Ladies and gentlemen i give you ......

RedRick Esq.

Telling Engineer to F**K off since 2023
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The very best touring bikes in the world ever

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickmidgley/44915141762/in/dateposted-public/" title="untitled-1.jpg"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1931/44915141762_af2f4b3054_k.jpg" width="2048" height="1133" alt="untitled-1.jpg"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I admit that the drag down to Portsmouth and then back from Plymouth was a bit of a grind but in Spain and Portugal they could not be beaten

More to follow as i collate the routes and photos
 
Don’t necessarily agree about your awesomes but interested in route as it’s what I planning for next year having done Picos&Pyrenees this year

We did the Pyrenees and Picos this year, what a spectacle, saw the Tour de France and the roads were so quiet.
Steve
 
I like the “Free Leon” signs, saw quite a few of those this year.


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only once In Portugal did we dump the bags but regardless the Ventura system is so solid it made very little difference

I will get the routes up as soon as i have sorted a little banking problem !
 
only once In Portugal did we dump the bags but regardless the Ventura system is so solid it made very little difference

I will get the routes up as soon as i have sorted a little banking problem !

If it is hacking, could be Steptoe, real or fake
 
Ok so Banking sorted
So if you are all sitting comfortably I will begin

The idea was to head off to spend a couple of nights with an old friend who moved to Portugal a few years ago.

My mate with the KTM has been going down there for several years now and knows some fantastic roads

I left Sunny Doncaster at 0800 on 18th September and headed to Oakham to meet up with him followed by a dreary ride to Portsmouth. There was a vicious head wind, which was hard work on the Hyper !

En route i received the text from Brittany Ferries advising me that the ferry was late due to bad weather. Anyway we eventually boarded and made our selves comfy or so we thought !
All reservations for the restaurant were cancelled and it became a bit of a free for all to get in with allegedly 2 queues one for those that had reservations and one for those that didnt.

Now i need to mention that the Bentley owners club were on board and whilst I had admired the beautiful cars of all vintages when they had been boarding ( before the plebs on bikes obviously) the owners it transpired were for the most part utter twats who seemed to think that owning an old blower Bentley gave them some sort of special privilege. Stern words were had !

Then the fucking ferry broke down !

No engines for about half an hour. This was passed off as a minor electrical problem but caused further ferry delay. Biscay fortunately was not too rough as the stabilisers were not working fully due to said electrical problem.

Very late in to Santander and so very late to our first nights digs in Ribedesella

I think it was all a cunning ruse to make us eat twice on the ferry and argue a bit more with the Bentley wankers

Oh we met a bloke called Fred aged 67 who was planning to ride all the way to his house in Portugal off road on a BMW GS650 that he had just bought for a Thousand quid

Fair play to him i thopught and then he told us that today was the first time he had ridden a bike in 40 years

More of that later
 
Ok so Banking sorted
So if you are all sitting comfortably I will begin

The idea was to head off to spend a couple of nights with an old friend who moved to Portugal a few years ago.

My mate with the KTM has been going down there for several years now and knows some fantastic roads

I left Sunny Doncaster at 0800 on 18th September and headed to Oakham to meet up with him followed by a dreary ride to Portsmouth. There was a vicious head wind, which was hard work on the Hyper !

En route i received the text from Brittany Ferries advising me that the ferry was late due to bad weather. Anyway we eventually boarded and made our selves comfy or so we thought !
All reservations for the restaurant were cancelled and it became a bit of a free for all to get in with allegedly 2 queues one for those that had reservations and one for those that didnt.

Now i need to mention that the Bentley owners club were on board and whilst I had admired the beautiful cars of all vintages when they had been boarding ( before the plebs on bikes obviously) the owners it transpired were for the most part utter twats who seemed to think that owning an old blower Bentley gave them some sort of special privilege. Stern words were had !

Then the fucking ferry broke down !

No engines for about half an hour. This was passed off as a minor electrical problem but caused further ferry delay. Biscay fortunately was not too rough as the stabilisers were not working fully due to said electrical problem.

Very late in to Santander and so very late to our first nights digs in Ribedesella

I think it was all a cunning ruse to make us eat twice on the ferry and argue a bit more with the Bentley wankers

Oh we met a bloke called Fred aged 67 who was planning to ride all the way to his house in Portugal off road on a BMW GS650 that he had just bought for a Thousand quid

Fair play to him i thopught and then he told us that today was the first time he had ridden a bike in 40 years

More of that later

I'm liking Fred already.:beerjug:
 
Right now the trip started properly on the Thursday morning

After breakfast we set off to do some great roads in the mountains on route

First days route and may i suggest that you google these roads and look how bloody twisty and brilliant they are. As of this day it was the best biking day i have ever had to date.

Went past the scene of Andy's crash last year and the armco is still bent but has a few more paint scuffs where others have followed

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickmidgley/44243963154/" title="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1915/44243963154_b95e236ba6_z.jpg" width="621" height="640" alt="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



Super Parador at Narcea but appart from roast suckling pig for dinner we were so knackered we couldnt appreciate its beauty

The route as close as i can remember
 

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Those are some roads! I cadged a few routes from the RIDE website, good value and easy to shove into the GPS.
 
Day 2 proper

Left The Parador at day break as we had a good day planned
I am going to break up the route into smaller sections just to try and give you an idea of the complex nature of all the bloody corners

The only thing of any note on this particular bit of the route was that at about 0900 whilst doing just over 100MPH i was overtaken by a 20 year old mercedes !

The road out of Ponferada is one of the most spectacular i have ever been on

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickmidgley/44963468201/" title="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1958/44963468201_e9ea35daa7_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Found a great hotel in Mogadouro with a lovely view from the balcony ( we were given a balcony as smokers ( not often we adicts get preferential treatment

A nice meal out very cheap and bed as we aere knackered again

No issues with the Ducati yet ...
 

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It gets a bit of a blur now and i need to do some map checking for the remainder but

Where we crossed the Dura river and along the valley and up the other side is without doubt one of the finest roads you will ever ride

We managed to end up at Bobs place at the end of the day having met up with him at the highest point in Portugal ( i forget what its called but trust me its a long way up and the road up it is magnificent )

Bob is a top chap who rides a Aprillia Tuono factory and he rides it very very quickly
It turns out that Fred ( remember him) is a close ( within 10 minutes) neighbour and friend of Bobs and Fred is actually heading there as he has to pay a solicitor and check on his house progress as it was burned down in the terrible fires and leave his bike at Bobs but TBH no one was hopeful that Fred would make it !

Any way some random pictures of the Hyper just to fill some space

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickmidgley/30026579747/" title="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1971/30026579747_0a34c3c08d_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickmidgley/30026557337/" title="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1966/30026557337_a48519dd49_z.jpg" width="640" height="473" alt="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Sunday and Bob was taking us out for the day onto his favourite roads and meeting up with some pals that were staying elsewhere

Now I have no actual idea of where or what these roads were but they were just fabulous and i will find out and post them up but the Estrella mountains comes to mind

At this point i discovered that the Portuguese have a, shall we say, distinct driving style. They do like to take up all the road and being on the right line into fast and sharp right handers is the most dangerous place in the world to be !

It was 38 degrees hot and we did something in the region of 260 miles on serious roads and at the end of it i was so dehydrated and suffering heat exhaustion i had nothing left to give and had just resigned myself to tootling along to stay safe.

I also had an issue with the Ducati

In the heat and possibly the altitude the fueling was so terrible. It was running so very rich and the thriottle was either on or off making subtle control in bends impossible so apologies to anyone on here that was with us that day i appeared to be riding like a twat but I blame the bike

It sorted itself out once the temp dropped below 30 and has been no problem since

BAck at Bobs sitting as large as life on the veranda drinking Beer was Fred. Alive and well if not a bit battered after may falls and several days behind his schedule

We all went out for a curry

The toughest day on a bike i have ever had and if i had not managed to get the side stand down first attempt it would still be on its side in Bobs garage
 
Monday dawns and after a hearty breakfast of sausage sandwiches courtesy of bobs long suffering good lady we were heading north again in an almost retrace of our earlie rotes south except we cheated a bit to get som miles in and did 100 miles on biggish roads

We eneded up in Pueblo de sanabria for the night which was a bit of a disaster hotel wise !

The hotel we wanted had a room but only had one bed but they promised to put in another. so we un packed the bikes and chucked it all in the room and headed off out for much needed refreshment ( beer)

After an hour or so we returned to the hotel to be told the bed had been put in someone elses room and we could not have it but could have an extra room but doubling the original price

Fuck that and on principle we went elsewhere

Elsewhere turned out to be fucking shit !

No Parking the tiniest of rooms no bar or restaurant, Bastard principles !

After a crap nights sleep and no breakfast we bugged out at first light Please note the tactical terms.

First light was also a fucking freezing cold 3 degrees !

A whores breakfast was had a the nearest hostelry ( the Hippy may tell you what a whores breakfast is )

Good roads from there into the Picos and all the usual roads done that you lot already know about and back to Ribedesella.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickmidgley/44051148755/" title="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1942/44051148755_75f26a1a61_z.jpg" width="640" height="460" alt="Ducati and KTM in Spain and Portugal"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 


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