Portugal & Spain 2008

Sunday - Look out Spain, here we come!

Sun - Mon - Tue - Wed - Thu - Fri - Sat - Sun - Mon - Tue

Our big trip this year was Spain and Portugal and just like our trip back in 2006, we're taking the Brittany ferry from Plymouth to Santander to save the 700 mile overland ride through France. And to be quite honest, if it wasn't for this ferry we'd probably never roam this far! :-)

The riders were:

Patto       BMW 1200RT

Ebbo       BMW 1200RT

Dave       Suzuki SV650

John        Honda CBR600rr

Sunday 15th June

07:22 Three of us have met up at Pontefract services, had a coffee, and now we're preparing for the run down to Plymouth. This is rather a formal ride down, we have a ferry to catch, no ferry, no trip! So, we'll be doing it in three easy stages from here, picking up Dave along the way. There was just one little cloud on the horizon at the moment, and that was a possible fuel shortage somewhere down the road due to industrial action, grrrreat! Oh well, there wasn't much we could do about it, just hope for the best...

N53 41 52.5 W1 15 56.2 (Google map)

This is our route down to Plymouth, just over 330 miles.

09:08 We came off the M42 under Birmingham at Junction 4 to meet up with Dave, the road we wanted was the A3400 Stratford road, but I didn't see it tucked away on the far left, so we rode around the roundabout looking for it. Coming back around, there it was, and the funny thing is I remember doing exactly the same thing two years back, proving it isn't me, it's the road signage LOL! But no matter, Dave was waiting for us at the filling station and after topping up the bikes we just had time for a coffee and a quick natter.

N52 21 51.2 W1 46 54.0 (Google map)

10:45 Next stop was the Asda supermarket at Patchway nr Bristol for a late breakfast/early lunch (brunch?) and the inevitable top up of fuel. This might be the last decent meal we get for a while, so we made the most of it!

N51 31 48.6 W2 35 53.2 (Google map)

11:38 Then it was off again for the last leg of our journey to Plymouth. This stretch of road is shown as a 'scenic road' on my Michelin map (green borded) and from our last trip this way two years ago I remember it as being rather nice (for a motorway), but not this time, in the distance were black clouds that soon drew nearer. Then it started to rain, 'Oh well, it might not be much', I thought. Ha! wishful thinking! it got worse, much worse. By the time it was a full on downpour there seemed little point in stopping. We sailed passed a filling station with a dozen bikers hiding under the canopy putting waterproofs on, we gave then a wave, they waved back, comrades in adversity :-)

14:08 By the time we arrived in Plymouth it had stopped raining some while back and we were all drying out nicely. We'd planned to pick up fuel on the outskirts of town before going for the ferry but found the filling station closed as they'd run out of fuel :-( Riding on in to Plymouth we found it full of motorcycles, there must have been some kind of bike event going on this week-end that we knew nothing about. Dodging speed cameras and bikers we found fuel in the town and stopped to top up, then headed for the ferry terminal. The one worry I always have is that the booking is wrong in some way, wrong names, wrong day, wrong time, but no, the booking was fine and we all got a bike label and GB sticker and a swipe card for the cabin door, then the guy in the kiosk gave us a little something extra, how kind! a sheet of A4 saying there was a fuel dispute in Spain, and to allow extra time when travelling due to possible shortages!

N50 22 00.3 W4 09 28.6 (Google map)

14:37 There was very little hanging around, and we seemed to board the boat (The Pont Aven) very quickly. Down where the bikes were being stowed the crew seemed to have things pretty well organised with seat cushions and straps laid out ready to use. I'd just got the bike strapped down nicely when a French crewman came over, looked at my workmanship and shook his head in disapproval. He loosened the strap again and adjusted it, then started ratcheting it down with a vengeance, I though he was trying to pull the bike down through the deck! He kept smiling at me, and said in broken English "Nice and tight", "no kidding" I said, thank god for the two cushions I'd put over the seat! 

Then it was up to the cabin to dump our overnight bags and a quick clean up before heading to the bar for light refreshments. And pretty soon the Pont Aven was bobbing along heading for Spain. The weather was fine with little wind, so it looked like being a very smooth crossing <thumbs up!>

For the evening meal we decided to try the La Belle Angele restaurant and had the shepherds pie. I can't say it was very good because it wasn't, we couldn't identify what the meat filling was by either flavour or the texture and the potato topping was slop. Oh well. it filled a hole I suppose, and it wasn't expensive. You know I'd love to get the job of catering manager on this boat, I'd soon whip it in to shape with some good traditional English grub, like a nice hot Balti curry, deep pan pizza or burgers, all served up with lashings of chips, honestly, these Frenchy's have no idea about food...

And so passed a peaceful evening helped along with a few cans from the duty free, tomorrow we land in Spain and the real adventure begins...

Next day

Sun - Mon - Tue - Wed - Thu - Fri - Sat - Sun - Mon - Tue

This was our route to plymouth in yellow, 342 miles in 8h20mins, Both Patto and John travelled at least another 60 miles on top of that coming down from the far North, Dave who lives close to Peterborough had the shortest journey of about 280 miles.

And this is the Ferrys route, Plymouth to Santander, 500 miles overnight rather than 700 miles in two days overland. It's operated by Brittany Ferries and cost us around £250 each return inc bike and a cabin with a sea view. The booking was made through Nutt Travel though, I can't honestly say if it was any cheaper that way, just nice and easy to book. For anyone interested, P&O sail a similar route, Portsmouth - Bilbao, but with a slower boat.

Next day

Sun - Mon - Tue - Wed - Thu - Fri - Sat - Sun - Mon - Tue

If you wish to contact me, please click Here

Please feel free to sign the guest book if you like what you have read: Guest Book

Thank you