W
L
TRAVEL
A SPIN IN SPAIN - RECOLLECTIONS
OF A MOTORCYCLE TOUR
Wirral businessman Gary Tomlinson took a trip of a lifetime
- a motorcycle tour across Spain. Here he shares with readers
his unforgettable experience.
After a year in planning that involved several meetings in both
North Yorkshire and the Wirral, when more time was spent
scrutinising menus and wine lists than studying road maps, the
tour finally commenced over the weekend of 22nd July 2017.
Starting their journey from Selby, Graeme & Sally travelled to
Folkestone and crossed the Channel via the tunnel and headed
for a night stop in Tours. The following day, Alun, Ann, Alex
and I travelled to Portsmouth for the ferry to Bilbao. As Graeme
& Sally continued their journey across France, we enjoyed
a mini cruise on-board the Brittany Ferries ship - the Cap
Finisterre.
After a night stop in Bayonne, Graeme discovered a puncture
in his rear tyre, which he managed to repair temporarily with
a plug. This allowed the couple to continue their journey to
Bilbao, arriving by the afternoon of Monday 24th July, ready
for the rendezvous with the ship borne party the following
morning. Unfortunately, as Graeme & Sally arrived at the port
entrance their rear tyre blew. After several calls to the RAC
recovery was arranged and the wheels were set in motion (pun
intended) to replace the tyre. At this point it was discovered that
Tuesday 25th July was a public holiday in Spain so any chance
of making the bike roadworthy disappeared. After an overnight
stop was accepted as inevitable, it was agreed that our group
would continue to the planned destination of Pamplona.
With highways, motorways, toll roads and U turns set as
avoidances on the sat nav, the journey began. With only 94
miles predicted an easy pace was possible through, firstly, the
urban sprawl of Bilbao and then onto the back roads in the hills
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of the Basque country. The roads were very well maintained and
almost devoid of traffic and we enjoyed some tight bends and
delightful views. Arriving in Pamplona (Iruna to the fiercely
independent Basques) we found our hotel, the Tres Reyes
(Three Kings), on the edge of the old city. Part of a national
chain, the hotel provided a very high standard of comfort and
facilities, of which air conditioning a vigorous shower were a
very welcome part. Temperatures had edged up into the high
20’s and on a motorbike in slow city traffic we certainly began to
feel the heat.
The history of Pamplona stretches back to pre-Roman times and
has had a chequered past in terms of national ownership, having
been part of an independent kingdom, then part of France
before becoming a Spanish possession. The annual festival of
the patron saint ‘St Fermin’ includes the now famous bull runs
through the old town. Although we would liked to have spent
more time in the city, we had an itinerary to keep and our next
stop in the Pyrenees town of El Pont de Suert beckoned.
Riding in the Pyrenees is one of the great joys of motorcycling.
The roads are magnificently bendy and almost traffic free and
the views are spectacular. With Graeme & Sally still stuck in
Bilbao, the rest of the group set off into a very busy city centre
with only sat nav’s to direct our travel. I am sure that Spain has
more traffic lights than any other nation in Europe and they
are certainly the slowest to change colour. As a consequence,
the group were separated and ended up riding individually.
One of the mysteries of satellite navigation is that two sat nav’s
of the same make, with the same avoidances set will inevitably
differ in their choice of routes, some of which can be most
bizarre. The choice for both bikes included a 20km stretch of
single carriageway road with a surface akin to corrugated iron
which descended steeply down a mountain with only a ruined
castle that betrayed any sign of human habitation. Having