Portugal & Spain 2008

Thursday - Ride in the sky

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Thursday 19th June

Last night we'd agreed to spend today riding to the Pico's on the North coast of Spain to best utilise the days we had left. We knew it was going to be a long hot day in the saddle (and my rear was already suffering) but it would get it over and done with. So, with bills paid and bikes packed, I set route for Potes 300 miles away in the Pico's de Europa National Park.

N41 09 32.0 W7 47 07.8 (Google map)

With no hesitation this time, Lucy guided us out of Peso da Regua and on to the motorway above without a hitch and we were soon heading North at a respectable speed, but what a fantastic piece of road this was, with misty clouds sometimes obscuring the view to the sides we seemed to be riding in the sky at times, if you ever get a chance to ride the A24 North out of Peso da Regua I hope you get the same kick out of it as I did.

Meanwhile... Lucy said we would be coming off this motorway in around 30 miles, what a shame :-( but when we arrived at the place where the motorway should have ended, it just carried on, <groan> here we go again!... The motorway continued generally heading Northward, but none of this was on my GPS. Poor Lucy had long since given up trying to sort the roads out and after telling me there were no more roads or goat tracks to route me down, she gave up and went in to a sulk. :-(

Still, this mostly deserted road in the sky was a great ride and generally heading in the right direction. Seventy very enjoyable miles later we were finally dumped off the end just before the Spanish boarder. I reset Lucy and routed to Potes again. Lucy said go North down a dusty little road that didn't look at all promising. For once perhaps I should have trusted her and followed her instruction, we should have at least consulted the map, but I'd lost faith... instead we turned back South and I re routed to Potes yet again, to be honest I can't remember exactly what I did, I might have slipped a sneaky via point in, but now I had a route South for a few miles, then we would be heading East. It looked reasonable, and interesting, and much more promising than Lucy's first effort, so we headed off on to Portugal's country roads with Lucy taking the lead...

Well the next part of the ride was just like travelling back in time, what with little old ladies with bundles of sticks on their backs, donkey carts with wizen old men at the reins and villages with cobbled streets almost guaranteed to knock your fillings out, I for one felt completely out of place suffering a bit of time-shock I think. Eventually we ended up on the N103 near Tronco heading East, this road was quite a bit faster, and according to my Michelin map, a scenic road all the way to Braganca, good stuff!

11:02 Just as we reached the outskirts of Lebucao we spotted a sign for fuel so diverted off the main road to find it, a few hundred yards up the road we found the filling station.

N41 45 26.5 W7 15 46.2 (Google map)

And adjoining the filling station, the Harley Davidson Cafe! now we had to give that a try!

N41 45 26.5 W7 15 46.2 (Google map)

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you all, but I don't have any pictures of the interior, there were some Harley bits and pieces and other Americana around, but it was more a local cafe (for local people) and the most exciting thing that was happening that day was probably us paying a visit. Still, if you ride a Harley, and your in the area, I'm sure you'll want to drop in. As for us, we carried on on up the N103 to Braganca, then turned north on to the n103-7 for Puebla ds Sanabria.

A few miles down the n103-7 we came to the old customs posts between Portugal and Spain, now deserted. We rode through the Portuguese side first, but there was very little to say there had ever been a customs post here, blink and you'd miss it. 500yds further on we came to the Spanish side, locked up and deserted We parked up the bikes to have a look around. The picture below was taken looking back toward Portugal, the way we'd just come,

13:44 So where's every one gone then? errm, well, I guess they could be round the back... er... exploring.

N41 56 19.0 W6 43 29.4 (Google map)

I don't know about you, but I find these old places fascinating to explore now they're deserted, I'm sure if these walls could talk they would have more than a few tales to tell.

While we were snooping around exploring, a solitary camper van passed by heading in to Spain, they gave us a toot on the horn and a wave as they passed by, tourists like us, and other than that, there was no other traffic. 

Sometimes the excitement's just too much... ZZzzzzzz

N41 56 19.0 W6 43 29.4 (Google map)

14:12 The road numbers change at the boarder, we're on the same road, but now it's the za925, just a few miles further up the road from the boarder we stopped for the pictures below, this really is a excellent road, well deserving of Michelins scenic marking on the map.

N41 59 46.0 W6 41 45.9 (Google map)

Passing through the little towns and villages most of the local people gave us curious looks as we went by, all except for the woman who tried to cross the road in front of Patto, she was probably more used to donkey carts and mini tractors, so Patto's paint blistering 30 mph must have been quite shocking, Patto says despite being yards away, she threw up her arms in horror as he passed, Oh well, at least she'll be able to tell the tale for years to come of the day the Black Widows rode through town...

17:01 Last fuel stop of the day was Riano, we're really in the Picos now, with hopefully just 35 more miles to go.

N42 58 36.0 W5 00 24.0 (Google map)

Studying my maps while planning this trip I'd been curious about the Puerto de San Glorio mountain pass on the N621 coming in to Potes from the South West, well now we were here and I can tell you it's down hill all the way, with winding roads and glorious views, it's just a pity we're all too tired and saddle sore to really enjoy it :-(

18:14 We rode by Potes, round the roundabout and in to Ojedo, the gestimate waypoint I'd made for the hotel Infantado was pretty close and I soon spotted it on the right. Getting off the bike was a touch painful I have to say, and I must have looked like John Wayne as I staggered off up the hotel stairs to find reception. I could only hope they had a couple of rooms free, because for some reason I didn't fancy jumping back on the bike to look elsewhere. Behind the desk was a husky voiced stunner, she said she'd have a look, but there was a big wedding this weekend and the hotel was pretty full. Never mind, I was quite happy to stand and watch for the moment. After quite some while she said it was sorted, she had 2 rooms for 3 nights, whoo-hoo! success, what a relief, we're in!

N43 09 47.9 W4 36 35.0 (Google map)

We went back down to tell the others the good news and unpack the bikes, as we were unpacking, Patto hit a snag. His right side pannier wouldn't open. The case was unlocked and when the button was pressed the tab popped up ok, but when the tab was lifted the pannier lid remained firmly locked shut. After we'd all had a try at opening it and failed, Patto removed the pannier from the bike and took it up to our room to look at it there.

Getting rough with it obviously wasn't going to help... but one way or another it was goner have to open; it had half of Patto's clothes inside. Patto decided to undo the hinges on the bottom of the case and maybe that would help release the latches at the top, it didn't seem likely, but it was the only thing we could do.

The four Torx screws from one side of the hinges were removed and efforts were made to prise the case open from the bottom. Initially the lid held firm, but suddenly the lid just popped off! Something must have given in the mechanism, but we don't know what. After removing his soft bag Patto screwed the hinges back on again and after trying it a few times, it seemed to be working as normal again, it was just as if nothing had ever happened...

A little later we were all sat enjoying cold drinks by the hotel entrance, it certainly felt good to be here, we were only 65 miles from Santander and our ferry back to Britain and we could spend the remaining three days exploring the Picos without a care, excellent!

After a few cold drinks it was time for food, our hotel had a restaurant but it didn't seem to inspire us, so we went for a walk toward Potes to see what we could find. On the roundabout a few hundred yards up the road we found a hotel, bar and restaurant. After a long day we didn't feel inclined to go any further so decided to give it a try. Inside it was quite busy with locals drinking and having evening meals, the waitress lead us through to a separate large dinning room full of tables but no customers. It was quiet and we ended up having quite a decent meal including a free drink at the end which was a spirit of some kind and not too poisonous.

N43 09 39.0 W4 36 39.4 (Google map)

All in all, not a bad day, tomorrow, we're having an easy day!

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This is today's route, the first part through Portugal is in purple, the last section through Spain is blue, 336 miles travelled.

Today's elevation graph, but it's not quite complete due to... 'ahem' loss of data :-(

Of most interest is the ride from the 150 mile point up in to the Picos, then that huge drop down the Puerto de San Glorio pass into Potes and Ojedo!

Today's temperature graph, again sadly not complete, but it does show the temperature drop riding in to the Picos and its rise again as we dropped down the Puerto de San Glorio pass.

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