Migrate south for the winter

Thursday October 14th 2010 saw me once again packing up the old bike and heading south, this time the destination was to be Spain and Portugal

Having recently completed the annual coast 2 coast I realised it was time for new tyres, can’t complain getting almost 14 k out of the rear one.  So I decided that the tyres needed scrubbing in and where better to go but south for the warm weather

The ride down to Dover was the normal motorway slog! Stopping halfway to down fleece and waterproofs as the weather in the UK was starting to cool a little

I reached my B and B by teatime and was booked on the morning ferry to Calais

Friday 15th October, I arrived at the ferry terminal in good time and had the normal wander around the docks, there was only 1 other bike and they were an older couple heading down towards Italy for the winter

In no time I was off the boat and in France, with some rather large black clouds hanging over my head. So much for the sunshine! My whole plan involved finding the sun! So it was a long boring motorway sprint followed by an hour of Paris traffic.  Filtering thru the traffic with a bike loaded with wide panniers is no fun, the locals just kept flying past me and I was really glad to get out of traffic and back onto the motorway even if it was really quite boring.  The other thing I found was I was being hammered with toll fees, these really did dent the purse!

As it was far too cold and wet in France I opted for a Formula one Hotel, cheap and cheerful.  By the end of the day I was in Orleans, not bad going for the second day of my trip

Saturday 16th October, I awoke to more black skies and drizzle, headed off for a McDonalds breakfast only to find the French don’t do the proper breakfast so I settled for a coffee and bun for 4 euros! I wont be making that mistake again

Back on the road again or should I say expensive toll roads.  my destination was Oradour Sur Glane (weblink for further reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane   ). This is a living memorial for a village that was slaughtered by the retreating Germans in the 2nd World War.  I found this memorial to be very moving and recommend a visit

I left the memorial speechless and head off further south to reflect on my thoughts, many more miles of boring motorway slabbing I reached Montauban and once again headed off to a Formula One Hotel for the night.

Sunday 17th October, I had pre booked a breakfast at the hotel, well it was a continental one but with plenty to eat, so I just ate as much as I could and headed off further south.  Today I will reach Spain! The 2 days ride thru France was a testing ride, it was very cold and wet and my bike seemed to be surging, looking back I think it may have been the petrol in France because the problem disappeared when I reached Spain

I was also riding 300 – 400 miles a day just to get to the promised land and feel the lovely sun on my back!

As I came thru the Pyrenees the world suddenly became a warmer place but I had to contend with some very strong side winds which caught me out more than a few times

So I arrived at Tarragona and then really struggled to find a campsite open, I had read that most campsites in Spain stay open all year round but in the north of Spain they start to close around October time. Finally I found one, it was to be honest a bit of a dump and it cost me 16 euros but the saviour was it did have free wifi which enabled me to catch up on emails and facebook

It was at this point I was pondering whether to head back up north in the morning and go home, I thought the best thing was to sleep on it

Monday 18th October, I awoke to glorious sunshine and packed up and headed off. Still unsure of where this trip would take me next, my mind was made up as I filled up the tank with cheap fuel (motorway fuel in France is very expensive). 

I made the decision to book the santander ferry to Portsmouth, at £163 it wasn’t cheap but then I had spent more than that spending 2 days getting thru France. So it was time to venture further south and hopefully much warmer weather

No sooner had I hit the road the wind decided to play games with me! Really gusty side winds that would almost push you over to the other lane appeared from nowhere. I struggled with this and at some points I was riding along at 20mph in the moped lane, whilst the massive lorries thundered past me no more than inches from my bike, scary wasn’t the word!

After a couple of hours of battling against the wind I decided to stop for something to drink and a ciggy to calm my nerves.  Just as I was beginning to think I had made a terrible mistake and wished I was heading back up north towards my comfy bed the biking gods smiled down on me and the wind just suddenly stopped.  Looking back now I think the gods conversation must have been “ah look at him now, he’s almost about to burst into tears, ok we have messed enough now, lets turn off the wind”

Once the wind has gone I was in heaven, fantastic coast roads and some terrific hairpin, twisty roads with beautiful scenery, what more could you ask for?

I arrived at Benicassim, a lovely small coastal village with a fantastic clean campsite.  The downside was the wifi was expensive but the upside was there was free wifi at the hotel at the end of the beach.

Tuesday 19th October, well the campsite was full of brits heading south for the winter, most of them were pensioners making the most of winter sun but a few were younger travellers, however I was the only mad one camping!

So decided to stay on another day Benicassim and headed off for a bit of exploring leaving my bike to have a good rest after all those hard miles she had done

The sun shone all day and I had a lovely walk up the beach to the hotel to once again catch up on emails and facebook.  However the evenings were still quite cool and required a fleece and jacket

Wednesday 20th October, saw me leaving the campsite to head further south before heading west towards central Spain

I rode down to just north of Valencia before heading inland towards Madrid. Once again I was treated to glorious sunshine and stunning views, the ride through the mountains was breath taking!

Late afternoon I arrived in Madrid and found a campsite however they wanted 20 euros for a night stay (and you all know how tight I am !) I decided to head up north to find a cheaper campsite

Having survived evening rush hour traffic of Madrid I struggled to find a campsite that was open, around 7pm I finally did find one (not much cheaper at 16 euros) but I was knackered and just wanted to get my head down after riding almost 400 miles

So I got my tent up and got the pans out to cook my favourite pasta and whatever tin I had with me, followed by a couple of beers. Soon the evening cold weather started to bite and I retreated into my sleeping bag (well 2 sleeping bags, one inside the other) and thought it was a lot colder tonight.  In the morning I could see why as my tent and bike was covered in ground frost!

Thursday 21st October, after a very chilly start I quickly packed up and headed back on the road, luckily for me the sun came out and I started to feel my fingers and toes again.

A quick stop at McDonalds for breakfast and then a long ride of 480 miles to Aveiro in Portugal

Once again I struggled to find a campsite open and at one point had rode 10 miles down a cobbled road to find that the campsite was closed

I finally found a dump of a campsite but by then was that tired I would have slept in a bush for the night! I soon got my tent set up and food inside of me then decided to wander around the dump of a campsite only to find 200 meters away was a lovely secluded pitch just outside the washrooms, from then on I would park up my bike and walk around the whole campsite before pitching my tent!

Friday 22nd October saw me heading north towards Caminha. This was a relatively short ride of 120 miles but it did take me thru the city of Porto, which was quite interesting.

I managed to find a fantastic campsite for 8 euros and free wifi, so I decided I would spend 2 nights here

Not long after pitching my tent I heard a motorbike and there was Kuba, a polish guy riding a SV 650, so we rode into town to stock up on food and more importantly beer!  The evening was spent chatting about the different routes we had taken, Kuba was touring in a clockwise direction all around Spain and Portugal before heading off back to Poland.  His trip would finally end mid November. The evening came to a close and I think we had way too many beers! So we headed off to our tents for some much needed sleep. 

Kuba and I looking more like a pair of Bosnian refugees than bikers !

I have kept in contact with Kuba and hopefully will catch up with him 2011 when I'm back in Europe

Definitely feel like I have met a friend for life

Saturday 23rd October, I wave farewell to Kuba as he continued south. So I decided to chill out and have a short ride into the town and get some more much needed provisions Beer!

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Sunday 24th October I headed towards Gjion, having chatted to a lovely couple in a motorhome (who were also heading for the santander ferry) Will the husband pointed out some lovely little N roads. Now most of my trip so far had been on motorways now it was the time to hit the smaller roads and enjoy some fantastic scenery

I wasn’t disappointed with the N roads but found myself running short on daylight hours, also the clock had gone forward a hour as I crossed back into Spain.  So I found myself once more on a toll motorway, this one was very expensive at 11 euros.  It did however take me some lovely long tunnels and over fantastic viaducts but this was marred by the weather!  You would go into a tunnel in sunshine and come out the other side of the mountain in wet drizzly weather, the next tunnel would see you come out in thick fog and to top it all off, Hailstorms!

I was so glad to make it to Gjion, the campsite was closed but the owner let me camp, he did think I was slightly mad at wanting to camp in this weather. Once the tent was up and my belly was full I joined the owner in the bar for a few beers and learn a few more Spanish words

Monday 25th October saw me on the penultimate leg of my journey to Santander where I would catch an overnight ferry to Portsmouth

I made it to santander in good time, parked up my bike at the ferry terminal and headed into town to stock up on food and beer for the 24-hour crossing. I knew once I was on board the food and drink would be very expensive ( a captured audience!)

Tuesday 26th October was the final leg of the journey.  Having survived 24 hours on the ferry which was passed by watching films on my laptop, reading books, drinking beer and catching up with the lovely couple who I had met in Portugal, it was time to complete the last leg of my trip

388 miles from Portsmouth to home!  Got off the ferry about 5:30pm and the weather was lashing down with rain and it was very dark, so did I find a hotel for the night?  No I decided to ride home.  A long boring ride back up the M1 and finally getting home at just after midnight, cold and tired but I had survived!

So would I do the trip again?  Yes I would but I would head off in the middle of August and return home end of September.

There was so much to see and do but I feel all I did was miles and miles of motorway riding, if I go back I will stick to the smaller N roads and less miles per day