A fortnight before embarking on a six weeks tour of Spain, the sensible option would probably have been to keep the motorcycle which is universally accepted as being the No.1 choice for adventure/touring riders across Europe, but sensible is maybe an attribute not usually associated with yours truly?
So with less than two weeks to go before my grand depart, I sold the trusty BMW and bought a bike more suited to posing than Euro touring, draw your own conclusions!
Tuesday I couldn’t resist a pre tour ride out, after all, the sun was breaking through in Carlisle north of the river, so I donned my open face Union Jack crash helmet and added my Triumph shades to complete the image. Three miles down the road the sun was nowhere to be seen, hidden by cloud, which made me say to myself “Ain’t no sunshine”. Now lyrics of songs were never my strong point, but the little I do know was enough to finish the line off. It doesn’t take the winner of Pop Master to work out the state I was in by the time I arrived at Rachel’s grave! In the words of Tom Jones ‘It’s not unusual’.
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/billwithers/aintnosunshine.html
For fear of turning this blog into some kind of ‘Guess the lyrics/guess the artist’ game, I shall desist from such a theme and move on to the adventure in hand.
Continue reading “Plain Sailing (Biscay)”It happens every time, as soon as I go abroad I wish I’d learnt a bit of the language. I can’t stop saying “Oui” instead of “Si” ,although I have snook into the darkest corner of what to most other people is commonly known as a brain, and dug out “Lo siento, no hablo espanyol” which, if nothing else, seems to break the ice.
I really had to at least do this after I attempted to order my evening meal last night at a small bar in a village not far from where I’m staying. It was privately owned with the daughter being ‘front of house’, however when I ordered what I understood to be cold meats, mother emerged from the back, put a forefinger either side of her head and started mooing. Not like in the words of Alf Garnet “You silly old moo”, she was only trying her best to help me understand, but if I don’t want the rest of this trip to turn out as the World’s longest game of charades, I need to do at least a little bit!
Continue reading “More Riding than Writing”I gaze out of my bedroom window to see drizzle and think of the phrase ‘The sun shines on the righteous’, or is it the SON shines on the righteous? Well whatever/whoever is supposed to shine, the SUN wasn’t shining on me this morning, nor by the forecast would it for the next few days, as I am in the only place in Spain with one rain drop, and I’m not even on the plain! So much for all these so called sayings.
But I feel grateful to be here, and take my time loading up the bike thinking that the weather will improve in an hour or so, and I was right, the drizzle had subsided sufficiently to allow me to sit in the saddle without wiping it with the knee of my jeans, a practice commonplace amongst us northern European bikers.
Continue reading “A Glorious Day”I look longingly at those in the restaurant sitting at the tables around me, all seem to have chosen either a medium rare steak, or some other instantly recognisable meat to accompany their chips, whilst I stare down into my bowl of chorizo. Now I like chorizo, hence why I chose this from the tapas board, however I expected a little variety other than some bread to mop up the inevitable greasy soup it floated in. To my credit I managed to consume the entire helping, albeit by pacing myself, but I fear the consequences of such an ingestion.
My glimmer of hope is how my body coped with last night’s meal. A couple of days ago I met two young Spanish bikers up at the monastery at Covadonga, the Rocket seems to instigate conversation, to which I always have to reply in Spanish “I’m sorry but I can’t speak Spanish”. They usually then start talking to me in English, as these guys did, and after chatting about bikes we got onto the subject of local food delicacies. They recommended Fabada, an Asturian (not Austrian) bean stew. I searched all the restaurants in Potes but without luck, but to my surprise it was on the menu at this hotel/bar, so that what I had. Beans…..mmmmm, I was thinking that it’s probably a good job that I’m only sharing my room with mosquitos, but even they daren’t enter! To be fair my insides coped remarkably well with that assault, fingers crossed this time!
Today’s ride was going to be a leisurely 60 miler but ended up being twice that and not so leisurely at times, I gave myself a slap for being too enthusiastic at times, not dangerous (in my humble opinion) just a bit too enthusiastic. This next bit is for my biker followers so if you dare read it you may immediately conjure up the image of me next to that village sign ‘Bore’ (which was actually ‘Bores’), you’ve been warned!
Continue reading “I Hope I Don’t Repeat Myself!”A great ride out exploring a little of green Spain, but not such a great day back at base camp with a few technical issues! Here are some stills to keep you going until I eventually sort out video, which may be a day or so. Also I may get around to doing some ramblings at some point……..
I haven’t been able to speed it up yet but eventually I will.
I don’t know the reason for this, maybe because having walked into the bar at 8.15pm I said to the barman “Lo normal por favor” (“The usual please”), or was it because, when in the restaurant, I ordered for the first time a second vino tinto? Well whatever the reason, after dinner, the owner brought a small unlabelled bottle of clear liquid to accompany my cafe Americane, and gesticulated for me to top up my coffee with it. Having sniffed it and detected a hint of alcohol content, I duly obliged, coz that’s the kind of guy I am. How much to put in I had no guidance, but I felt it needed a double dose, if not to dilute the strength of the coffee at least! Afterwards as I meandered into the bar, the young barmaid gave me another half glass, which I duly obliged to sip. I left the glass on the bar whilst I walked back through to the restaurant to ask the waiter “Quesque se, what is it, que”? To which he replied “From the grape, 40%”. I returned to my half glass to find it full, the owner had topped it up! By 10.30pm I resembled some typical old drunk propping up the bar, but like the young barmaid said “It’ll help you sleep”.
Talking about bedrooms brings me to another subject, that of the time lapse film. My bedroom is on the lower ground floor, some may say basement, but it has and air of chic about it, especially after a few glasses of 40%. The time lapse was taken from a bedroom on the second floor, draw your own conclusions……. 🤔 I set it filming at 6am and ran it for three hours. Oh, you want to know what I’m doing in somebody else’s bedroom at 6am? Well no doubt you would, but the boring truth of the matter is that it was an empty room, for the only time I was allowed access. Yes, life can be quite mundane can’t it, and nothing like your mind was envisaging?!
I’d asked for the room specifically for that purpose as it gives a great view of the mountain, but the room was taken for the duration of my stay, however I got a WhatsApp from the owner last night to say somebody had cancelled so he let me use the room for that purpose. Yes I really am like my road sign!
Now for the biking day so look away now if it’s not your thing.
Continue reading “It’s clear to me”