Tour around Spain next June

semmyroundel

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As some of you may know, I don't own a GS, or any other BMW for that matter, so just want to make that clear.

I don't discriminate but have found that in general, GSer's are more adventurous than other bikers, and that has been borne out by the wealth of information on this site, which in turn led me to subscribing.
I have a 2018 Super Tenere, bought in 2021, and a Harley Davidson Sportster

I have done three trips to Spain and back on my Harley Sportster, two of which I had my son on the back. They all started at Calais.
The first one ended with a trip along the spine of the pyrenees as I got a cold in my throat and I lost my bottle, my son and I came home after that.
The next two I did a loop from the pyrenees down to Cuenca area, swinging over by Madrid and up by Vallodolid to Guernica, and then home, as I said once on my tod, once with son including camping equipment no dramas.

Next June, I'm going to do a more ambitious trip, in preparation for re-doing it the year after with the Harley and my son after he finishes his Phd.

This will be on the Tenere, to make sure it's good for my more ambitious trips to India and posssibly central Asia that I've been getting info about hereabouts.

This time, there'll be some changes. Firstly, it'll start at Caen (I don't really need any more to be dealing with boring northern France) it'll cut off some of the journey.
So that's Brittany ferries from Portsmouth. I don't tend to take motorways unless they avoid serious hold ups, neither do I ride particularly fast-for me it's about enjoying the scenery and the ride itself.

My normal route is this:
Caen, Le Mans, Tours, Poitiers, Angouleme, Bordeaux, then off at Jcn18 just as peage starts heading towards Mont de Marsan and Pau. A more scenic route deviates at Poitiers to go via Limoges area via Marmande to the Pyrenees.
From there, I go via Zaragoza down to Cuenca and this is where next year would be different from other years as I intend to continue south, exact direction still up in the air at the moment, but ultimately hit the sea around Almeria way.

Now I should admit I'm half Spanish and speak the lingo, and do have family scattered around Spain, so it's an easy ride for me, but Andalucia I have never been a fan of, with exceptions of course, they do have dramatic mountain national parks.
The plan is to swing round the south coming up through Sevilla, and go via the desolate part of Spain- Extremadura.
Then due North to swing by basque country and pick up the old route home.

What I'm looking for is some of those national parks where you can ride with breathtaking scenery (there are quite a few in Spain) but with the obvious goal of circumnavigating the whole of the peninsular.

Camping will be on the menu, but not all the time, as cheap accommodation is plentiful in Spain.

From Cuenca down, and especially in the south and Extremadura, does anyone have any suggestions for routes?

Last by no means least, does anyone fancy coming along? I'm guessing about three weeks should be plenty. Idon't have to have a riding buddy as I've not had one before, but I think it could be fun.
Thanks for reading this far, if indeed, you didn't just skip down to this last sentence :)
 
Some daft sod did a whole load of gps routes to Spain. Have you looked at those and related them to a map of Spain which shows the national parks?

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/450657-Spain-50-routes-Portugal-7-routes-Complete/page2

RiDE magazine also did a pretty good guide, https://www.ride.co.uk/ride-guide-to-spain-and-portugal

The Green Michelin guide to Spain is very helpful.

Many thanks tou you, and of course that daft sod (which might still be you ) :)
I'll look those up at my leisure. Cheers.
 
"Next June, I'm going to do a more ambitious trip"

"Last by no means least, does anyone fancy coming along?"

Are we talking June 22, or June 23 ? (apologies if I missed it !)

Chris
 
May 27th Plymouth - Santander is my scheduled route date (Insha Allah).

Portugal - Spain then, the rest of Western Europe. Forty odd days on the road and back via Cherbourg.

Praying for sunshine .

Sent from my MI 9 using Tapatalk
 
"Next June, I'm going to do a more ambitious trip"

"Last by no means least, does anyone fancy coming along?"

Are we talking June 22, or June 23 ? (apologies if I missed it !)

Chris

Sorry I meant June this year, that old chestnut of forgetting that the year had changed from last to this.
THIS YEAR, my bad
 
If you regularly go down to Cuenca, then I assume you are familiar with the Cuenca mountains - fabulous scenery and you can go and see los osos :D
This is one of our favourite campsites in Europe: http://www.campinglasmajadas.net/

Simon100 is your man on here, I’m sure he’ll be along shortly
Enjoy
 
If you regularly go down to Cuenca, then I assume you are familiar with the Cuenca mountains - fabulous scenery and you can go and see los osos :D
This is one of our favourite campsites in Europe: http://www.campinglasmajadas.net/

Simon100 is your man on here, I’m sure he’ll be along shortly
Enjoy

Thanks for the recommendation. It looks good.

In the past, as I've travelled alone, I've taken to joining the Dutch camping club ACSI as they issue you with an identity card that has to be verified by sending them your passport details, it gives you discount in low season (up to July 7th I think) .
Far more importantly, it assures the ACSI campsite owner that you're not just anyone turning up alone- something in the past that's led me to receive the "no room at the inn" response when a Harley rider turns up alone, before having the ACSI card.
The discount only really benefits mobile home owners as they can save a lot using that card, however, I've found that campsite owners have been economical on pricing when I've turned up with just a tent.

And yes, the sierra de Albarracin and Cuenca are fabulous.

For those that don't know them, the old town of Albarracin and the Monasterio de Piedra waterfalls are to be seen.
 
If you regularly go down to Cuenca, then I assume you are familiar with the Cuenca mountains - fabulous scenery and you can go and see los osos :D
This is one of our favourite campsites in Europe: http://www.campinglasmajadas.net/

Simon100 is your man on here, I’m sure he’ll be along shortly
Enjoy

Ha ha, am I that predictable Dermot! :)

Cuenca is great but I much prefer Teruel, almost next door, and you can always take a blast over there. My MO is usually to stay in one camp site for a few days to explore without luggage and by far my favourite location there is Camping Algarbe, neat Terriente, which is ridiculously cheap and very bike friendly - as have all Spanish camp sites been in my experience.

balls1.jpg


I've used, and still do, the Ciudad de Albarracín site whose main advantage is being in the town, but the ground isnpt so good - very hard with lots of pitch pines dribblimg onto your tent - and lately I've also gotten p***ed off with your rock climbers who can be a PITA - I'm obvioulsy gettig old ...

I used to run off road events there, and here in the Pyrenees, plus the Horizons Unlimited HUMM events in 2016 and 17, so I know hundreds and hundreds of kms of trails in these areas, Teruel is paradise for big bikes and mostsly easy enough for me as I really getting tooold for that caper :)

p6040087.jpg


But I live in the Pyrenees, in Tremp, and know lots and lots of backroads here obviously. At the moment I can't do long trips away but if you fancied some company for a day or two then do get in touch :)

Regs

Simon
 
Maybe consider Newhaven / Dieppe ferry, it’s quite a bit cheaper and only 50/60 miles further than Caen.
Have a great trip whatever!
 
If you regularly go down to Cuenca, then I assume you are familiar with the Cuenca mountains - fabulous scenery and you can go and see los osos :D
This is one of our favourite campsites in Europe: http://www.campinglasmajadas.net/

Simon100 is your man on here, I’m sure he’ll be along shortly
Enjoy

They've recently re-surfaced the CM210 (Beteta) and frankly they've done a God-awful job of it. It's almost like it's been done on purpose :mad:

On the plus side, you can now potter along and keep one eye on the scenery and the other on the gravel, especially on the corners :blast
 
It did take a while. I used BaseCamp, which some say is impossible.

When you decide on for your final route, share it with us all please.

Yes of course, I'll plan it out as far as possible and post here.
However, despite owning a Garmin XT I haven't worked out how to plan a route on it.
I'll persevere...
 
Maybe consider Newhaven / Dieppe ferry, it’s quite a bit cheaper and only 50/60 miles further than Caen.
Have a great trip whatever!

I'll defo look into that 50/60 miles is nothing if it saves a lot, especially after the amount of mileage I'm planning. Thanks for the tip.
 
I'll defo look into that 50/60 miles is nothing if it saves a lot, especially after the amount of mileage I'm planning. Thanks for the tip.

I need to be in Dieppe at the end of April for the Bank Holiday weekend. I was surprised how cheap the Newhaven ferry is. 0930 out, arrives in Dieppe at 1330, £31.50 one way.
 
Maybe consider Newhaven / Dieppe ferry, it’s quite a bit cheaper and only 50/60 miles further than Caen.
Have a great trip whatever!

Gstom, they're excellent prices for what is only a little more travelling.
Defo with the bike trip going to book that route, when I go with the Doris in July in the car, as she's not good on water, we'll book the overnight to Caen as we always do. However, including a sea view berth both ways we're looking at over £600
 
I need to be in Dieppe at the end of April for the Bank Holiday weekend. I was surprised how cheap the Newhaven ferry is. 0930 out, arrives in Dieppe at 1330, £31.50 one way.

I keep forgetting about the shaven haven ferry. A useful reminder.
 


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