128 replies to this topic

[Studley Ramrod]

Sheffield Shish Kebab !

[Hartside Man]

Some videos of day 2 and day 3 in the picos de europa

the low cam was playing up a lot so the clips are a bit sporadic, the camera then refused to work at all on day 4 and refused for the rest of the trip, however i had a backup camera called the Sneck cam of which you will see some footage later.

anyway here are a few vid clips of various bits of the picos, some with a fly on the lens and some with rain on the lens





More to come S L O W to upload

Edited by Hartside Man, 07 June 2010 - 04:49 pm.

[Hartside Man]

Day Four

this day begins with a hearty breakfast, as we are about to cover some 420 miles to the middle of the pyrenees.



Todays Route



the route was to change later in the day though

this route sees us blasting some sections in northern spain round past bilbao until we start on the decent roads across past pampalona, some of which are now being upgraded to dual cariagway or just straight A roads (thats a pity really as the older roads were twistier)

anyway we stopped for a bite to eat near Yesa, then the trip started to get interesting ,n o more boring roads just sublime tarmac and fantastic scenery



first peek of the real mountains



we are still on the spanish side passing lakes



and ruins



and strange cities on hills




Then after the spanish side we climb up this pass, the A136 out of spain to the D934 in france (looking back towards Spain from the top) portalet d' aneu



more coffee at the top




then we decend down into one of the most picturesque valleys and get some awesome views





Pretty much awe inspiring (Ehh Stuart )



had everone on their knees taking pictures



Anyway moving on now we are heading on some sublime roads towards our hotel for the night in pierefitte nestales and we have to use some passes to get there (shortest route) we are having a great time and start the climb from eaux bonnes to col de aubisque (part of the tour de france route) now as we climb we start to hit some mist and reaching the summit we see these.



of course this means .........





and we find the pass closed from this point :smt017



what do we do ??

amend the sign thats what



now we have to endure the road back down (BIG GRIN , Tis a really hard life touring) we then work out an alternate route to our hotel via some more scenery



and we arrive here rather late in the day



as we head for some food its getting cloudier



belgian beer in France



french bier with the food (homemade pizzas that were gorgeous) then deserts again






then off to bed again for ZZZZZZ

Edited by Hartside Man, 07 June 2010 - 07:51 pm.

[Hartside Man]

Day 4 Video's

out of spain up to portalet d' aneu



more later SLOW uploading

Edited by Hartside Man, 07 June 2010 - 08:15 pm.

[Onanist]

Fantastic report, thank you very much.

As for the pushbike sculptures.... you just would wouldn't you

[catsbum]

I may have missed something but if that Ninja has only that topbox and teeny tankbag for luggage then he is a GOD in my world.

Great pics

I wanna do this trip

Edited by CatsBum, 07 June 2010 - 08:27 pm.

[Hartside Man]

I may have missed something but if that Ninja has only that topbox and teeny tankbag for luggage then he is a GOD in my world.

Great pics

I wanna do this trip

indeed he was travelling light , 2 phones a wallet an mp3, one pair of loafers and a pair of waterproofs + his T shirts and pants ETC all squeezed in the topbox. (mind you it was a sit on jobbie to close it) LOL

[sidestand]

I may have missed something but if that Ninja has only that topbox and teeny tankbag for luggage then he is a GOD in my world.

Great pics

I wanna do this trip

Not even half way through yet, Cats - but got to do it all over again next year to fetch the Niner back - so maybe nearer the time, eh

[Hartside Man]

Day Four Video's

into france down the portalet D' Aneu



part of the route to the hotel

Edited by Hartside Man, 07 June 2010 - 10:05 pm.

[Hartside Man]

Day 5

the trip to Tautavel another massive milage run approx 380 (on these roads thats a lot in one day)

Begins with a look at the maps as with half of the col du tourmalet closed we have to re route to get to la Mongie for the cablecar up the Pic Du Midi (more on this later)

this is the route we chose and boy did it turn out to be something special.



first up was a detour round to La Mongie and the climb up one of the highest passes (1/2 closed by half a metre of snow)



Arrive at the Pic Du Midi



its getting a tad misty



so i wander into the tourist information to have a look on the TV of pictures at the top (ie is it worth the 20 odd euro's ) after a little broken english / french with the young lady i find out it is indeed closed today as the workers are on strike about trying to increase their retirement age from 55 to 60,

Now i don't mind admitting at this point i was totally gutted (this was to be one of the highlights of my tour, but ces't la vie now i have a reason to return (as if i really needed one).



whilst there we noticed some really strict health and safety practices :-)



dont look to bad until you zoom out



So slightly deflated we went back down the tourmalet to a mid point for a coffee



here we perused over the maps again and finalised a route (wow did it turn out great) so the col du tourmalet was first in a sequence of four col's on the trot.

next up my favourite the col du aspin the road up and the road down were fantastic and stunning if you find it on a map and zoom in you will see this.



and its a peachy surface and zero traffic up and down, heres some views from the top.




and part of the road down





next up was the col du mente where Stuart, mick, me and gordon did just that went mental. this culminated in rather hot and bothered no stopping power back brake's. (don't forget this is our third pass in quick succession and we were not hanging about)




so it was decided to take a break with a local artisan at the bottom of the mente




turns out the guy in yellow was a retired gendarme bike cop , so the fluent french speakers had a good old chat about politics and the state of france, while i just sat there.

on we travelled over another col (cannot remember its name but we took it a bit more sensibly, like about 2mph slower lol) then we were in need of food



spotted this modified fireblade single swinger and homemade underseat exhaust



it was a pretty place by the river



anyway on we travel covering lots and lots of miles on more and more fantastic roads.

another pitstop for a view down to quillan (you will guess how the road twists and turns down to there)





not many miles to go from there to tautavel (mick's place) where we spend the next 5 days ( A really BIG THANK YOU TO Mick at this point )



then we had a lovely meal in tautavel watching the local wildlife doing the same



and of course there was CAKE



off to bed again for more ZZZZ's Day's 6 to 10 to come yet

[Hartside Man]

Another 2 video's from day 4

[catsbum]

Stunning!!

Loving the videos, take a pic and post it of the helmet cam setup, I wanna see how your doing this.

[masterbrewer]

Fabulous RR & photos, thanks for posting

With all that cake, it's a wonder you guys aren't the size of a mountain by now.

[Spongey]

Don't like the helmet cam! Every time you peer over the edge I think you are following with the bike. Makes me feel quite sick. Better stay away from Alton Towers I suppose!

[TonyDevil]

the guy riding the ZXR was lucky at 1:58 in the first vid, if that car driver hadnt have been switched on he'd have been going home in an ambulance....

[Hartside Man]

Day 6

Day begins looking a bit dark and gloomy, but what the hell we are not fair weather bikers !

Mick our Tour guide has us all primed up for a run round some great roads this one i have managed to delete off my sat nav log so no route picture today, suffice to say it was around 250 miles on tight twisty roads.

Start is quite local at a recently built dam / lake visit






some random shots of countryside




then we attack a pass that Mick assures us is Great And guess what (HE IS NOT WRONG) unfortunately there are no pictures of the way up or the top as it was rather wet and VERY misty for the last half mile or so, that misty in bits for visor up and 15 -20 mph, but soon we were out of the clouds (5000 feet) and back into damp but clear.

so we stop in the hope of a bite to eat here



the locals seemed to be dis - intrested as they were eating their own lunch, so we ended up having crisps and drinks only.

views wern't bad though




After this stop we head off down some more Crazy fantastic roads heading for the four solaire (europe's biggest test solar furnace)







and we arrive at the four solaire





this heats up these various boilers




Stuart Gordon and Mick giving their bikes some Love



onward we go via a nice lunch stop (no pics) and then we are treated to the Tet Valley run. Whoa boy, misty and damp but hell what a road.





as it dries out near the bottom we his a very smooth section of A road Dual and as we are pootling along at ahem 90 to 100 erm erm (km if you want) this guy appears on his ZZR1400 T shirt shorts and Bird on the back dressed the same , passes us at say 120 the two guys at the front Me and Mick both must be thinking the same (why waste the petrol) but not Stuart and Gordon ohh no.

I look in my mirrors and see the headlights lift and woosh here we go two missiles locked on target ZOOM.

so me and mick carry on our merry way and make our turn off (some 1 mile down the road) someone didn't though LOL.

then i am treated to a section of tarmac that should just be classed as SUBLIME not a massive length but some really challenging twists and turns with pure black tarmac cambered to suit your every need, THIS IS HEAVEN , NO TRAFFIC, NO POLICE , just perfect road



too busy riding it to take anymore pictures

anyway to come yet is an epic pass climb, 3 countries in 1 day , some very windy moments, some sun sea and seafood, so stay tuned for more tales.

[Hartside Man]

Loving the videos, take a pic and post it of the helmet cam setup, I wanna see how your doing this.

sorry Cat's i missed this post

the camera is an MD80 (search on ebay for them) cost from 10 to 16 quid depending on where you buy it, mine was from the uk some guy in brum i think. You will need a micro sd card of course, 4 gig minimum but probably an 8 gig would be better, the higher the class the less stutter.

the quality of the video is WAY better than is ending up on here as i am converting them to get em on photobucket and photobucket is then compressing them further. the sods also limit it to 10 mins some fo the clips have been cut short on what i made.

this aussie guy explains how to mount it in the helmet (mine is the same as his first method (although packing it to get the right angle is trial and error, you also need some stuff called 3m dual lock as velcro on such a small area is just too weak to hold it firm enough. (you can get the dual lock on ebay as well 4 x 50mm strips for 3 quid)

link to youtube vid here

[Hartside Man]

The Racetrack video

[Onanist]

Fantastic RR