2023 Trip Films

 Below are links to the films I've put together for this trip. They follow my actual trip direction.

They are on the YouTube channel and linked below...

Spain: North

Portugal

Morocco

Spain: South

 Thanks for watching

Days 34/35: Figueres to UK - It's bloody Cold!

 Now that was an epic two days of riding. I got to the the line of hills that split the plains of Northern Spain and the Pyrenees., just east of Lleida As you crest a rise, the Pyrenees are laid out in front of you in all their splendour. I was especially looking at Andorra and to its west as this is where the TET options cross this mountain range. They were plastered in snow, and this was the south side!

So next up was decision time, what to do and which direction to head in?

I figured to pass the Pyrenees on the southern edge, so past the Bay of Roses and upto Figueres, then into France to Perpignan as opposed to the western side into Bordeaux. Main reasons were, it was raining to the west and it was cold. I figured the southern aspect would be warmer!

Once I set off, I had to get across a range of hills, Sant Llorenc de Morunys, which turned out to be exceptional riding for any bike. Miles of great bends, where the middle section of the tyre was used for about 100 yards for every mile covered. As the afternoon rolled on, I got to the east coast around 5ish. The cold air was dropping again and I hadn't been warm all day. The AP7 heads north past lots of towns and built up areas and I arrived in Figueres around 6.30pm, with a plan to start to look for a replacement rear tyre and stay in a hotel to warm up. I found a lovely warm hotel on the northern end, had a beer and crashed for the night. In the morning, it was belting down with heavy rain. I looked at the forecast and it appeared to be a line of a front running all the way from the edge of the Pyrenees up towards Nice. I was gonna get wet wherever I went and it was there for e few days.

The rear tyre went out the window. I just loaded the bike, jumped onboard and headed north and eventually west to Toulouse. Awful cross winds, heavy rain, not a fun ride. I opted to go on the Peage to save time,  but ultimately, when I arrived at the pay station, the ticket was soaked. It wouldn't go into the machine, so a van driver offered some help, when he couldn't do it, he called the attendant. The woman spoke through a microphone from some warm office no doubt. I killed the bike engine to hear her better but forgot to kill the electrics and thus killed the battery. These bikes cannot be bump started, I've tried before, so I wheeled the bike to a toilet block and stripped everything off it to check the battery condition again. It wasn't good, I needed a jump start. Over an hour passed, with me asking everyone if they could help, eventually, the toilet cleaner came along and offered to take his battery out of his car and bring it across. He was parked on the other side of the motorway! Once a battery was to hand, 30 seconds and the bike started. I reloaded everything, thanked the guy profusely and set off again. Limoges was the planned destination.

Several hours later and completely freezing cold, my back tyre was now about down to threads. I found a garage, Daffy Moto's in Limoges, who fitted a tyre in 20 minutes at 6.30pm, when they close at 7pm. They also gave me hot coffee! Happy days. I stayed in a  hotel again, treated myself to a really posh glass of wine and some food as my planned last night overseas on this trip.

Next day dawned, bright and freezing cold. The staff at the hotel were looking at me funny as I loaded the luggage onto a heavily frosted saddle. I set off north, with a plan to get to Dieppe by 4pm so I could catch the 6pm ferry. All day was minus temperatures. My hands never got warm and at points I had to hop from service station to service station to regain any feeling in them. Hot chocolate was consumed in quantities that must be unhealthy!

After passing through lots of beautiful and thriving northern France villages, I arrived at Dieppe in good spirits, expecting to be on the ferry to the UK and up to my sisters place by 9pm. Not chance, the ferry was fully booked. So Calais was the next option. I got lost a couple of times trying to sort out the route and eventually running out of fuel at Berck, I refilled the bike and jumped on the Peage again. Once in Calais at 19.00, I was directed to the new Irish Ferries terminal for the ferry at 19.55. I stood around in the freezing night air until 22.15 when it finally showed up. The staff pushed me onto the ferry almost straight away so I could get warm. I headed into the cafe for food, chose hot soup, a bowl of chips and another cup of hot chocolate, The bill was £18.50!! A bit shocked, I ate the food and crashed on the floor to get my head down for an hour. 

Once in the UK, the real fun started. Some bright spark had decided it was the night to close every major northbound road from Dover to North London. I ended up doing loops around Canterbury, Whitstable, Faversham & Rochester before finally getting onto the M25. That had Jcts 2 & 3 closed, so another loop out and back onto it. Then the M11 was closed, but you were allowed to go onto that bit, but sent back south to London. So a jolly around the North Circular took me to the M1, Err closed, another loop back to the M11. Don't think so.
Pissed off by now, I took a cross country route heading NW on any road until eventually, I got back on the M1 near Luton. Totally freezing and needing a pee + fuel., I stopped at the services at Newport Pagnell, you're not allowed to go inside, use the toilet or buy a hot drink, but you can buy fuel. Great service Welcome Break!!!
I finally got to my sisters at 3am. Parked my bike and crawled under a blanket trying to get warm!!!

Welcome back to Blighty, that 1st world land of welcome and hospitality!!! If I ever find out who planned all of those roadworks, I think I will personally take them to a dark corner and kick several bells of shite out of their genitals until they start to suffer a small amount of the pain my hands went through last night!

Now I just need to get back to Cumbria and get the over priced heating and electricity turned back on so I can go back to feeling warm again one day. 

In the next few days, I'll do an update re the trip overview and things I've thought over the time of that riding and experience. Some very good highs and some very low lows is the summary at the moment.

Days 33: Alcaniz to Figueres

The morning started off as normal, not so cold with some cloud cover and even a spatter of rain. The route twisted and turned through lots of olive and vine fields as it has done for days now. I kept one wary eye on the heavy black clouds, but the route seemed to skirt the edge of it all for the morning. 

Cold air seemed top be the order of the day once out from under the cloud, with a brisk cross wind that chilled me to the bone through every layer. I couldn't find anywhere to get breakfast and more importantly, coffee, so I just kept riding trying to keep warm. I stopped at a village supermarket for some bread and fruit. The women in there never shut up the entire time I was there. It was all warm and friendly and good to see.

I finished he next GPX file and made a start on the next one. This was random, it followed a pebble riverbed for ages, before climbing back onto solid ground again. You'd never know it was there as it was hidden in a load of 8ft canes all the way.

A concern was growing in my head as I was riding in this cold. The route was supposed to cross the Pyrenees, either by Andorra or by a Pass west of there. Either way, it wouldn't be possible at the moment, both with snow and ice. So my brain started to work on alternatives. In the end I chose to head towards Barcelona, then upto the French border. The coastal route seemed to offer the best chance of avoiding the black mounting clouds and any ice issues. I jumped on tarmac around 2pm and by 6pm was in Figuares booking into a hotel. I couldn't stand another night on freezing ground, so opted for a bed. Tomorrow, I'll cross into France and look for a Decathlon or even just head north and back to Blighty. The weather this far north is as cold and damp as Britain and there is no pleasure in being freezing cold all day long. The French TET will be there for next time. One concern is my rear tyre. I may need another to do the 800km to the French north coast! Cross that bridge when i get to it. Meanwhile. the bar is calling!

Day 32: Deer, High Ridges and Deep Valleys

Tonight's camp is in a hollow between terraced olive fields. There is a smell of wild herbs all around and the sunset, although hidden by a ridge behind me, still turned the sky into a glow fest. Anyway, back to this morning. It was surprisingly warm first thing this morning. I packed away everything as normal and the sun crested the trees and warmed the little glade I had stopped in. 

Once I set off, I realised I had made a numpty error and should have laid my gloves in the sun, warming them up took all the heat out of my fingers and turned them numb again. I stopped in a little suntrap and laid them out for 10 minutes and it made a world of difference for the morning. 

The riding today was a good mix again, fields and fast flat pistes, into quarry areas, then a section over some hard technical purple coloured rock, moving into a single track section through low scrub. There was a tarmac road somewhere to my right, but you would never know if you didn't have the map to tell you. 

After this, it wound back onto fast stuff again for a bit. I took a break from the TET to go into Teruel, to try to buy a sleeping mat, the puncture repair hadn't worked again and I was getting really pissed with this mat now. I took the N330 which I'd ridden before with Geoff. A fab road of some great bends, spattered with the odd village to change the pace a bit.

Everywhere was shut, I forgot, its a Sunday. Its lovely that Spain continues this tradition, but inconvenient for me at the same time. Another night on that stupid bloody useless mat. 

I rejoined the TET north of Terual in a canyon of limestone. The area is famous for dinosaur footprints apparently, I missed them in my detour! After picking up fuel in Aliaga, the trail dropped alongside a river, past a farm full of some lovely  Charolais cattle. The ascent out of that river valley proved to be a challenging one. A steep loose, water washed series of hairpins that climbed right to the top of the hills and crags. My arms were pumped by the time I'd done it! It clearly only get used by TET riders these days. 

Once on the top though, the views were excellent. Limestone tops everywhere and hidden valleys, visible from above where vine fields were cultivated. The trail wound through the hills tops, passing a wooden bird hide, where I nearly bivvied for the night, before descending back into the land of villages and people. 

Once down, it meandered between narrow streets through several villages, following a water channel that eventually took me past a small reservoir. Then back out into the old olive tree hillsides to the camp spot. 

Another superb  and varied day of riding through some truly lovely and rarely visited countryside. At one point to day, 3 deer were spooked as I came past, but they then proceeded to race across in front of me, then turn and cross again, before running alongside me for about 1km. Their final sprint across the front of me had me on the brakes, the first deer clearing the track in a single jump, the second an almost and the third, with a high kick as she knew I was closer to her than the rest. Fantastic to see. They disappeared down into a gully. Good job I wasn't a hunter, venison for dinner in a few days!!

Day 31: Coldest Day Yet & another 690 Rider

Well that was a rare day. It was absolutely freezing this morning. About the coldest I've seen on this trip so far. By the time I'd packed up my tent and kit, my hands and feet were totally numb again. I set off riding with winter gloves and heated grips, all of which did nothing to return any heat. 

I decided to head to the nearest town. Jumilla. The TET did a loop and went there anyway, so I chose the tarmac for speed, thinking to find somewhere to get in and get warm. I found a service station with a cafe. So two cups of coffee and some fresh hot Tortilla in my belly and I had regained my hands, but my feet were still cold. 

Once back on the bike, I got straight into loads of fast open piste type stuff. Dead easy riding and navigation, but enough movement and concentration to get my body temperature up. After this, it was into some rough trails on sharp limestone winding up into another forest section. Great views back across where I'd come from. 

I finished the particular section of the TET and had to stop to sort out the next one, some 350 km long and heading into Valencia region. In one of the forests, I found a source, so stopped to pick up water, then saw a pool of stored water and decided to find the bloody leak in the Thermarest. So out it came again along with glue and tape. We'll see what happens tonight now! 

At Villatoya I had about 30 miles of fuel left and the fuel garage was closed, all the windows were broken and the place looked properly abandoned. The nearest fuel was at Casas Ibanez. So that was my destination. Once there, I sorted fuel and another KTM 690 turned up at the garage. A french guy called Olivier was staying in his camper van nearby and was looking to go for a ride. 

We ended up riding around the forest for a couple of hours, then heading back to Villatoya, where we swapped details and I set off back on the TET. He was a bloody good rider, quick and efficient. But then he should be, He was a dirt bike instructor who worked all over France and had done several rallies across Africa! 

Once back on the TEt, I had about 1.5 hours before it was dark, so in El Hoyo, I bought some supplies, including some local wine and set off looking for a camp spot. I found one secluded in a among a load of vines as the sun was setting. Wine time!!

Day 30: Gorafe, Riding Heaven...

I woke to another lovely sunrise in the cold air. The snow on Mulhacen started to catch the light as I packed up my kit and got ready to leave. 

As usual, my hands were numb by the time I connected the last buckle, so when I set off, I was clumsy and a bit disjointed. Heated grips for 30 mins soon sorted that. 

The trail wound through loads of farmland first thing, before climbing up into the trees and some zig zags. Another flat section saw me enter a village and surprisingly steep and loose descent into a valley bottom, with the same as a climb out. That woke me up! After the day just got better. 

It remained cold until about 2pm, but the riding kept me warm. I entered the Spaghetti Western lands, Gorafe. The route through took me along the tops of the mud mounds before dropping into the dry river bed in the bottom of the canyons, then climbing back out onto other ridge tops. 

The views were magic, evocative and inspired just as much awe as the last time I came here years ago. Once out of the main canyon sections, the trail goes past loads of farms, undulating and eventually climbing up to a rim. I stopped there for breakfast, sat in the sunshine, leaning against a tree and just staring at the vista of mountains, mud canyons and glowing white trees laid out below me. 

Another section of flat farmland, then a climb on some rough rocky trails through some heavy woodland and I reached a mid sized town with fuel. This was a lunch break too! After this, more single track through woodland before climbing into a range of hills where I saw plenty of the Spanish wild sheep. They look like miniature deer. I've seen a few small herds now since crossing the Sierra Nevada. By 6pm, I was tired and getting a little raggy riding. I found a small picnic site next to a dried up river, so set up the tent there with about 30 minutes of light left. I'm not looking forward to another night with a flat Thermarest, so glad there are a lot of pine needles around for this one. I found one of the holes and have glued it up, but there are clearly more. 

I'm going through Jumilla tomorrow and if there is a Decathlon, I'm buying another one as this lack of sleep is starting to affect my judgement and my enjoyment of the riding. Lets see if I can sort this problem out next! On a plus side, the correct oil in the bike engine has made a difference. The bike is running much better, although I may need a new clutch by the time I get back after all this 1st and 2nd gear riding!

Day 29: Sierra Nevada,

Breakfast was a leisurely 9am this morning at the hotel. bacon, eggs and coffee. Over breakfast, I told Peter my concerns about my bike and it burning oil. So, we sorted out a local garage in Almuncar and headed there. Peter opted to come with me before he set off for Cartegena. 

We rocked upto Valerianos garage some 25 minutes later. A bout of Google translation and it was established they could look at the bike, but it would take all day. I asked if I could change the oil, they said no. Then the owner turned up, 1.5 hours later, my bike had been diagnosed as OK but needing an oil change to the correct oil, the chain lubed and before any of that, a jet wash!! 

Peter and I adjourned to a cafe to wait and shoot the breeze. Then once the bike was sorted by about 1pm, we split up. Peter headed of to his mates place in Cartegena and I went looking for the TET again.

I retraced my steps back to where we left it yesterday, from there it had a couple of short really steep descents, then a load of tarmac along a reservoir, before climbing up towards the Sierra Nevada and a village, Trevalez. I'd been warned to watch for ice and snow there as its so high. The roads were clear though and most of the tracks were too. 

Just past Trevelez, one section of road was clearly a local bikers haunt as the bends, tarmac and views were beautiful. There were quite a few intrepid bikers around, venturing out in the really cold air. At the top of a pass, the trail took a steep turn upwards and continued to climb, but now on dirt roads.

Leaving the valleys behind, the peaks behind Trevelez open up into steep sided valleys with wide plateaus perched on some of the ridges. These plateaus were home to beef cattle farms, their water supply all frozen up, but the cows still wandering around. 

The trail here was wide and easy to follow. I met an old guy riding along gently on his horse, with his two inquisitive dogs. We passed the usual 'Ola' to each other and carried on our separate ways. That area is perfect for mountain horses as a form of travel. For me, I was conscious of the cold and wanted to get back down to valley bottom, so kept on at a good pace all afternoon, even through such an epically grand mountain area. At one point, I passed under a viewpoint. That same viewpoint is a bothy that has circular windows. Two of us used it to bivvy in look out over the Sierra Nevada on my very first motorbike trip around Spain. 

By 5pm, I was down and riding up a dry riverbed that was used as the local road, this edged fields of various trees. The trail wound past old quarry buildings, all dilapidated in the sun. A business replaced by wind turbines and solar panel parks. 

It was now 6.30 and I started to look for somewhere to camp. I settled on hiding behind an old and broad cork tree on the edge of a field, tucking the bike into the branches and pitching the tent looking back to the sunset behind the Sierra Nevada. Another varied day of travel and landscapes today.

Day 28: Southern Spanish TET Trail

Today started out with a concern about my bike. She was low on oil again and it was starting to affect the engine output. I bailed from the TET route to find a garage to add oil to the engine. I think all the first and second gear miles are taking heir toll and the piston rings maybe getting worn. That and using the wrong oil for about 2 weeks now!!

Anyway, I packed up camp and set off, finding a garage en route. They filled the engine up with 10/40 synthetic, which is all I could find two times now. After this, I had a moment with the phone nav app, ending up back where I camped last night. I retraced my steps and carried on, finding a cafe with hot coffee and buttered toast to set me up for the day. 

The route wasn't difficult at all in terms of riding, the nav was painful with the phone app, but doable. I meandered under huge limestone crags, dreaming of climbing again, then passed a huge groups of German walkers before getting into some issues with a land owner who had blocked off the route with huge boulders in a really awkward place to turn around. Cursing that person, I eventually got turned around, only to find a route meandering through someones olive orchard to get back to a passable road. 

I stopped at a village shop for some supplies and Patrick, a Ditch GS rider went past, then turned around and came for a chat. We ended up riding all day together, then drinking beer and wine in the lovely Hotel Salambina at Salabreno. I caught up on internet, had a shower and a shave and generally chilled out. It was lovely to ride with someone and have a bit of company after weeks of being alone.

Day 27: Spain Again...

I'd had a rubbish nights sleep again. My Thermarest had a slow puncture from the first week, but now it has decided to go down in about 20 minutes. So I ended up sleeping on hard cold ground for the night. This made me grumpy as and I debated long and hard about just going home at this point. 

This trip has had more kit failures that all of the last ten years worth and I'm getting peeved with it to be honest. Still, I set off and eventually sorted out the correct route, The phone was miles out and the lag in its processing is so painful to work with. All day today, I'd missed turnings and had to turn around, wasting fuel, energy, time and enthusiasm because of crap technology. 

Once on the route, the riding was mostly easy with great views though. I rode until around 3pm, not passing a village or fuel stop. At one point I came across a load of lads on UK registered dirt bikes doing a multi day tour to Portugal. I think they were with Trail Riding Rhayader from North Wales. Anyway, I followed them for a short bit but our paths split and I had to peel off to stick to the TET route.

From there, the route just wound its way through the mountains all day. There was one technical section. The route went into single track, this became a washed out descent onto steep loose old trail. This then crossed a river on some very sketchy slabs before a steep and technical climb out back onto normal piste type trail. That section with disappear soon though as the hillside is sliding into the river, taking the trail with it.

After this, loads more scenic and easy open trails until a fuel stop and food for me. The first of the day! I caught up on internet stuff, got some cash from the garage guy on my card and then headed out looking for a camp spot as it was 5pm ish. I ended the day on top of a lovely hill, bathed in the final sunlight of the day, then an alpen glow as the sun set. Once I'd caught up on diary days, that was me for the night. Think its coming up wine time and I need to sort this leak on the Thermarest!