Day 9 - Portsmouth to Swindon

Monday 09/05/2016

Had a fantastic nights sleep on the ship with some gentle rocking from the waves and the dull throb of the engines. We have a bigger than usual cabin with comfy beds and we were gently woken by daylight through the cabin window. As we only had snacks last night, Krysia wanted a proper breakfast so we had a proper pig-out in the restaurant on board. Actually pretty good value at £7.50 as you do get a lot for your money.

Being a really long crossing and not really wanting to drink much more, we watched a bit of TV, laughed at a Spanish trucker telling jokes we couldn't understand and reduced ourselves to doing crosswords! 28hrs is a long time to kill on a boat but it was nice to eat / mong-out as we pleased and this boat was far quieter and more intimate than the bigger ship we came down on. We ended-up having another meal before we docked which was a bit much but it made sense as we were getting home late.

As the boat docked at almost 9pm, there seemed little point in taking the back-roads back home so we opted for the fastest route home and were back within 1.5hrs of uneventful motorway riding.

The bike has yet again proved to be very reliable. Not convinced my cush-drive fix worked 100% so will need to re-visit that as I need new tyres anyway. Speaking of tyres, the front Pirelli Scorpion has survived almost 20k miles and is still just legal (but cracking-up now). The more road-biased Pirelli Scorpion rear tyre managed less than 8k miles and is totally bald in the middle which isn't that impressive on a low powered bike and for a tyre that came with soo much tread. They otherwise both performed well in all conditions, but I will try something else next time. The previous Michelin Anakee 2 rear lasted well but had a road bias.

Anyway, enough rambling. Another good short escape and opportunity to see / experience some new things. Despite the weather, I think this will be classed as another successful trip. Personally for me another week on the road would have been better, not sure Krysia would agree with me there though....

Mileage: 1418
Beers: 21 + wierd coctail + 3 big vodka's + 3 big red vinos + 2 massive G&T + 4 white ports + 10 brandys + 1 red wine + 1 bottle of red
Ass pain: 2/10 (Krysia) / 1/10 (Me)
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (1 witnessed + 1 drop)
Coldness: 3/10

Day 8 - Aquilar de Campoo to Santander

Sunday 08/05/2016

Slept really well despite it raining all night and being quite chilly. The 3 season bags did their job and kept us warm and cosy. The campsite bar also appears to be a fancy wedding venue - it's a huge building and the guy running the place got the big open fire going so we had a nice evening before finally turning in for an early night.

There was a very light drizzle in the morning so we skipped breakfast and had to put our tent away wet as it was. The weather soon cleared and it wasn't cold but it was very windy, especially as we passed a couple of seriously flooded lakes which had waves on them like at the sea-side. We stopped for coffee and cakes before going through some lovely alp-like roads and villages. All very pretty but we had some time to kill before getting to the port so we stopped for more coffee which we enjoyed outside in the glorious sunshine - finally.

We decided to have a decent lunch so stopped at a lovely Taberna but we had real problems communicating and Google Translate got us nowhere. In the end we picked a random set meal from the menu. It was pretty substantial to say the least. Bread, cheese platter, large salad bowl, prawns, languistines, octopus, more prawns, crab balls, cake, a bottle of red and more coffee. It was a high quality feast that was certainly well worth the €30. Will be better than the slop on the ship.

We made the boat in plenty of time - it's a much smaller vessel and will take over 28hrs to get to Portsmouth - but we have a nice and big cabin with sea views. Let's hope that the crossing is smooth as I have doubts about how the bike next to mine is secured and I'm convinced that it will topple over on to my one! Not quite so many bikes on board this time but chatted to some guys that had been down to Morocco on their BMWs.

There is only one bar on the ship and one restaurant. It's the no-frills 'Economie' service, but it's fine and at least the bike parking wasn't as manic as last time! The sea is also getting pretty rough now that we're getting further from shore.

Tomorrow evening we will arrive in Portsmouth and will have just a short journey back home. It's been a good trip but we were really let down by the unusually cold and wet weather - especially whilst we were hoping to enjoy the Duaro valley. Ironically we understand that the UK has had a mini heatwave whilst we've been gone..... The bike also struggled with the bulk of two adults and all of our combined gear - will consider a more powerful bike next time or stick to riding solo! Also, next time I will invest in a Bluetooth headset if I'm travelling with someone as at times I wanted to speak to Krysia but couldn't (and vice-versa). When we are older, we will return in a camper-van and take 5 weeks like a retired Dutch couple that we met in the bar in Portugal.

Mileage: 1331
Beers: 20 + wierd coctail + 3 big vodka's + 3 big red vinos + 2 massive G&T + 4 white ports + 10 brandys + 1 red wine + 1 bottle of red
Ass pain: 2/10 (Krysia) / 1/10 (Me)
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (1 witnessed + 1 drop)
Coldness: 3/10

Day 7 - Villablino to Aquilar de Campoo

Saturday 07/05/2016

Got up for a 9am breakfast despite a restless night with dogs barking outside and other strange noises keeping me awake. Had a great fried breakfast with good coffee and more cakes. After saying we wouldn't eat anymore last night we got loads of snacks and ended-up ordering a couple of large baguette sandwiches before bed time....

There was heavy rain for much of the night, but this morning is was just light rain despite all the grey clouds. The temperature was just 6C when we set-out which felt very cold bearing in mind our gloves, etc were still wet from the day before. Today's roads were much quicker and easier going and at least we got to see the countryside. We climbed over a 1600m pass where it got very cold, after that things started to warm-up with no more rain and even the sun dared to come-out a few times. We stopped for coffee and petrol and generally took our time. We looked around a small town called Cervezos or something, which was nice.  Unfortunately my sat-nav went a bit mental and we ended-up going 10km in the wrong direction and had to back-track.... Still, the views made it OK and it was nice to be back in the Picos with stunning mountain views.

We then headed straight for Agilar de Campoo which is a nice little town next to a large resevoir / lake. The dam was impressive and it was cool to ride over the top of it. To get to the campsite we had to climb another crazy steep road with 1st gear switch-backs. The camp-site is great - it's in the middle of a lovely forrest and has horses roaming around freely.

We cooked the rest of our food - the weather was warm and our forrest camp really nice. As it was still quite early and we were in such a nice setting, we decided to go for a walk by the lake. The water level was really high with many tree-tops sticking-out from the top of the lake. The views were stunning with snow-capped mountains and dense forrest surrounding the lake. As well as the cuckoos we heard the distant rumble of thunder but chose to carry on. Within a few minutes it was chucking it down and we got wet again before we could make it back to the camp-site..... Good job we had set-up camp as there were no chalets to rent here!

We had a nice day, but now we have little choice but to hit the bar again. No draft beers today so I am stuck with miniature bottles of strong lager. Why can Krysia get a monster of a Gin & Tonic yet I have to have a miniature beer?

Tomorrow we head back to Santander via a bit more of the Picos. More rain is due from 10am so we will try and get packed-up and back on the road by then. We should be able to leave the bike in the port and to go exploring Santander as our boat doesn't leave until quite late.

Mileage: 1251
Beers: 17 + wierd coctail + 3 big vodka's + 3 big red vinos + 2 massive G&T + 4 white ports + 10 brandys
Ass pain: 5/10 (Krysia) / 1/10 (Me)
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (1 witnessed + 1 drop)
Coldness: 7/10

Day 6 - Braganca to Villablino

Friday 06/05/2016

The stone bungalow we rented was excellent and we slept well after all the Brandy. We were expecting a bit of rain today but it was torrential rain right from the morning. We took our time, cooked some breakfast in the bugalow and waited for the weather to get better. It didn't so we headed off over the small mountain roads back into Spain.

The weather was shocking - constant heavy rain with the roads leading us through the clouds and practically zero visibility. The road we took was a very windy, gravelly and narrow fire-track which was very steep. Would have been stunning in good weather but couldn't appreciate the views and spent my whole time trying to avoid the potholes and make the tight bends. Really hard work. Eventually rode into another tiny village where I came to a halt on an uneven surface and ended-up slowly dropping the bike as I couldn't take the weight when lent over.... No damage done to man/woman or machine but it was annoying as I can't believe the Sat-Nav lead us to such a rabbit warren of roads that appeared not to have been maintained since the middle ages....

Our next issue was that we were getting low on petrol and with places being so few and far between here, we had to detour to get fuel when we could. We then decided to just try and get to Villablino on the fastest roads possible. Despite the short distance and better roads, it still seemed to drag on in the rain.

We stopped in a small village just past Ponferrada where we had a couple of coffees, some potato pie and some cakes. It was still raining when we left the cafe and we both started feeling quite cold (the temperature has dropped to below 10C and colder up in the mountains). We got to Villablino and decided not to even consider camping! We headed out of town where we found a  small hotel (above a bar again) which is nice, cosy and warm and was only €41 incl. breakfast.

The weather really ruined the day. Not experienced such crap weather since I went to Ireland. The views would have been great but with clouds, fog, heavy rain and misty visors we saw very little today. Ended-up with no photos. I reckon that today would have been amazing in the dry with gorges, mountains, rivers and some views resembling Dartmoor and others Snowdonia.

Hit the bar - it would be rude not to support the local economy! Some excellent strong bitters on offer.

Tomorrow we head back into the Picos where we should be able to camp about 75 miles away from the port. We are due more rain tomorrow though so I suspect we'll be looking for yet another hotel!

Mileage: 1090
Beers: 13 + wierd coctail + 3 big vodka's + 3 big red vinos + 1 massive G&T + 4 white ports + 10 brandys
Ass pain: 3/10 (Krysia) / 1/10 (Me)
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (1 witnessed + 1 drop)
Coldness: 7/10

Day 5 - Porto to nr. Braganca

Thursday 05/05/2016

Another very warm night but this time I slept with the sleeping-bag open and also with the door to the porch open. Slept much better but we were awoken by the sound of light rain on the tent. It was a good excuse to quickly pack our stuff up and find shelter for a sandwich breakfast before another long ride.

The weather was drizzly and foggy for most of the day. We rode through Porto along the river - very cool bars / cafes looking a bit shabby-chic if you like all of that kind of stuff. We continued along the roads that followed the Duaro river - very nice road with great views but it was hard work in the wet with shiny man-hole covers in the middle of the road on most corners.... Very few straight sections made it difficult to take in the views whilst riding.

We stopped for fuel, coffee and cake in a small village. It was good to get out of the rain, but our waterproof gear kept the rain out and it was nice not to be boiling hot like yesterday. Progress was really slow, hours went by and we didn't seem to be covering any distance. Saw some more shocking driving - nobody looks in their mirrors and people just pull-out in front of you. Saw a HGV driving like a nutter down a very windy road. As he approached blind bends where he needed to use both lanes then he just 'beeped' and carried on with slowing down much. Inevitably as he rounded another bend there was a loud bang and he hit a Transit van that was in the middle of the road waiting to turn at a junction.... Glass, plastic and metal everywhere but no flesh & blood damage. The whole road was blocked, but being on a bike we managed to squeeze through.

The Duaro Valley really is stunning. Such great views with Vinyards absolutely everywhere along the 'Porto Wine Route'. Lots of river cruise ships heading up and down the river. Shame the weather spoiled the views. It was very rural and the road constantly twisty but we did ride through some pretty towns by the river.

We decided to break off from the Duaro Valley road and head to Braganca en route back to Spain as it would have taken us hours to finish the road. A new road heading North had just been built, which was empty, so we covered loads of distance in a short space of time. We stopped again for a meal in a roadside restaurant which looked quite posh. We didn't really fit-in well with our soaking bike gear. Nobody spoke English so our food order was a lottery. We got Goulash, Sausage Roll things, bread and Tuna with crackers as a starter, followed by soup, followed by belly-pork / potatoes / salad and finally warm-cake & fruit-salad to finish (with some great coffee). Not eating again tonight - we were stuffed! All for €20 in total! The nice velvet seats were left soaked from my wet motorbike trousers!

We started looking for camping in Braganca and found a sign which took us way out onto the sticks to a place called Cepo Verde where we have rented a wild-west looking little stone house which is actually very nice with all the mod-cons. Good value at €35 - it even has a wood burner!

Nice bar - sampling all the local brandy varieties. Some are excellent! They also have the world's biggest pen-knife!

Tomorrow we head back into Spain. We are due more 'light rain' tomorrow and then 'heavy rain' on Saturday so I think it won't be much fun going forwards.

Mileage: 942
Beers: 9 + wierd coctail + 3 big vodka's + 3 big red vinos + 1 massive G&T + 4 white ports + 10 brandys
Ass pain: 5/10 (Krysia) / 2/10 (Me)
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (1 witnessed)
Coldness: 2/10

Day 4 - Santiago to Porto

Wednesday 04/05/2016

The night was warm - our 3 season bags were overkill but my new sleeping mat was amazingly good. Slept quite well but it was a little tight in the tent with half our gear inside it and I felt a bit too hot.

We decided to take fast roads for the first few miles today before peeling-off on the more scenic roads. The small roads are brilliant, but to cover 150 miles can take more than 7hrs of riding so sometimes you have to make a few compromises. As it happens my Sat-Nav and paper-map were both pretty inaccurate today...

We had coffee and sandwiches for breakfast at the campsite before heading off. It was not windy today, the weather was boiling at over 30C at times. Too hot especially in slow moving traffic. The roads were pretty average until we got into the mountains in Portugal at Moncau. Lovely forrests, wine valleys and the odd stunning building. The roads were twisty and fun but with two people + luggage the centre stand hit the ground when I got too carried away.

I made a few wrong turns and twice ended up going up roads that were amazingly steep with tight turns. 1st gear clutch-slipping stuff - it was difficult not to wheelie and if I had to stop then we would have fallen over as I would have started skidding backwards... I also went through a motorway toll both without paying but realised that I had done wrong and managed to get a correct ticket issued....

We got to Porto just in time for rush-hour. Crazy-busy with some bad driving also on offer. The sat-nav took us to a campsite that turned-out to be a fancy office block. The next campsite had apparently stopped being a camp-site 12 years ago... Ended-up heading over the river where we are camped by the sea. We cooked some more Smash / Couscous with All Day English Breakfast and Irish Stew followed by soup and sandwiches.

The weather suddenly became overcast and the temperature dropped significantly but we still went to the beach even though it was getting late. Inevitibly we ended-up in a beach bar. Finally got to drink some white port in Porto so my life is complete!

Tomorrow we take on the Duaro valley - not sure how far we get or if we find anywhere to camp. We are due thunderstorms on Friday, I suspect that we may get rain tonight and tomorrow!

Mileage: 715
Beers: 9 + wierd coctail + 3 big vodka's + 3 big red vinos + 1 massive G&T + 4 white ports
Ass pain: 4/10 (Krysia) / 3/10 (Me)
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0
Coldness: 1/10

Day 3 - El Campu to Santiago de Compostela

Tuesday 03/05/2016

The hotel was a nice treat after riding up to almost 8pm last night. Good value at €40 for the two of us, but we spent the same on food / drink! Super-comfy bed made it difficult to get-up this morning.

After making-up a bit of distance yesterday, we decided to have a go at making it to Santiago de Compostela rather than camping by the Bay of Biscay.

We had breakfast at the hotel even though we really didn't want it after all the food last night, but it meant that we could skip lunch (well unless you count breakfast bars when we stopped) and push on a bit. It was very windy all day, but really warm and sunny. Perfect weather for motorcycling.

We had a break at Ribadeo by the coast where we were meant to camp but it was early and we had made good progress so we pushed-on to make up some of the one day that we were short of for this trip. After the fantastic mountain roads, we had to do a load of dual carriage roads and motorways to cover the ground but even they had nice views and were pretty empty.

We got to Santiago and had the tent set-up by 5pm. Clothes all laundered, got showered and cooking food by 6pm. Good camp-site - only a 2km stroll from the old town. We cooked some of our own food for a change. Spicy Chicken Curry with Smash and Couscous, followed by Carrot and Lentil Soup with Rye Bread and Ham Sandwich chasers.... Quality. Then we went into town to check-out the sights.

We felt like real pilgrims walking the last 2km (but more like 4km with our route) of the Camino de Santiago finishing at 9th Century cathedral. Lots of hills - pretty tired after walking around the old town and all the way back. Phone reckons we've done 30,000 steps today! Santiago is cool. Lots of narrow streets with interesting shops, bars and street entertainment. The cathedral was stunning inside and out.

A concert was just getting going in one on the old town squares as we headed back, we probably should have stayed but we'd have never got back.... Glad we chose to camp here as the town was worth visiting properly.

Just watching the 2nd half of the Bayern Munich vs. Atletico Madrid match. Tense stuff - Lewandowski is pretty handy.

Tomorrow I reckon we skirt Vigo and make it out of Spain and down to Porto on back roads.

Mileage: 551
Beers: 9 + wierd coctail + 3 big vodka's + 3 big red vinos + 1 massive G&T
Ass pain: 4/10 (Krysia) / 3/10 (Me)
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0
Coldness: 1/10