Rusty's Trip to The Picos ....

[Rusty]

Morning everyone  So here we go. Haven't been too active here since I went to the dark side but I am still here lurking in the background and like any decent chap would like to share my "adventures" with all of the Forum.
Every year at work we try to get away for a week, last year North Wales ( a mix of Biblical rain and blue skies ... it was the same this year ! ) .... Northern Spain and The Picos.
My mate Bruce Smart ( and I make no apologies for brazenly advertising his name and social media sites ) organised everything .. Ferries Hotels Routes etc and a very good job he did too. All we had to do was pay and turn up. 3 years ago he took a career break and went around the world on a GSXR 1000 .... well documented on FB and You Tube under either Bruce Smart or @TeaPotOne .. please take a look if you have some spare time and or like adventures ! 

Sunday 21st May I meet up with everyone (10 in total ) at Portsmouth Ferry Docks ... they have come down from Central London after a set of "Days" ( we are all  )
24 hr crossing to Bilboa with a stop in Roscoff enroute. Eat drink catch up laugh sleep and repeat for the journey. The weather forecast was super hot and the route was along the north coast and inland staying at Öjedo Gijon Navia Leonand Santander.

Some of the scenery .. as you can see it was HOT. A mix of bikes .. Ducati BM's Yamaha R1 KTM Triumph Exploders .. they were all there.


And the back end of a few bikes too !



The first day was only about 100 miles .. plenty of time for coffee and lunch. Bruce has, as part of his armoury of kit for social media a new toy .. A Drone .. a Mavic Pro ... GPS,camera, screen .. about £1000 worth of kit and I know nothing of them but the footage and capability of this was amazing.... no kids toy. His bike was also kitted out with plenty of Go Pro front and back. I know he is very busy but when he sends the video out I shall try and get it on here or at least put out a linky thing for you. Astonishing quality. Into a 3/4 star hotel for the night .. shower drink and walk across the road for some local Spanish scoff !



And some refreshment .... obviously 



Breakfast included ( how do they do it ? ) ... Ham eggs continental coffee orange ... everything is so fresh yum yum 
Into Gijon for the next day .. a coastal town with a fairly big seafront and plenty of places to relax. The roads to and from these places were all through the mountains ... carefully planned out. A mix of some quick "A" class with just enough bends to keep you interested and twisty turn mountain technical roads that when you get it right are an absolute dream to ride. Its a fairly quick group and we mix the leader up every hour or so and then we get a different pace set... no one gets left behind ( not really )

A few more piccies thrown in ... think I,m chatting too much !









Good Lord it was HOT .....



It was 135 miles to Dijon and the next day to Navia was 170 ... very twisty day today so we were all pleased to go for steak and chippins and salad and beer all for 12 Euros  More Drone footage along the way ... and then it started to get a bit cloudy .. but not cooling down until we got into the mountain proper ... then rain wind more rain and then hailstones .. it was like a UK winter storm ... I shall with out doubt get the video footage ... shocking ! ..as we came down the hailstones turned to rain as it warmed up the wind dropped and an hour later our soaking kit is drying nicely in the warm Spanish sun !!! You simply wouldn't believe it ! Some cloudy photos but still the scenery is lovely.





And NO this is not Mr Wolfs K1600 ! I can assure you for a "big tourer" it bloody well shifts especially with Micky at the helm.

Then onto Leon and that was the second day of nearly 200 miles ... not big milage but in hot weather and most of it pretty technical we were all pleased for a good hotel at the end of the day .. underground secure parking and bike friendly staff .. in all the paces we stayed I have to add.


Lovely town squares and scenic coffee stops called all day long ... with the Hotel dog keeping guard ! Any ideas what he is ?






And so it was off again to our final stop in Santander .... mountain morning with a couple of hours A class roads to get on with the milage ... more days are ALWAYS required on a trip like this !
A couple of more piccies for you ....









And finally ...

So there you have it ... I have mastered the technique of posting pictures on the forum ... for a while anyway. 
Pretty sure we are going back next year .. it seems a good way to go ... ferry .. catch up chat eat drink sleep and rest .. ride .... then repeat without having to spend a day or two riding to where you actually want to get to. Hope you enjoyed sharing my little trip .. been home for a few days now and i haven't yet washed the bike 

[O.C.]

   

Excellent pictures ...well done

[PRD]

Looks great.

[zedmeister]

Very nice indeed, we are off to the TT sunday Can't wait.

[shaggs147]

Great write up and pics

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Lonewolf]

Many thanks for posting them, you've amazed me that you did it without breaking Photobucket!
Looks like you had a terrific trip. 

[nightrider]

Looks great , love the pic of the black r1 rider , I bet he's thinking come on come on let's race ,,, 

[GTRpilot]

Those pics bring back some great memories of our last tour 😊