Spain & Portugal - Some of my favourite roads for your review and consideration.

Excellent. My fundamental intention is to hopefully provide folks with some light relief and potential inspiration for their subsequent tours. :thumb2

TBH, I was extremely reticent to post this thread because I had doubts and reservations to how it may be broadly perceived. :confused:

a) Inadvertently rubbing salt into wounds because many folk had to cancel their tours; :comfort
b) Although I don't have any dependants, some folk may say; how very selfish for me to have the temerity to venture on an overseas tour in the middle of a pandemic. :(

My "free" Dropbox URL's expire after 7 days; please feel free to copy and retain for the subsequent usage and benefit of all :ukgser. :thumb2

I wouldn't hestiate on that front. All good stuff and well received. A great part of the world, for sure.

You'll always find someone to have a contrary opinion on her that's how it is, I wouldn't worry about it for a minute.
 
Pugnacious critique or acerbic wit? :rolleyes:

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/507645-Thoughts-on-my-recent-trip-tp-North-Spain-and-Portugal



Although unseemly to request such assistance, it was extremely fortunate the Portuguese lady was able to provide help and support. :augie

You seem sensitive, take all I say with a pinch of salt, it is not often I am serious and I usually state when I am...Life is for living and peace & love, I wish you the very best of all that you would ever want and the health to enjoy:beerjug:

I will be soon putting my Portuguese address on this forum so that those who are passing can drop by and enjoy and stay for a while if it suits...I just need to get my water on, then life can be a little more comfortable for all.:thumb2
 
Thank you Oddjob for posting.
Very interesting - would love to do a trip like that. Sadly will have to wait until retirement. (hopefully early:D)

Longest i have done in Spain is 2 weeks plus 3 days in Portugal consecutively. Loved it.
 
You seem sensitive, take all I say with a pinch of salt.....

I will be soon putting my Portuguese address on this forum so that those who are passing can drop by and enjoy and stay for a while if it suits...I just need to get my water on, then life can be a little more comfortable for all.:thumb2

Good man :thumb2

I see many Tossers (in need) stripping your garden and more besides.
 
Good stuff oddjob. I was in Portugal and Spain with 2 mates for 2 weeks last year and came back the day before you. Spent most of our time on the inland back roads of Portugal as one of the guys has a place in the hills outside Arganil and when we weren't staying there we stayed in AirBnB's or Hostels.
The hospitality we experienced was fantastic, the locals are so friendly and we had some fabulous sign language encounters.
Like you, I still have some of the walnuts the from the bucket full the local chap insisted we took after he saw us eating our lunch under a tree by the roadside. Also the best red wine we had was purchased from a tiny village shop for under 2 euros and supplied to us in a 2 litre 7up bottle.
I have a ferry booked for mid September with a plan to ride down to Morocco and I will defo be meandering through Portugal again on my way south.


Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for posting your trip up, I’m sure it’s wetted a lot of appetites to come down into the Iberian peninsula. It really is wonderful place to travel by motorcycle. As you say about the rural villages in a few years they will be abandoned, such a shame.
 
Excellent. My fundamental intention is to hopefully provide folks with some light relief and potential inspiration for their subsequent tours. :thumb2

TBH, I was extremely reticent to post this thread because I had doubts and reservations to how it may be broadly perceived. :confused:

a) Inadvertently rubbing salt into wounds because many folk had to cancel their tours; :comfort
b) Although I don't have any dependants, some folk may say; how very selfish for me to have the temerity to venture on an overseas tour in the middle of a pandemic. :(

My "free" Dropbox URL's expire after 7 days; please feel free to copy and retain for the subsequent usage and benefit of all :ukgser. :thumb2

Much appreciated I recently uploaded your wales routes

Thank you this is great
 
Thanks for posting your trip up, I’m sure it’s wetted a lot of appetites to come down into the Iberian peninsula. It really is wonderful place to travel by motorcycle. As you say about the rural villages in a few years they will be abandoned, such a shame.

This is repeated in so many places, my village in Portugal had 7 full time people and 6 part time, this year the full timers are down to 3 because of old age, nothing to do with the virus....One of those 3 went into hospital day after Christmas day with a stroke, he came out though and seems OK, the other two are on their last legs age wise, so I fully expect that later this year the 2 oldies will be replaced by my wife and I and the population will remain at 3! A real shame because they are all lovely people.
 
I can understand the younger ones being attracted to city’s and larger towns, it’s the way of the world. The old way of life in the small rural villages must have been hard. The younger ones see on the telly how life is in the big wide world, and want the car, bars, discos, ect. The power of advertising is very strong, but does not always match the reality.

I just hope that enough of the middle age ones come back to their roots and revitalise their villagers.

When I’m out on the bike I always try to spend my money in the rural economy, I just love the places.
 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hu5my1pa710l1cq/OddJob Spain - UKGSer - Tracks Joined together.GPX?dl=0

I opened up OddJob’s files, cut all the tracks into one file and asked BaseCamp on my MacBook to join them together, which it did very smoothly.

The .GPX file of the joined together tracks does work. Here it is displayed using nothing more than my iPad and the Pocket Earth Pro app....

ae57bb78a7b464a57f83d6f2d27bb098.png


PS I asked my MacBook to convert the joined together tracks into a route. It will do it but it’s a very slow process and might melt its little brain. I don’t think anyone (with any sense, at least) would ever try to load a full, 4,500 plus mile route in one go anyway.

PPS My apologies, I spelled Oddjob incorrectly.
 
You're forgiven Mr Wapping. :D

Anybody would require more than an "Iron Butt" mentality to contemplate riding 5,400 miles in one sitting. :cool:

35 .gpx files X 29 Waypoints = 1015 total Waypoints. No wonder it took so much time for me to create :eek:

Unfortunately, your consolidated .gpx file caused my BaseCamp and Tyre to crash. :(


Please forgive, I'm not attempting to teach anyone to suck eggs. However, for anyone who may not be aware: The fundamental limitations of Garmin sat-navs (and any iteration of the wonderful BMW Motorrad Navigator :rolleyes: :barf), necessitates each .gpx file contains an absolute maximum of 29 Waypoints.
 
I’m surprised the consolidated track GPX caused a crash in BaseCamp, simply as I created it in BaseCamp. It also converted (via my iPad) into Pocket Earth OK. I’ll download it to my MacBook to see what happens.

EDIT: Downloaded into my MacBook / BaseCamp and it opened up just fine.

PS The BMW series of GPS devices are just fine But that's just me.
 
That’s one hell of a spreadsheet. You have taken my ‘little black book’ to an entirely new level.

Those that have been on my wanders, will know my ‘little black book’.
 
That’s one hell of a spreadsheet. You have taken my ‘little black book’ to an entirely new level.

Those that have been on my wanders, will know my ‘little black book’.

Hi Richard. I'm most definitely not trying to teach you (or any anyone else) to suck eggs. However, here's my outlook for tour planning that I find effective.

As part of pre-tour planning, I utilise my spreadsheet template to create a tour itinerary with relevant information. Small details can solve big problems, AKA perfect, preparation, prevents, poor, performance. :)

Although it's never happened to me whilst touring solo (or whilst accompanying biker-mates on tour), I must confess that I still chuckle when I recall a biker-mate friend who always extolled the benefits of "no planing and simply ride". Anyway, he did confess, his outlook of ignoring the "five P's" often had fundamental limitations :blast:

a) the time when he joyfully arrived at Plymouth to take the ferry to Bilbao; however he should have been at Portsmouth, consequently he missed his ferry. Apparently, this also occurred for return ferry ports, mistakenly returning to Bilbao, rather than Santander! :tears
b) Not keeping regularly hydrated when riding in extreme heat; he eventually decided to have a rest break at a nice cafe (with potential new overseas lady biker-mates), however when the bike stopped, he was so fatigued that he could not lower his foot down in time and he was immediate ejected from his bike. His blue BMW R1200 RT now seemingly resembled a beached blue whale! :tears

Whilst away on tour, I utilise a hard copy of the tour itinerary (the most recent was four sheets of A4) as a concise reference guide and note sheet. Perhaps this is broadly comparable to your venerable "little black book". :nenau

Moreover, because I don't posses a mobile phone (out of choice), a tour itinerary is useful, concise guide (perhaps a metaphorical comfort blanket), which resides in my tank bag together with a small pocket note book, pen and pencil.

Whilst away on any tour, it's especially enjoyable to completely forget about time, deadlines and completely immerse yourself in the moment. However, it's really important to maintain a pragmatic approach: hope for the best and prepare for the worst; remain organised to maintain sufficient fundamental essentials:

a) Water, food and fuel;
b) the total balance of cash remaining;
c) the expectation of daily riding hours, is it realistically achievable due to fatigue or prevailing inclement weather


FYI: I utilise the "imprest system" to merely top up the daily float "cash wallet" and return the balance to 100 euros. The amount used to return the balance to 100 is what I've spent.

As a benchmark, I always budget for an absolute minimum of 50 Euros per day, to include food, fuel and accommodation. For this particular tour, I returned home with only 20 Euros; however I still had £250 (Sterling) cash, together with my unused debit and credit cards.

Kind regards and best wishes to all for your subsequent tours. :)
Jan
 
Four sheets of itinerary to follow and a cash float system.

Sounds a right bag of laughs and a total escape from being at work.
 
Four sheets of itinerary to follow and a cash float system.

Sounds a right bag of laughs and a total escape from being at work.

Have you actually read this entire thread? :confused:

If so, please accept my sincere apologies if I've inadvertently caused you any offence.

Euro Tour 2020 - Spain & Portugal - The Grand Tour

Itineary - 54 Days - Saturday 22nd August to Wednesday 14th October.

Route - 35 Gamin .gpx files.

To ensure your laughs as a supreme being of infinite knowledge and experience, would you please elucidate why you consider tour planning is unnecessary?

Can you really instantly remember all relevant details when venturing a smidgen further than your local Tesco? :bow:rolleyes:

PS; what is this "total escape from being at work" you speak of? :p
 

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Have you actually read this entire thread? :confused:

If so, please accept my sincere apologies if I've inadvertently caused you any offence.

Euro Tour 2020 - Spain & Portugal - The Grand Tour

Itineary - 54 Days - Saturday 22nd August to Wednesday 14th October.

Route - 35 Gamin .gpx files.

To ensure your laughs as a supreme being of infinite knowledge and experience, would you please elucidate why you consider tour planning is unnecessary?

Can you really instantly remember all relevant details when venturing a smidgen further than your local Tesco? :bow:rolleyes:

PS; what is this "total escape from being at work" you speak of? :p

Because a bike trip's a holiday, not a mission.

There's not a great deal to have to remember if you're not an automaton that needs every wheel turn and piss stop to be pre planned.

No, I didn't read it all...I lost the will to live early on in it...in fact, I'd rather be in work than on that trip. :D
 
Don't argue with an idiot, he'll drag you down to his level and beat you with experience. :D

PS: Perhaps you shouldn't ever consider leaving "work" or venturing further than your local Tesco; perhaps at most a half-day trip to Hoylake to play with model boats. :aidan
 
Euro Tour 2020 - Spain & Portugal - The Grand Tour

Itineary - 54 Days - Saturday 22nd August to Wednesday 14th October.
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:1c1abdfe-b275-4bff-a945-0ed14628ed59

Route - 35 Gamin .gpx files.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bthi24sa91yr8m8/AADccNF3_MQIjLjRKMZbH_jma?dl=0

Could you share you’re spreadsheet in Excel, please?
I do something similar but your speed sheet looks better!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Good post, certainly gets me thinking about our next bike trip abroad, not that we have one planned at the moment.

Spreadsheets and meticulous planning isn't for everyone, for some it's part of the whole experience.
We've all got our own ways haven't we!

Thanks for sharing your experiences and also taking the time to post your .gpx files etc :thumby:
 


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