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!
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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.
