Picos, route planning.

I like maps and are heading out to Santander again in late September so I punched in your first ISBN number to google and there’s quite a variation in price Amazon wanted £143.20, yes you read it correct, this site was €6.90 http://www.parcir.com/mapes-carrete...eras-1340000-norte-de-espana-desplegable.html

I’m sure there are plenty of places to buy it

GOOD LORD!! I paid about €6.90 for mine. That MUST be a mistake, Shirley! I bought it from the Corte Inglés as well which is our equivalent of John Lewis. There are indeed many places to buy them, not least the Michelin or Anaya websites themselves as well as the aforementioned Corte Inglés department stores and paper shops but they don't always have the stock.

You'll find them useful, though.

If you're in The Picos in Sept then we might even run into each other. We're there between the 17-23 but we're doing a run down to Chaves again this year for one night and working our way back to Asturias over the west and northern coasts. If you see a group of 10 of us: 2 GS's (one with a SP plate), 2 new XR's, a Kwakker SX, an H2, a CCM SPITFIRE (yep, you read that right) a K1300S in the mix, then you know it's us. However, I suspect that the CCM is the one that will stick out like a sore thumb!!
 
I must confess I like to get out there early. I do like my (very) strong coffee and I'll have another one at the first stop after a couple of hours. I hardly eat on the road (just can't do it) but I do have a sandwich and a beer (alcoholic - hey, this is Spain!!) at lunchtime, especially when it's hot.

Riding in the afternoon is a good idea as the roads are, indeed, emptier, but I stop for a long afternoon coffee break at around 5 and plough on until about 7 or 8 depending on how tired I am; find a cafe, get on Booking.com and find a place to stay. I'm not a party animal so I eat dinner and after that second beer (or third if I had one at the morning stop) I just sleep Zzzzz.

If I'm out on my bike, I just like to ride all day long; I look for the most convoluted way of getting from waypoint to waypoint. A couple of hours exploration (most Spanish towns are quite small but interesting) is all I need in the cooler evenings and you can stick a fork in me, I'm done.
 
I must confess I like to get out there early. I do like my (very) strong coffee and I'll have another one at the first stop after a couple of hours. I hardly eat on the road (just can't do it) but I do have a sandwich and a beer (alcoholic - hey, this is Spain!!) at lunchtime, especially when it's hot. ...


Ha ha Fred. Call yourself a man, waiting until lunchtime to drink beer! Up here in Catalonia we have wine with our breakfast! :) :) :)

pc260016.jpg


And that was while we were waiting for our carajillos

Regs

Simon

PS eagle eyed readers will note that my glass only has water in it - yes, it's true I'm a guiri pooftah! :) :) :)
 
Oooh, noooo. I "try" not to drink before midday. I only have a beer because it costs €1 for 1/5th of a litre bottle which is plenty for me and it is served ice cold. I'm not a huge dinker, I just like an ice cold beer on a hot day and I know it ain't gonna affect my eye or push me over the alc limit.

Anyway, that's not real wine drinking; you are watering it down with cream soda.;)
 
Oooh, noooo. I "try" not to drink before midday. I only have a beer because it costs €1 for 1/5th of a litre bottle which is plenty for me and it is served ice cold. I'm not a huge dinker, I just like an ice cold beer on a hot day and I know it ain't gonna affect my eye or push me over the alc limit.

Anyway, that's not real wine drinking; you are watering it down with cream soda.;)

Yes, a cool quinto (fifth) is just right as it doesn't warm up while you're drinking it. But I still usually go for what you call a tercio (third) whereas up here it's a mediana (half) as because I'ma Brit I tend to down them rather quickly - life is hard! :)

Regs

Simon

NB for the rest of you: be careful, Spanish beer is strong, @ 5.5% ...
 
Yes, a cool quinto
NB for the rest of you: be careful, Spanish beer is strong, @ 5.5% ...

Really? Rather watery compared to some of the Belgian and Flemish brews I often drink when on holiday.
 
If you're in The Picos in Sept then we might even run into each other. We're there between the 17-23 but we're doing a run down to Chaves again this year for one night and working our way back to Asturias over the west and northern coasts. If you see a group of 10 of us: 2 GS's (one with a SP plate), 2 new XR's, a Kwakker SX, an H2, a CCM SPITFIRE (yep, you read that right) a K1300S in the mix, then you know it's us. However, I suspect that the CCM is the one that will stick out like a sore thumb!!

I'm being booted off a boat in Santander on the 17th Sept 2018 at 12.15pm local time. Not decided which direction to travel as there are so many places on my bucket list. I am leaving Bilbao at 1030am on 2nd Oct and will have 2 nights there at the end of the trip. I'll be on a blue bike, which may be a BMW R1200RS or a Triumph Explorer depending on which I decide to bring.
 
Really? Rather watery compared to some of the Belgian and Flemish brews I often drink when on holiday.

I was thinking of English 'real ale' - which I sorely miss living outside the UK :( If I remember correctly a 'strong' brew is about 4%?

Cheers

Simon
 
I was thinking of English 'real ale' - which I sorely miss living outside the UK :( If I remember correctly a 'strong' brew is about 4%?

Cheers

Simon

You have been away a long time. When I started drinking legally in 1980, mild was very popular, about 2.5%. Bitter was 3% and best bitter 4%. Thinks like Fuller's ESB & Theakston's Old Peculiar at 5% were considered head banging beer. Not now. Very few milds around now and a session beer is more likely to be 4.5%. Premium beers are 5% or higher. Same with the yellow piss that is British lager - Heineken is no longer 3%, now 5% and the best seller, Carling is 4%. Premium lagers like Stella Artois & Kronenburg 1664 are very popular and are 5%.
 
You have been away a long time. When I started drinking legally in 1980, mild was very popular, about 2.5%. Bitter was 3% and best bitter 4%. Thinks like Fuller's ESB & Theakston's Old Peculiar at 5% were considered head banging beer. Not now. Very few milds around now and a session beer is more likely to be 4.5%. Premium beers are 5% or higher. Same with the yellow piss that is British lager - Heineken is no longer 3%, now 5% and the best seller, Carling is 4%. Premium lagers like Stella Artois & Kronenburg 1664 are very popular and are 5%.

Yes, over twenty years! I only ever went back about every two years and since 2015 never, possibly never ever!

My 'legal' drinking days began back in '75 although we used to go to a boozer after rowing practice on Saturday mornings - I went to lousy grammar school with ideas above its station, not like the posh kids from the public school downstream who, so the story went at the time, went in for cocaine and a but of buggery! The 'inn' - ouch! :) - drink and the time was brown and mild, stretching my little grey cells that would be Whitbread mild and Nut Born Ale. Probably revolting if I tried it now!

Here in Spain 'real ale' - called Cerveza Artesana quite a Big Thing lately. We have a small brewery here that has a bar open at the weekends that served their beers draft, otherwise it's only available bottled, and they're really rather good and there are more varieties than appear o the web page - but all are strong ...

Cheers

Simon
 
Just tried the kurviger app, dowloaded it to android, planned a route on the PC and emailed it to myself and then opened that on phone with app. Seems to work a treat. :clap

Any suggestions for someone arriving in Santander and wanting a day or two in picos before heading up to Lascaux in France? Some easy off road ( on an airhead ) for a couple of hours with amazing scenery would also be much appreciated. Wildcamping up high under the stars for a night might be attempted on the offroad section. :thumb2
 


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