Running On Empty

Before we left the splendour of Siguenza, Paul bade farewell to a new buddy who had spent years hanging around the reception of the hotel....

Our next main day of riding was on faster roads to the east side of Madrid and still keeping off the motorways, we found fast roads with many bends. These were good long fast bends where sticking to the speed limit is very difficult. We rode along the side on one hill, where the road was cut into its slope, overlooking a valley. This was the sort of road with almost no vehicles, where you could see no cars were coming in the other direction and the bends are just sooooo inviting that flipping the bike right and left for bend after bend, where riding the wrong side of the road is perfectly safe, allowing the bends to be taken even faster than normal. It was just fantastic. We stopped and looked back at the valley and the road on the left....

The weather continues to be incredible and being in the sun all day with an open-faced helmet means sun protection is essential.

Towns and villages are few and far between in this part of the country. The houses are nearly always painted white to reflect the heat of the sun as a way of keeping the non air-conditioned houses cool. This one was perched atop a hill....

Paul, in his ATGATT.... phew it was hot for all this gear....

We found one road in a canyon of about 1.5 miles long. It was so good, we rode it four times. The road surface was brand new with no bumps and changed in elevation to reflect the natural contours of the land. The road reminded us of a car slot-racing game called Scalextric and it was such a joy to ride this road, we did it four times! I fixed the video camera to my bike to record this terrific road, but sadly I could not open the file on my computer, so am not able to include it here.

Nearby, we stopped and admired the view of another canyon called Mirador Del Cararizuelo....

Another white village, set amongst the hills....

My Road King has a fuel range of anywhere between 130 and about 190 miles. I had noticed I was getting low on fuel and after estimating how much I had left and comparing this to my GPS / Sat Nav information about likely petrol stations, we realised we were in trouble and would have to divert off our planned route, just to find fuel. We could see the nearest fuel (if it was open) was about 35 miles away and I had already done 160 miles since I last filled up. This was going to be close! We rode as conservatively as possible and I even coasted down a long hill about 4 miles to save fuel. Keeping the revs low and riding really slowly I made the most out of the tiny amount of fuel left in the tank. I was certainly running on empty. Twice the engine spluttered and stopped when braking but luckily restarted and we made it to the petrol station with 197 miles showing since I last filled the bike up. Luckily it was open! Phew!!

One of the places we stopped to look at along the way....

A lake near where we stopped for fuel....

I cannot remember where this was, but we had to stop to look down into the impressive canyon and the wonderful coloured water in its river. There were a few people swimming in the river....

A strange shaped top to the hill....

We rode 284 miles on this day.  Another great days riding.

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Head For The Hills!

I am way behind with my blogging, so am trying to catch up and post about the journey Paul and I are taking through Spain.

Riding here is so easy. We are mainly keeping away from bigger cities and are taking as many back roads as possible, where the traffic is very light. We are of course riding on the wrong side of the road, which means the right, but it is surprising how quickly we have got used to that and rarely think about it. Like in many countries, the roads here are generally straight when the land is flat and only become more interesting in areas of hills and mountains. So, for our journey south through Spain, that is where we headed – for the hills! We did under-estimate the amount of time it would take to ride some of these roads. While 350 – 500 miles a day are possible when on motorways and large straight roads, we have been riding on very twisty roads and managing between 150-300 miles after riding all day.

On day 3 of this trip we clocked up just 191 miles.

The route we chose gave us a few surprises and undoubtedly that is one of the great benefits of touring – you just don’t know what you might find. For example, we went through a town called Santa Cruz, a timely co-incidence as I loved what I saw in Santa Cruz in California when I was there last year, so much that I will be back there in August....

We took an unplanned detour and found a dam-formed lake that we didn’t expect. This is Lake Ezquiza just to the east of Burgos....

Our route planning was relatively easy – we chose to ride on the roads marked green on the Michelin Maps Series I prefer to use, and this means they are scenic, and invariably located in the hills. Motorways are generally dull and provide almost nothing interesting to see, so we avoid them whenever we can. You really get to see what a country or area is like on the smaller roads.

When in the remote parts of Spain, towns are cities are few and far between. The towns are small and you stop for refreshments at tiny bars / restaurants, many family run. This was the case in Pineda, where we were the only customers at 11 am....

While people speak English at the majority of the coastal tourist locations, few speak anything but Spanish in the central and more remote parts of Spain. Neither Paul or I speak anything than just a few words of Spanish, but with a gestures, pointing and speaking very simply, enough basic communications are possible and we can get by. Most of the staff working at hotel receptions thankfully do speak English.

One of the benefits of heading for the hills is this is generally where the better scenery is. In northern Spain the mountains are not huge or very tall, but they can still be spectacular....

After having a good breakfast at the Parador we stayed at last night, we didn’t need a big lunch. In Spain, many bars serve ‘Tapas’ which are small dishes often cooked on the premises. With our poor Spanish, it is often fun trying to guess what the food is and ordering dishes by pointing and guessing what they might be. It always seem to work as we have never gone hungry! Paul and I headed for the main square in one mid-sized town and enjoyed just resting from the midday sun as we ate Tapas and drank....

This was the view of a church we had as we ate....

History is everywhere in Spain. The buildings are generally very old and have many stories to tell. This is a castle built on top of a hill. We of course had to stop for pictures....

As we neared Sigüenza we were stunned by the view of the town where we would spend the night. The castle atop the hill, was originally built in the fifth century, converted to a Bishop’s Palace in 1123, fell into disuse in the 1800’s and a restoration began in 1964 when the castle was turned into a Parador Hotel....

While the castle may seem a grand place to stay, the room rates are not at all unreasonable and no more than would be paid for, say a modern chain hotel in a large city.

This is the inner courtyard....

Some of the castle walls and the gateway entrance....

Paul and I had rooms on the upper floor that had a balcony, facing into the courtyard....

From high on the hill where the castle was, we walked down into the town to take a look around. First we went to see the Cathedral. It looks only moderate from outside....

But, when you walk inside, your eyes feast upon such majestic beauty....

The magnificent vaulted brick roof....

We sat in the town square and had a drink. It was a very hot evening....

We were very lucky, as we had no idea that at the time we were there, a medieval festival was taking place in the town and in the grounds of the castle. We had arrived on the opening evening of the festival and stalls were being set up in the streets to sell medieval related wares....

Back at the castle....

We were very surprised to first hear and then see, 55 Harley-Davidsons enter the courtyard of the castle....

This was a Chapter from Toulouse in France on a week-long outing to northern Spain....

Paul and I walked back into the town to see what was involved in a medieval festival. There was food, band playing music from centuries ago, a band walking through the streets, sword-fighting demonstrations and even people dressed as monks cooking on the barbeques....

It was an excellent evening and one that I would thoroughly recommend, should anyone reading this be in northern Spain at this time of year.

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On The Road Again.... Spain

My regular readers will remember my good friend, Paul, joined me for the first two weeks of my tour of the USA last year. Yesterday morning, the two of us set out on a 2700 mile road trip heading for southern Spain.

We started out early and tried to dodge the rain which we did all the way to just outside Portsmouth where we were to catch the ferry to northern Spain. We chatted to five young guys who had bought old Honda C70 or C00, aka Cubs and were planning to ride them 800 miles back to England across northern Spain and France. They were a funny bunch of guys who had tried to make the small bikes look as cool as possible with stickers and even some fake fur. I am sure they were going to have a blast!

We left the ferry terminal and headed past the Naval Dockyard where ferries rub shoulders with hi-tech navy ships....

This is HMS Victory, best known for being Lord Nelson’s flagship that lead the British fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar...

Paul on the back of the ferry as we made our way to Santander in Spain. The journey took 23.5 hours....

We have planned to do the journey south in 4.5 days, stay at my house where my wife Jackie, Pauls wife Sarah and their son Jack will join us for 5 days, then Paul and I will ride back in 5 days. This is our route....

This morning we arrived in northern Spain and we did about 150 miles today to arrive at a very old town called Santo Domingo de la Calzada, in the Rioja region where the famous wine is made.

This picture was taken on quiet back road in farming country....

Northern Spain has quite a few mountains and hills. Some of the views today were spectacular....

A Medieval Castle built on the rocks of a hillside....

The monastery at Oña, built in 1640....

The Leading Ladies in front of Puente de Frias, a 12th century stone bridge....

The same bridge, looking upstream....

Just beyond Frias is a church set against a spectacular over-hanging cliff. Paul is on the slender bridge over the river....

This goat appeared out of a cave in the cliff to stare at us....

Stopping for a coffee at a petrol station we were befriended by a very short guy who had an unusual motorbike. He enjoyed showing it to us and unbelievably it has a tiny 40cc Ducati engine....

We are staying in hotels known as Paradores, which according to Wikipedia were founded by Alfonso XIII of Spain as a means to promote tourism in Spain. A profitable state-run enterprise, the hotels are often in castles, palaces, fortresses, convents, monasteries and other historic buildings. This Parador was built in the 12th century in the middle of this historic town and sits opposite the Cathedral....

There was a funeral taking place in the Cathedral soon after we checked into the Parador....

We ate in the hotel. Respecting the common practice of some bloggers, I took a picture of my food. This was a white asparagus salad....

The town square after dinner....

The two of us in front of the main tower in the town....

Overall a very successful first two days to the trip. Tomorrow we ride further south to near the capital Madrid. It chilly at times today in the mountains and hills, but it should get considerably hotter as we ride further south. Let’s see!

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