andorra there were some cars with snow on it. The further I went, the more cars with snow I saw. That's when it dawned upon me that rain means snow at a higher altitude. I had to tackle a pass at 2400meters. A sign in Andorra Da Silva at 1000m height, said it was 6Celcius. Brrr...It's normal that per 1000m height, the temperature will drop 6degrees Celcius. That meant it would be -2C at the top and snowing. After some internal thinking at the side of the road, I decided to continue. I didn't like the snow. It would be slippery.
Luckily, the cars and trucks had most riden off most of the snow. Just some spots here and there which I managed to avoid. But nonetheless, I took the hairpins very carfeully. By the side of the road the snow was at least 10cm thick. After the pass at the customs, my front wheel decided to move centimeters to a better position. Luckily, I was standing still. Slippery to say the least. Going down was as bad as going up. All the cars/drivers could understand my uneasiness and just followed me, without trying to pass.
I choose the shortest route down (didn't plan that), and after a while the snow was gone, and I could smell the flowers again. The rain stopped, and the road started to dry.
I headed toward the hotel in Lasalle in which I stayed on the way to Portugal. The lady recognized me, said I looked a bit more sunburned and gave me the same room.
Odometer passed the 20000km today :) Yeeha! I'm pretty happy with that. Saw temperatures ranging from 40 to -2C on this bike, really bad roads and autobahn...this bike takes them all. :)
Day 20, July 20th 2001, Lassale - Chaumont , 691km
Quick easy roads back to the north. Same way As I've come. Go go go :)
Day 21, July 21th 2001, Chaumont - Venlo , 705km
Done. Quick autoway back. Total distance 10510km. Smiles/gallon = +INF
