From Wales To Spain France Portugal

[Jeff in Wales]

22:00 29/06/18

I'm on my way to Spain.

Thank you for you comments on my threads about accommodation and clothing for Spain and Portugal.

Left home in North Wales at 0930 and followed the Tomtom to Portsmouth (almost). 28066 miles on the odometer before leaving.
 
Bikes' next oil change is due at 30000ml. Just before leaving (I mean 90 mins before leaving) I decided to change it. Expect to clock up at least 4000 miles if everything goes okay and didn't want to start suffering with cluncky / iffy gear changes during this trip.

Not sure if the rear shock is 100% as it should be. Pushing down on the grab rails it tends to make a wheezing sound and feels a little squishier than I think it should although not sure. With both panniers loaded I can easily get my feet flat down even with preload at max whereas normally it's just the balls of my feet. Doesn't seem to be bottoming out though.

Planned to and almost did avoid motorways on the way down to Portsmouth from N.Wales. Took longer but there were some good twisty bits as well as some tedious straight bits / dual carriageways.

Arrived Portsmouth sometime just before 4pm. Had to abandon my Sat Nav route (first time to Portsmouth) just before Portsmouth because of a closed road. Followed the yellow/black diversion triangles as I only had about 70mins in hand and don't trust the Tomtom when it goes off a planned route. So ended up on a motorway after all and followed the signs for Portsmouth / ferries.

Warm then Hot - 22 deg C leaving home, 29 deg C in the afternoon. Bought some alpinestars mesh textiles yesterday and as expected they were much cooler than my heavier Richa textiles. Perhaps a tad too chilly at speed and 22 degC.

I'm on the Brittany Ferries Cap Finistere. Not as many other bikes on board as I expected. Think there were a lot more on the Pont Avon in April. Or maybe they're just spread out a bit more, don't know.

Saw the QE aircraft carrier tied up in Portsmouth. That was interesting. Looked smaller than I thought it would be (for the money it cost it should be a lot bigger).

Ferry left at 5pm, due to arrive Santander 5:30pm tomorrow. Plan to stay at a place in Somo tomorrow night, it's only 15 miles or so from Santander.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/24903039

[Holmsey]

Enjoy and ride safe ...... one day I'll do something like that.

[Ridaz]

Fantastic stuff and you are in for a treat. I went via Portsmouth to Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar in May of this year and loved every minute... well apart from the rain when we docked and a few hailstorms 

Rural Spain is just so beautiful and the roads are amazingly quiet away from the main cities. If there is a speed camera sign then there is almost always a speed camera... often hidden on the back of the next big sign over the road. One of our group got a nice letter and fine when we got home. Beware of some of the more rural roads in the hills, adverse cambers where the road is melting away down the hill makes it tricky.

I was going to say that some of the driving is much to be desired but in reality it's no different to what we have here, I might just be more over sensitive to it due to the added concentration of riding the wrong side of the road for the first few days. Roundabouts appear to have no rules... be very alert!
Fuel prices vary a lot.... Portugal is a lot more expensive.

Hope you have a great time, wish I was coming with you.

[UK_Vstrom650]

Have a fantastic trip. Very jealous.

[blobstrom]

Yes keep us updated....

[chris1200]

Setting off tomorrow doing the same thing after a four day turnaround touring Ireland and Scotland. I will wave if we pass!

[Barbel Mick]

Enjoy the trip, as I'm sure you will. Deb & myself did Portugal & Spain a couple of years back & loved it.
PS, Ridaz is correct in his summing up.

[JhT]

Have a lovely and safe trip.
Don't forget to say hello to others Spaniards bikers with the victory symbol!

[Jeff in Wales]

22:41 30/06/18

This is day one I suppose.

Up at 0730. Can't remember if that was UK or local time. Had a shower before heading out to look for breakfast.

Found breakfast. Two tiny croisannts, small glass of orange juice and small coffee for breakfast £4.50. Continental breakfasts suck.

Had to pay 5 Euros for premium wifi to do some browsing-at-a-reasonable-speed and upload first days ride report.

Sunny Spain?! Dank and miserable. Started raining immediately upon desembarking the ferry. Had to stop before leaving the terminal and put the waterproofs on. Started cooking straight away. Hit the Santander Saturday late afternoon traffic. Glasses kept steaming up. Not sure where I'm going. Crazy local cagers all around me. Nightmare.

Made it to Somo about fifteen miles from Santander. Staying at Miesdevilla. 59.4 Euro Single room inc. breakfast.

http://www.miesdevilla.com/en/

My very welcoming host at Miesdevilla is Ricardo and he's from Yorkshire. So he speaks English but I still can't understand him. Just joking, calm down Yorkshire men. It's his sister Teresa that owns the place I think.

I'm in room 208 (that's room eight on second floor not the two hundred and eighth room!). Being right at the top of the building it's a tad warm and stuffy even with the windows open. At least my waterproofs and helmet should dry out quickly.

I went into Somo Central to get something to eat. On Ricardos' recommendation the destination was bar El Rincon de Zeto. Although the staff were very pleasent I got the impression (with difficulty through the language barrier) that I was perhaps a little 'underdressed' (craghoppers, sandals and Spicy110 T-shirt) compared to the clientelle they usually serve and that a reservation is normal. Not sure. Felt uncomfortable and self concious but feel like that whenever visiting unfamiliar places. Anyway they served me and the food was thouroughly enjoyable but was glad to finish and take my leave.

Getting back to the Posada I checked the bike over. There's quite a bit of oil on the rear shock. Gave it a good clean before leaving home and the Tutoro oiler hasn't really used that much oil so not sure it's all come of the chain. Think it's even 'squishier' than before. Does a failing rear shock normally dump oil around its' lower pivot where it joins to the dog bones? Hope it's not actually failing, that's going to be a real nuisance. When I sat on the bike in the ferry hold it felt like my feet where even 'flatter' on the floor than before. Turned the preload up to max. See what it's like in the morning. If it seems like it's definitely on it's last legs then I might have to have a look in Santander and see if anything can be done. 28000 miles and 13 months (unlucky) old. Too soon to fail surely. Probably getting unduly paranoid.

[wurzel]

  Fantastic pictures an report, I love reading this sort of thing, it does look like you may have a shock issue, I hope it does not cause you too muck grief if you have.

[UK_Vstrom650]

Thanks for the update.

Is that oil on the outside of the dogbone? If so it could be oil splatter from the chain (top of the swingarm/front cog will collect it and the chain will fling), if not then it could be the shock.

If it helps, my shock ends up looking like that when I put the miles on. If it was a leak, there'd be none left in my shock by now. Mine also makes a hissing noise when it is bounced up and down.

[Jeff in Wales]

Morning,

Yeah the oil is on the dogbone, usually get some there of the chain as you say but there's (can't really see it in the pic) quite a bit around the lower two coils of the spring and some drips there. It's the drips that concern me as I don't think the Tutoro oiler has used enough oil to cause that much to collect there and form drips.

Having a very nice breakfast at the moment. When finished will put the panniers back on and see of the suspension sag is compared to yesterday. If it seems worse then I might have to hang around Santander until tomorrow as there is a Suzuki dealer there http://www.miferso.com/catalogo-Suzuki/ and I can get an opinion. Probably no English spoken but sign language / gestures should do. Doubt they'll be able to anything there and then, could end up having to hang around a few days if they could get a spare fairly promptly. If not then maybe I'll be on the phone to Brittany Ferries trying to get the next ferry home. Can't head off into the mountains with a dodgy shock.

[Jeff in Wales]

Day Two

19:30 01 07 18

I'm in Zarautz. Staying at the Pension Txiki Polit. Can't remember the cost of this VERY small room but it's on the top floor and it's kind of a hostel type setup I suppose because there is a shared bathroom. But it's cheaper than the regular rooms. It's hot. Very top of the Pension.

My shock hasn't collapsed on me yet. Decided to press on today from Somo and see what happens. Nothing bad has happened. Didn't slide of the road or anything and the tyre hasn't worn a hole in the plastic under the seat. Apart from thinking it sags a bit more than it should it seems to perform OK.

Must say thanks to Ricardo from Yorkshire at Mies de Villa in Somo for being a great host. If you're ever out that way and looking for somewhere to stay it's well worth dropping in.

Great ride out of Somo. Terrific twisty roads into the hills. In fact great twisty roads for most of the day. That's why I came!

This Pension I'm staying at is located on a plaza and there's a kind of band stand there. There's a young lady performing there at the moment, singing well known English songs in Spanish as well as Spanish, or Basque, tunes I've obviously never heard before and she sounds terrific. I have the skylight in this room open and I can hear her clearly. Wonderful. Think I'll nip down and get a picture.

Wow! There's three of them and they must only be teenagers. And they're LOUD when you're down there in front of them, my ears are hurting. Brilliant.

A fairly short ride today, only about 220km or so. Daily mileages are going to generally be a lot more from now on.

Went through Bibao but didn't stop and get any pics. Kind of berating myself over that.

Temperatures have been between about 22 and 32 degrees C today. Dry for the most part although it did rain a little here in Zarautz after I arrived.

The Wee is parked on the main road through the town. About a two minute walk from here. It's in a place with a sign that indicates OK to park motos there until 8am Monday. So I'll have to get out there early and set off or move it. There's a underground car park a hundred meters away but they want 20 Euros to park overnight. The bike will probably get nicked tonight it'll be my own fault for being such a tightarse. Maybe I worry too much.

Had a couple of San Migueles in a bar around the corner and saw Spain go out. Not a footy fan but as it was Spain felt obliged to pay attention.

This room only has two socket outlets. A cooling fan is plugged into one (essential) so all my electronics has to queue to get charged from the other. Not sure it'll all be ready for the morning. There's my phone; laptop; two Ghost X cameras; Garmin bicycle GPS (for back up route track recording). What do you think about bringing this much electronics? Is it the same when you travel? Are you still reading this far?

I've washed two pairs of smalls and some socks in the sink and they're hung over a chair in front of the fan drying out. I think maybe that's more detail than you'll really want in a forum post?

I don't take notes when I'm riding, obviously, and my memory is pretty crappy these days. I know there were things of interest I saw whilst riding but just cannot recall them. I will after posting this probably.

Oh yeah! That was one thing! A kind of squirrel but much bigger, and brown I think. Running across the road. A stoat? Is that something you see over here? Probably a different thing. But interesting. Not something I've seen in UK.

Something else! The F1 'fault' and the illuminated engine symbol came on. Crap. Just ignored it. Maybe it won't come back on in the morning. Maybe. Not happened to me before. Something else to worry about. Well, if someone knicks the bike tonight it might expire on them. Will serve 'em right.

Sorry for wittering on.

Going to try and upload this post and pictures now but not sure if hotel wifi will allow sufficient bandwidth for pics. Here goes.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/24978273

[wurzel]

Fine report again,I would get the oil and muck cleaned off and see what develops after a ride.

[UK_Vstrom650]

Great report 

In terms of electronics, I tend to order mine, headset then phone. I don't take a laptop but if I did that would probably be next. My bike camera and GPS are hardwired to the bike so they charge whilst in use. I can also charge items in my tank bag if needed albeit I have to unplug the GPS from socket that I installed under the fairing near the headlight.

[Barbel Mick]

Its too late for this trip but if it helps for another time,  for charging we use these....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Syncwire-USB-Plug-4-Port-Wall-Charger-UK-EU-US-Travel-Adaptor-for-iPhone-Galaxy/113004493200?_trkparms=aid%3D555017%26algo%3DPL.CASSINI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160706105120%26meid%3D3e4619c746b44d7db2f18550c77d7a2b%26pid%3D100508%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26%26itm%3D113004493200&_trksid=p2045573.c100508.m3226

plus one of these plugged into a socket under the seat for our intercomms

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Griffin-Compact-Dual-Twin-USB-Car-Charger-for-Mobile-MP3-2-x-1-Amp-12V-GC23089/372314404609?epid=21015162745&hash=item56afaaf701:g:4f8AAOSwqu9VCr7o

We charge 2 phones, a tablet & a Kindle in the room then the intercomms are under the bike seat overnight.

[Jeff in Wales]

Day Three.

02 07 18, 07:15

Up at 0600. Particularly poor sleep last night. The operating gear for the hotel lift was adjacent my room and that lift was up and down until the early hours. Hot stuffy night too. Also, like many of these hotels the floors are solid and sounds made by other guests in the communal areas to reverberate around.

Have to do about two hunderd and twenty miles or so. Off to Pierrefitte-Nestalas nr Argeles-Gazost.

Have already made a couple of walks to the bike, which was still there, to attach a pannier and put my helmet in the top box. When laptop has finished charging, any minute now, that will go in the other pannier and that will go on the bike. Then sit around waiting for reception to open.

21:03

What a day. Started off well but ended up not so well due to 'deviation' (diversion) on the D918 near Gourette due to landslide. Saw the signs indicating that the road was closed but ignored them, thought I might be able to sneak through on a bike as you sometimes can. But road completely barriered off so didn't try to get through. Went 'off piste' following the diversion signs. Ended up about 90 mins later than planned at this hotel, the Hotel Restaurant de la Gara in Pierrefitte-Nestalas.

Going up the Spanish side of the Pyrenees was great, fantastic roads with barley any other traffic. Felt quite excited doing it; me, in the Pyrenees on my bike, couldn't beleive it.  Fantastic views, sunshine and very warm temperatures. Just before cresting the peak of the, well wherever exactly it was, on the Spanish side before descending to the French side I had a brief chat with a Brit rider on a GXR. He told me the weather on the French side was crap. How right he was. Incredible change from sunshine to chilly mist with really poor visibility at times. Road surface went from great to very poor too. Stunning contrast.

The FI light was still on this morning but went out sometime after filling the tank. Strange, as it came on yesterday sometime after filling up. Repsol fuel. Coincedence maybe.

So, a bit of a screw up today maybe tomorrow will be better. Off to Andorra, have booked an apartment. Thought it'd be worth trying that for the first time. £28. 10 euros for parking I think. Oh well.

Thanks for the advice several of you have provided on some issues. Appreciate it.

Think I might have been panicking for no reason about my shock as the ride is still OK, or at leat it doesn't feel bad as such.

Need to fill the Tutoro oiler in the morning as it's almost empty. Have to keep adjusting the flow as it doesn't give much in the morning when it's cold so I turn it up. Then when the sun's up the oil flows better and dumps too much on the chain, wheel, number plate, (shock?). Prefer it to having to can spray every day though.

Grazed the right hand side pannier on a stone bridge. Some French nutter in his van and trailer came hurtling over and cut across the centre line (very narrow bridge on a bend) forcing me to take avoiding action. Escaped lightly I think. On that note, you do have to be really attentive on some of these very very twisty roads as some local drivers don't know what the center line is for. Thought Brit drivers were bad in this respect.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/25010719

[wurzel]

 Another fine read with some stunning views,fingers crossed on the shock, it is quite something going up up the Pyrenees, I have done it twice now, once, many moons ago in an old yam xt550, and a couple of years ago on an xr400....numb arse  on both bikes, but I hot up the dirt trails into the thick of the mountains which was quite an experience.

[Wayne_202]

Keep the write ups going. A very enjoyable read.

[Barbel Mick]

  another good read & photos.