Author A blog of my travels to France / Pyrenees (Read 2664 times)

hartsideman · **on:** Jun 23, 2011, 11.04 am

this is a blog i have been writing on another site so you probably will not know the characters. however its a picture blog of south eastern end of the pyrenees and has some great pictures included.

ohh and plenty of pictures of the tiger LOL

DAY 0 Travelling down to Mick's

well what can i say i finished work at 12 midday on thursday, got all the packing done, panniers topbox and tankbag, and had everything strapped on the bike awaiting my son returning from school ( he had an exam that day)
anyhow adam arrives at 3:55 pm and starts with , what have you packed i don't want this, that, the other.

so after much reshuffling and re stuffing of panniers off we set for the near 200 mile to Micks house. left carlisle and headed for the M6, not more than 1 mile from home and it's time to stop and put on the waterproofs

and for the next 120 miles it pisses down with considderable force , reaching monsoon proportions near york ( that heavy i had to open visor and slow to 10 mph on the MOTORWAY ( just to see) ) anyway managed to get off the motorway into a services.

in the services (sheltering as we were from the monsoon) was a couple with a modern scooter (vespa) each , heading for a rally up at kelso in scotchland, we conversed and i made them both really happy with the monsoon they were heading into all the way for the next 120 miles at least.

I think i upset them when i said "it must be hairy on a scooter on the motorway , like struggling to get to 70" reply was you cheeky sod these are 300 cc fuel injected and can cruise fully loaded all day at 90

anyway after a coffee and a big sausage roll , we continue to Mick's . weahter is more kind to us and we do the remaining 80 miles in showers on and off, to be greeted at Micks house by Chris and Anne ( mick was out getting our superb chinese meal) anyway a bit of chinwag and a look at the carlsberg garage contents we went to bed with the intention of an early getaway on the friday morn.

Day One Travelling to France

Up with the Larks 5:30 ish , load bikes onto the trailer, hitch it up and away's we go, heading south for a 10 oclock chunnel, I am sitting in the car as we near stanstead airport when my son Adam asks " why do you have your keys around your neck" , this prompts a very sheepish look from the Driver Mick, who then reveals " sh*t ive left the bike keys at home"

, so begins a mad dash back for said keys.

Mick rings the chunnel to explain and the nice lady reschedules us for 12:00 Mich then swings the car Northwards stopping at cambridge services to drop me ann chris and adam + a Trailer with 2 bikes sat on it.

Then heads off supersonic to get the keys from home, 2 hours and 200 miles later Mick reappears with the keys , then we hitch up and set off again

ring the Chunnel again as we aint gonna make 12:00 they re schedule us for 2 and Mick makes real good time so onto the train we go.

Doing 140mph with the engines off

Scary bikes travelling WAY TOO CLOSE

the boys Relaxed

anyway after a 90 min jam around the periferique at paris we made it to our overnight stop at the campanile in clemont ferand about 11pm, and then straight out for a meal in the bistro / brewery next door.
another good nights kip and looking forward to day 2

Day 2 Clermont Ferand to Tautavel

Day 2 is a bit more leasurely rise at 8:00 ish and a nice hearty Breakfast, we leave Clermond Ferand for Tautavel.

1st Stop of the day, is at the Eifel Viaduct ( seems like the great man built more than just a tower in Paris)

Chris and Adam zooming in to see if there are any french girls sunbathing anywhere :lol:

then back on the road towards Millau

Millau is a spectacular sight I will let the pictures speak for themselves

A Few More

After Millau we head for tautavel and unhitch and unpack everything , then its off out to the Snack Show for a Meal and a Drink , and then the Cafe de la Place for a few beverages

hartsideman · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 23, 2011, 11.12 am

Day 3 First Rideout

up nice and early and on the bikes we start off from Temp Home , and ride up to the walled town, of villefranche de conflent

where of course we found a Cafe

then up the infamous Tet Valley and a climb up high to Font Romeo before a lovely run back down the valley.

not many pictures taken really as we have taken them in the past on previous visit, this was the first ride in the sun and we gave it some in the nice twisty roads

heres the route (one with arrows)

and heres the elevation profile

Day 4 Monday Slightly Wet LOL

local roads around Tautavel

Profile

as it was damp the camera never came out, we still enjoyed ourselves, and it hones ones skills driving in the wet.

after the biking we decided to take the chimps out for a meal, to Buffalo Grill

Mick conjoured up a great name for these Two

dumb and dumber

and more sensible shots Mick and Anne

Me giving my boy the Evil Eye

Sorry about the lack of pictures , but it does get better as the days progress.

Day 5 Tuesday's Run Coastal and 2 Countries.

Here's the route

And here's the profile

Started off a little grey today :huh: , so after looking at the cloud base and direction we decided to....... head for the coast :lol: in the hope we would get some sunshine :cool:

so as it was wet i decided to put the Tiger in the river and take some atmospheric shots

then we headed East young men and all

somewhere around about collioure in france. the boys were taking the piss out of Mick :-)

a nice view and a nice house with Location location location !!

so off we went in our usual laid back style on some VERY nice twisty coastal roads

until we find a CAFE LOL

you can't beat drinking Cafe , and watching the world go by (not to mention nice young ladies)

onward we go to another pitstop ( it's all this coffee plays havoc with the bladder) but this is a stop with a view

then we looked back from whence we came , and Capcir was enshrouded in cloud

we had made the correct directional choice

the old border post for france to spain is here (not manned nowadays)

Chris Directing Traffic

Lunch for the human waste disposal machines

lunch with a view though in port bao

the policia wanted a look at the new tiger :-)

or maybe they were looking for the bandito's

anyway after a nice lunch it's off again to endure the twisty windy roads :-) we head across the spanish side of the pyrenees along the n260 and parts of the c26 heading for our goal the col de aires

halfway up i decide its time to video from the rear of the bike so i set up my camera (video's will follow at the end of the BLOG post)

then we hit the top and heres some of the views

then we end up in "Pratts de mollo" aptly named for these 2 boys

watching the Boules intensely

another day over time for bed zzzZZZZ more to follow laters.

hartsideman · **Reply #2 on:** Jun 23, 2011, 11.15 am

Day 6 Wed Run (was just me and Adam ) Mick was having a family day with Anne and Chris :good:

Starts with a cool but dry day and after rousing Adam from his slumber off we go.

first port of call the Tet Valley run :yahoo: even pillions have huge grins from this road

this is a layby a fair way up some great shots and views to be had not least the road itself.

and back to the roads

so onward and upward to font romeo for a coffee and to get some sarnies and cakes for lunch (picnic was had)

after font romeo we travelled down to the Four Solaire , europe's largest solar furnace and impressive it is ( just glad i don't have to clean all the mirrors)

sited here because it has 300 days of sun per year ( we musta fell in some of the 65 days when it rains :rotflmmfao: )

after all the mirrors we are heading for one of the smallest countries there is , and you have to go over 2 great passes to get there

heres the first one the col de puymourons 1900 metres (more and more grins)

Then your climbing the Pass de casa over 2500 metres and you feel like your on top of the world ( at this point we are out of france and into Andorra)

at the top it was a mere +1 degree C freaking cold we even had snow blowing accross the road in front of us (i have some video somewhere)

anyway as we drop down it warms up to a barmy 13 dec c :o

lunch in a nice place at the side of the road in andorra

adams fave pud the creme catalan

out the bottom of andorra and into Spain onto the n260 which is a Cracking road (one of my faves)

The Route

the Profile ( the highest this trip )

more to follow yet ( Good night for now )

hartsideman · **Reply #3 on:** Jul 23, 2011, 10.04 pm

Day 7 The Gorges and Ski resorts

the route

the profile

first gorge

Mick took us round some lovely gorges castles chateu's weather wasn't too kind early on but improved a bit later

after a nice picnic lunch in a great little picnic area under some trees , we headed off to the gorges of galapagos ( deep and impressive)

some nice views of the locals heading for the canyon

and some sh*t bikes parked nearby

hartsideman · **Reply #4 on:** Jul 23, 2011, 10.05 pm

then we had a great run up into ski country (you can see by the hail and snow it was cold on top)

i loved the views ( or misty views) of a hot spa town called ax le thermes