Pyrenees and Picos The Dos Amigos tour 2021

2 wheel humvee

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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 :okay

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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 :rolleyes:
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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.
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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:beer:
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Thirst satisfied we retreated to our cabin to change and then took a tour of the outside decks, we were underway :bow
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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!
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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 :thumb2
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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 :blast
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Day 02 195 miles to Ainsa via Col de la Pierre St Martin, Canfranc and the N260 :thumby:
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:bow
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.

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When you see this sign you know there are not too many straight bits of road ahead of you.


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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 :okay

Was the soup good?

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Our main course.....
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The gastro tour had begun properly now, we waddled back to the bikes and pressed on to Canfranc.

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Our route took us down the N240 to Jaca and then onto the N260 to our overnight stop at Ainsa

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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 :eyebrow

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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 :comfort

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 :bow

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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

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The bit from the place on the sign on the left to the place on the sign on the right is particularly good :thumby:
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Nearing Tremp we puled over for a breather and to take a few pics.
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Got to love a pic of a Col name
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Another Col another (barely legible) sign, Col de Boixolls I think it's 8 years since I was last at this sign.
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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 :)
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We continued our journey to Viehla

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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.
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The hotel and some street level shots.

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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
:D:D

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More to follow...........
 
Good stuff .
The Col de La Pierre St Martin was fabulous going the other way last month , when Evskij and I snuck into Spain

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Nice one!

How did you like Canfranc as it's on my list to visit?
 
Lovely - i'm in

More to follow when I can find the time :thumby:

Good stuff .
The Col de La Pierre St Martin was fabulous going the other way last month , when Evskij and I snuck into Spain

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It's a great pass with a bit of everything I've ridden it in the other direction too many years ago, it's a cracker whichever direction it's ridden :bow

Nice one!

How did you like Canfranc as it's on my list to visit?

Our visit was all too brief, I did walk over to look at the ongoing refurbishment of the old station which is a mammoth task, I'd like to go back and spend a little more time there.

Cracking pics and report as usual Steve!
John and I were in the same areas a month earlier:thumby:

You must have put a 2nd class stamp on my invite ;)
 
Where was I? Oh yes......
Day 04 Ainsa to Sos Del Ray Catolico approx. 214 miles
Another bright start to the day but again on the chilly side with temperatures in low single digits, locked and loaded we we were on the road by around 9.30am
We had heard that there were road closures along our intended route today which would take in the Col D' Aspin and Col du Tourmalet, sure enough when we reached our turning at Bagneres de Luchon we were presented with road closure signs :mad: We decided to take a look anyway in case there was a way past for bikes as is sometimes the case :augie
The route appeared blocked but gaps in the barrier along with helpful French signage on the road suggested all might not be lost, Dave went off road because his sticky out pots wouldn't clear the concrete blocks while the svelte Ducati could just about squeeze through, we were through it.....we had beaten the road block and all our troubles were over, what fools! :D

Follow the arrow, so I did just that.
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Dave went around and made it look easy :okay

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Soon we were enjoying the empty roads and the fantastic views.

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We reached the top of the Col D'Aspin there were many camper vans, cyclists and motor cyclists at the top enjoying the views, this was encouraging I thought as there must be another way and hence a way out :rolleyes:

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Next stop......Col du Tourmalet :thumb2

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We stopped for a few pics along the way

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The views from the top of the Tourmalet are spectacular on a clear day, which it was.....

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But the iconic image of the giant cycle and the sticker festooned sign are no more, it looks very different up there at the moment, improvements will be completed in time for the next tour, apparently.
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We saw signs displaying "Route Barree" road closed and thought about turning back and retracing our steps but several cars and bikes carried on down the pass so we followed them, all the way to more "Route Barre" signs and it really was the end of the road, try as we might we couldn't find an escape route so had to turn back, ah well we get to ride both passes twice in one day things could be worse ;)
Unable to find a route open which would allow us to go North and do anti clockwise arc around our obstacle we had to go South again and picked up the N260 near Ainsa then on towards Jaca where we refuelled, it was late afternoon by now and the Sun ((already low at this time of year) was beginning to dip, we completed some of our journey towards our destination of Sos Del Ray Catolico on dual carriageway but elected to get off early and take the lesser road towards our destination, Tip; don't do this in fading light after a long day in the saddle, it's no quicker and the road is like riding on corrugated tin sheets :D

This innocent looking tar and chippings road repair appeared normal enough as I passed over it at about 50mph it was in fact 2cm deep of stone dust and chippings lying loose on the carriageway, I almost came a cropper on this, the black line from my rear tyre as I exited sideways can be seen in the pic :eek:

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Having regained some composure we pressed on to Sos Del Ray Catolico, stopping for a pic or 2 along the way, my translator couldn't tell me anything about this ;)

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We reached our hotel as the sun was setting
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Showered and changed we did a short tour of the town in search of sustenance and beer, we found it, no restaurant tonight it's Bistro baby :thumby:

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Tomorrow we would continue our journey east towards the Picos area.

More to come.........
 
Moving on........
Day 05 Sos Del Ray Catolico to Aguilar de Campoo approx 208 miles
Another glorious sunny morning to start the day albeit it was again on the chilly side and in single digit temperatures, as had become the norm we were breakfasted and packed quite early so we went to take a few parting shots before we set off.

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We were ready for the off when I noticed my rear tyre looked a little under inflated, checking it with a gauge confirmed this, the rear tyre contained 10psi of pressure :blast I could detect no foreign objects in the tyre to cause this loss of pressure, we both had puncture repair kits on our bikes but I decided I would like to find a service station with an air line to make effecting a repair easier if it was possible to do so. We rode slowly about 10 miles to a service station where we again set about examining the tyre for damage, Dave spotted a tiny mark in the centre of the tyre and tested it for leaks with a bottle of water....... Gotcha! Out came the tools and a repair kit and I set to work hoping the hole left when I removed the nail could be repaired.

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Repair completed I gave it 10 or 15 mins before inflating the tyre, then cut off the excess of the tyre plug and we waited some more, checked the pressure again and tested with water again to see if it was holding pressure, it appeared to be o.k.

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We set off again, by now the temperatures were well into double figures :cool: I stopped every half hour or so to check the pressure (how I wished I had ticked the box for the optional tyre pressure sensors :blast) and all was well and pressure was holding, it had actually increased due to the heat in the tyre :thumby:

Dave returning to find me checking the tyre pressure again :D
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Our route due West took us through some pretty countryside and National Park roads and closely following the Rio Ebro for much of the route.
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As we continued west along the N232 we got closer to Poza de la Sal, I would like to have stopped for a look around but our delayed start meant we had to puish on and be satisfied with a coupe of snaps, worth a look if you're in the area https://www.turismocastillayleon.com/en/art-culture-heritage/historic-sites/poza-de-la-sal

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We continued West and arrived at our hotel for the night, a Monastery in Aguilar de Campoo which would put us in easy reach of the Picos D' Europa for our final few days in Spain.

The Monastery

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Hotel Posada Santa Maria La Real. The Hotel gardens.
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Parked up for the night.
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We were staying in a couple of what was described as duplex single rooms, they were certainly compact, and quirky in an interesting way although perhaps not if you're tosser sized :thumb
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It makes for a lovely hotel, immaculately clean and incredibly well preserved.
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Unusual pattern to the flooring in my room though :ronno
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Checked in, showered and changed it was time to check out the refreshment options, I can report they were excellent :beer:
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Some interesting garden ornaments on the terrace :okay
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More to follow soon dear reader ;)
 
Time to wrap this up......
Day 06
We dined in the hotel restaurant the previous evening and the food was and service was excellent, I'm told the Red wine was good too but I have little recollection of this :blast
Prior to breakfast I went downstairs to load my bag onto the bike, it had been a cold night and the temperature was barely above zero, still, my rear tyre was maintaining good pressure :bow

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We had a leisurely breakfast and while I was waiting for Dave to come downstairs and load his bike I set about de-icing my seat by pouring a bottle of hot water over it then wiping it dry and leaving it in the sun with the motor running, by now the temperature had risen about 5 degrees.

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We were heading West initially along the CL626 in the direction of Cervera de Pisuerga and the Montana Palentina National park, in the sunshine the temperature was climbing but in the shadows it remained cold so we were taking it steady, we had been this way many times before, our little group sometimes recall a funny incident at a restaurant Dave recognised it so we stopped for a pic.
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We continued along the P210 the Sun had risen much higher now but temperatures still varied a lot with a low of 5 and a high of 20+ which obviously doesn't convey from the pictures.

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As we continued West more of the Grey Granite peaks I associate with this part of Northern Spain come into view.
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We stopped at the Dam of the reservoir we had been following for a few pics.
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The water level was very low.
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We arrived at the very picturesque town of Riano and the obligatory picture stop
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We followed the N625 and then the LE2711 to Posada de Valdeon Mirador
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We continued along the fabulous twisty N621 before pausing at the high point of Puerto de San Glorio mirador :thumby:
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The 621 is great way by which to arrive in Potes on 2 wheels, miles and miles of technical twists and turns, Potes itself was as busy as I've ever seen it bustling with people and a constant stream of traffic passing through it's narrow main street, we were in search of a late lunch and found it at Restaurante El Bodegon, a delicious scrambled egg and ham dish :okay

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From here it was a short journey to our hotel for the last 2 nights the Hotel Del Oso, all the other hotels on this trip we had booked via booking dot com to suit our travel plans but this hotel I had written to directly to make a reservation after many recommendations on this forum, as well as being the cheapest hotel of the trip at just 65 euro per person bed & breakfast it was also the best, the staff are incredibly friendly and welcoming and the table staff in the restaurant are fantastic.

Hotel Del Oso
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Be wary of the ferocious guard dogs :D
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The view from my bedroom window:bow
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I went for a pre dinner stroll of the local area in an attempt to work off my small lunch and create an appetite for dinner :augie
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Dinner was fantastic, Fabada (or something very similar) to start
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Followed by cow and chips and roasted peppers, we are going to like it here ;)
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The last couple of days, no real plan and no real route, we just bimbled around the Picos region, often visiting places we'd visited and taken pictures at on previous trips, not intentionally in most cases it just sort of happened :nenau
Day 07 Seeing as Fuente De is at the end of the road our hotel is located on we decided our first stop should be a visit there to see if we could get a cable car ride to the top, we were in luck, it was busy but we only had to wait slightly less than an hour before it was our turn.

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The view from the cable car during the ascent (taken through the tinted glass of the cable car).
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It was another clear day so the views at the top were spectacular.

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Recreating some pics from a previous trip, possibly 2006 the background remains unchanged but the subjects may have altered slightly.

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We had a great ride up to the sculpture on the Puerto de San Glorio

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I had been here before on a previous trip but could remember very little of the road, possibly because it looked like this the last time I was here, shrouded in fog!
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The weather was much improved this time around.
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We dropped back down into Potes to browse the souvenir shops and get a coffee and take a few pics

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Then set off on a clockwise loop from Potes along the Hermida Gorge then took the CA 282 towards Rionansa Ca 281 to La Lastra then the Ca 184 to Ojedo back through Potes and on to Hotel Del Oso, a great loop full of twists and turns and great scenery :bow

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A quiet night of filling in passenger locator forms and buying day 2 return test kits followed :blast

We had another great meal at the Hotel Del Oso I can't recommend this hotel highly enough it's a great place to stay :bow

The Rum and Raisin ice cream is very good

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Dave's dessert was good too apparently, it didn't hang around long enough for me to see what it was.

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Last day........packed up and hotel paid we had a short journey to Santander for the afternoon return ferry crossing, we managed a coffee at San Vicente on the way, it was great to be back in Spain on a bike.

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As the trip began so did it end, waiting for our ship to come in

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When our ship did come in and we got aboard, waiting for our cabins to be made ready :beer:

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Thanks for your company Dave :thumby:
 
Just back from a week in the Pyranees and Picos.
The last 3 nights were at the Hotel Del Oso and it was superb.
We were the only bikers there during that time and the staff were excellent.
 

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