Spain 2018 - The Less Important Ride Report ;)

[James]

Id planned a trip to Scandinavia last summer and booked the ferries out - Hull > Rotterdam & Hirtshals > Langesund. A couple of months before departure (1st July) I was landed with an unexpected bill relating to my Mums funeral, eating into my travel budget a little much for comfort.



Change of plan. Ride down through The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France (inc The Tarn Gorge) and into Spain where I met my other half, son, daughter in law and grandkids for a week in a vinca before dropping down to the Bardanes Reales, then west to east along the Pyrenees (mainly N260), through France to home.



The only deviation to the plan was the return ferry (IJmuden > Newcastle) to meet up with some mates who were returning from the German MotoGP.



FRANCE





Camping in the Tarn Gorge.























SPAIN



































Up in the Pyrenees I camped next to a nice French couple. I didnt catch their names but the female partner spoke a little English which along with my schoolboy French (and inspired by her nice butt :evil) seemed to get us through She recommended a loop through Añisclo. Although it added a day to my Pyrenean adventure it was a good call.





Lunch break, Añisclo, Spain



With that, it was more of the same - 400kms of the N260 - just brilliant riding all the way.



The speed limit on most Spanish single carriageway is 90km/h. A couple of weeks after I got home, the nice Spanish Police wrote to me, enclosing a speeding notification and requesting 50 euros for their trouble. I can only say that wherever my transgression took place, it was worth it!



Back into France I needed to make kms to meet up with the Sunderland posse, though I had a memorable night somewhere near Mende - France won the soccer World Cup. Vive la France!













Lunch usually looked like this





Camping in the Ardennes, Belgium. Run by a brilliant Dutch couple who taught me the right pronunciation of IJmuden.





I really liked this place, Ill definitely be back!





Back in The Netherlands.

[alanfavell]

Lovely pics

[Studley Ramrod]

:wifgeni:  Thanks for sharing Jim. :good:

[FILO]

Looks fantastic!

[FILO]

Looks fantastic!

[Gump850]

Excellent, great pictures! :good:

[Catteeclan]

That was worth remembering my log in for. :clapping:  :clapping:

[dapleb]

Nice Juan

[FILO]

what sort of tent is that jim ?

[James]

what sort of tent is that jim ?

It’s a Eureka! Lone Tree 4. Brilliant tent but it doesn’t seem to be available anymore. Nigor own the Eureka! brand and this tent is a (much) cheaper version of their Wikiup 4.



I bought it here <a class="bbc_url" href="https://www.worldbackpacker.co.uk/lone-tree-4-tent-p6602">https://www.worldbackpacker.co.uk/lone-tree-4-tent-p6602</a>, so if you want one, it might be worth giving them a call.

[mikem]

Great pics, looks like a really good run.

[FILO]

Thanks Jim I'll check that out.

[ramotdm]

and another fantastic pics  :good:

[bjorge]

Spectacular !