Our little group was down on numbers for this little tour hence the title, The Cov.. thing undoubtedly played a part in decision making so it was just Dave and I for a September departure, except it wasn't due to track and trace etc. Fortunately we had booked Flexi tickets with Brittany Ferries so we were able to amend the booking twice at no cost.
Our crossing was booked from Plymouth to Santander aboard the Pont Aven (3rd time lucky) departure was Weds Oct 6th at 3.45pm scheduled arrival 1.15pm with a 4 berth outside cabin to share, fingers crossed.......
Day 00
To Plymouth......I travelled from South Wales whilst Dave was travelling from the London area, there was some anxiety over fuel availability but we both got there with fuel to spare, I was early so took lunch at the Dock Café waiting for my travelling buddy to arrive, fish finger sandwich with a view
We checked in fairly quickly and painlessly showing passports, travel tickets and proof of vaccination in addition we had both got the French and Spanish health apps on our phones with the requisite barcodes should we be asked for them, we weren't, at all for the whole trip.
The quayside looked busy with the usual array of cars, commercials, motorcycles and the occasional small camper
We learned that our ship was running late, possibly by as much as 2 hours, it's just as well the weather was good while waited for the Pont Aven to dock, soon our ship was in and began to disembark it's cargo.
We boarded the ship and were directed to the lowest part of the ship where we waited for the crew to tie down and secure the bikes, it was hot down there so left them to it and collected our overnight bags and headed upstairs to our cabins but the crew were still preparing the cabins so we decided to cool down a
Thirst satisfied we retreated to our cabin to change and then took a tour of the outside decks, we were underway
Day 01 approx 150 miles
After a nice calm crossing we learned that the ship had made up time and would arrive just 30 minutes later than scheduled in Santander, land ahoy!
It was baking hot on the lower car deck so it was a relief to escape to the quayside and the fresh air to queue up for more passport and paperwork checks, this was carried out without any real delay and we were on our way to our first hotel to the North West of Pamplona, this would be something of a transit route with no noteworthy passes included, just a necessary fuel stop plash and dash affair and push on to the hotel, booked via booking.com we stayed at El Torro hotel, rooms were good, food was fine, no special parking.
It did have some nice garden ornaments
As "GB" stickers are no longer deemed valid we purchased a couple of U.K. stickers to stay on the correct side of the law, needless to say mine wilted and fell off my bag after a couple of days, very apt
Day 02 195 miles to Ainsa via Col de la Pierre St Martin, Canfranc and the N260
Breakfasted and packed we were under way at around 9.30am I was looking forward to today's ride as had ridden the Col de la Pierre St Martin on a previous trip but in the other direction, it was and remains one of my favourite passes to ride
After passing Burgui and Isaba we were crossing the border into France, the weather was great and the roads were free of traffic save for a few motorhomes and the occasional group of cyclists and motorcycles, stunning views from every angle.
When you see this sign you know there are not too many straight bits of road ahead of you.
As we were riding we were looking for a place to stop for lunch and also to top up with fuel, we found an automated filling station at Accous where we topped up and spotted a cafe across the road which looked very busy (always a good sign) so we stopped there and were offered plat dejour, a delicious soup to start and a nice lamb dish for main course followed by coffee for 12 euro each
Was the soup good?
Our main course.....
The gastro tour had begun properly now, we waddled back to the bikes and pressed on to Canfranc.
Our route took us down the N240 to Jaca and then onto the N260 to our overnight stop at Ainsa
My newly fitted Pirelli Scorpion Trail tyres had received a fair work out today, perhaps a pure road tyre might have been a better choice for this region
We stayed at Maison D'Lainsa the rooms were comfortable and the hotel has undercover parking available, breakfast was good but we ate out in town, no food pics sorry
The sun had set as we crossed the bridge from our Hotel on our short walk to town for dinner, a great day's riding and one that would be hard to beat
Day 03 212 miles to Vielha, the long way in an anti clockwise loop.
The day dawned bright but chilly, we had breakfast at the hotel then packed and were on the road before 9.30am
Our route would take us along the N260 to Campo and Pont de Suert and then down the N230 to Montana, we then followed the C1311 towards Tremp then the N260 to Sort and C13 and C28 to Vielha, it's quite a long day in the saddle.
Views from the morning ride on the N260
The bit from the place on the sign on the left to the place on the sign on the right is particularly good
Nearing Tremp we puled over for a breather and to take a few pics.
Got to love a pic of a Col name
Another Col another (barely legible) sign, Col de Boixolls I think it's 8 years since I was last at this sign.
It was way past lunch o'clock and we had been looking for a suitable diner to get lunch for some time, it's off season and there doesn't appear to be too many places open for business, somewhere past Coll de Nargo we found a roadside eaterie which looked promising, we both ordered a goats cheese salad and delicious it was too
We continued our journey to Viehla
Finding accommodation in Viehla had not proved easy or cheap so we were staying outside of town in a place called Vielha e Mijaran at a small family run Hostel and restaurant called, wait for it.......Alojamento Rural Ostau era Neuhada, as we checked we received a warm welcome and shown to our rooms, the only rooms they had were 2 twin rooms on the 4th floor, they were fine, the view from the skylight was pretty good and the beds were comfortable and quiet.
The view from my room.
The hotel and some street level shots.
Dinner in the small restaurant was excellent, we were joined by diners from nearby properties, the hosts don't speak English and whilst Dave is learning Spanish my Spanish is limited to pointing and gesturing mostly, we managed fine and made good choices of starter and main course and received what we thought we would get, I ordered the "chocolate with chocolate" thinking it might be a chocolate pudding with chocolate sauce, what arrived was this
More to follow...........
Our crossing was booked from Plymouth to Santander aboard the Pont Aven (3rd time lucky) departure was Weds Oct 6th at 3.45pm scheduled arrival 1.15pm with a 4 berth outside cabin to share, fingers crossed.......
Day 00
To Plymouth......I travelled from South Wales whilst Dave was travelling from the London area, there was some anxiety over fuel availability but we both got there with fuel to spare, I was early so took lunch at the Dock Café waiting for my travelling buddy to arrive, fish finger sandwich with a view
We checked in fairly quickly and painlessly showing passports, travel tickets and proof of vaccination in addition we had both got the French and Spanish health apps on our phones with the requisite barcodes should we be asked for them, we weren't, at all for the whole trip.
The quayside looked busy with the usual array of cars, commercials, motorcycles and the occasional small camper
We learned that our ship was running late, possibly by as much as 2 hours, it's just as well the weather was good while waited for the Pont Aven to dock, soon our ship was in and began to disembark it's cargo.
We boarded the ship and were directed to the lowest part of the ship where we waited for the crew to tie down and secure the bikes, it was hot down there so left them to it and collected our overnight bags and headed upstairs to our cabins but the crew were still preparing the cabins so we decided to cool down a
Thirst satisfied we retreated to our cabin to change and then took a tour of the outside decks, we were underway
Day 01 approx 150 miles
After a nice calm crossing we learned that the ship had made up time and would arrive just 30 minutes later than scheduled in Santander, land ahoy!
It was baking hot on the lower car deck so it was a relief to escape to the quayside and the fresh air to queue up for more passport and paperwork checks, this was carried out without any real delay and we were on our way to our first hotel to the North West of Pamplona, this would be something of a transit route with no noteworthy passes included, just a necessary fuel stop plash and dash affair and push on to the hotel, booked via booking.com we stayed at El Torro hotel, rooms were good, food was fine, no special parking.
It did have some nice garden ornaments
As "GB" stickers are no longer deemed valid we purchased a couple of U.K. stickers to stay on the correct side of the law, needless to say mine wilted and fell off my bag after a couple of days, very apt
Day 02 195 miles to Ainsa via Col de la Pierre St Martin, Canfranc and the N260
Breakfasted and packed we were under way at around 9.30am I was looking forward to today's ride as had ridden the Col de la Pierre St Martin on a previous trip but in the other direction, it was and remains one of my favourite passes to ride
After passing Burgui and Isaba we were crossing the border into France, the weather was great and the roads were free of traffic save for a few motorhomes and the occasional group of cyclists and motorcycles, stunning views from every angle.
When you see this sign you know there are not too many straight bits of road ahead of you.
As we were riding we were looking for a place to stop for lunch and also to top up with fuel, we found an automated filling station at Accous where we topped up and spotted a cafe across the road which looked very busy (always a good sign) so we stopped there and were offered plat dejour, a delicious soup to start and a nice lamb dish for main course followed by coffee for 12 euro each
Was the soup good?
Our main course.....
The gastro tour had begun properly now, we waddled back to the bikes and pressed on to Canfranc.
Our route took us down the N240 to Jaca and then onto the N260 to our overnight stop at Ainsa
My newly fitted Pirelli Scorpion Trail tyres had received a fair work out today, perhaps a pure road tyre might have been a better choice for this region
We stayed at Maison D'Lainsa the rooms were comfortable and the hotel has undercover parking available, breakfast was good but we ate out in town, no food pics sorry
The sun had set as we crossed the bridge from our Hotel on our short walk to town for dinner, a great day's riding and one that would be hard to beat
Day 03 212 miles to Vielha, the long way in an anti clockwise loop.
The day dawned bright but chilly, we had breakfast at the hotel then packed and were on the road before 9.30am
Our route would take us along the N260 to Campo and Pont de Suert and then down the N230 to Montana, we then followed the C1311 towards Tremp then the N260 to Sort and C13 and C28 to Vielha, it's quite a long day in the saddle.
Views from the morning ride on the N260
The bit from the place on the sign on the left to the place on the sign on the right is particularly good
Nearing Tremp we puled over for a breather and to take a few pics.
Got to love a pic of a Col name
Another Col another (barely legible) sign, Col de Boixolls I think it's 8 years since I was last at this sign.
It was way past lunch o'clock and we had been looking for a suitable diner to get lunch for some time, it's off season and there doesn't appear to be too many places open for business, somewhere past Coll de Nargo we found a roadside eaterie which looked promising, we both ordered a goats cheese salad and delicious it was too
We continued our journey to Viehla
Finding accommodation in Viehla had not proved easy or cheap so we were staying outside of town in a place called Vielha e Mijaran at a small family run Hostel and restaurant called, wait for it.......Alojamento Rural Ostau era Neuhada, as we checked we received a warm welcome and shown to our rooms, the only rooms they had were 2 twin rooms on the 4th floor, they were fine, the view from the skylight was pretty good and the beds were comfortable and quiet.
The view from my room.
The hotel and some street level shots.
Dinner in the small restaurant was excellent, we were joined by diners from nearby properties, the hosts don't speak English and whilst Dave is learning Spanish my Spanish is limited to pointing and gesturing mostly, we managed fine and made good choices of starter and main course and received what we thought we would get, I ordered the "chocolate with chocolate" thinking it might be a chocolate pudding with chocolate sauce, what arrived was this
More to follow...........