I certainly found the sun!

Having vague ideas of visiting Valencia in the next few days, I plotted a course from Cardona to Teruel as an intermediate place to stop over, a large part of which was in the hills/mountains that parallel the coast about 30 km inland, between Barcelona and Castellón. This was a great route, with beautiful roads but extremely twisty and after four hours of virtually non-stop and frequently boot-scraping riding, I was knackered. The temperature was around 28 degrees and I had almost finished my water. I decided to set the Garmin to route me directly to Teruel and leave the mountain roads for another day. The faster route was only shown as a few minutes faster but I reasoned, that although it was in fact a a longer route, it would be on fast roads where I could use the breeze to cool down and besides, I needed fuel and water.

After about 45 minutes following the new route I found myself confronted with the peaje of an autovía. OK.. but after a few miles, I saw that I would have to go through Valencia to get to another autovía and then head inland to Teruel - "blow that" I thought, "I am going to Valencia anyway so I'll just go there today". So here I am in Valencia and I am going to spend two nights here, and tomorrow, I plan just to walk around town and see the sights. I shall also try and rescue a bit of video from my headcam which has been buggering about.

Meanwhile a few pics from today.

I  am now in Spain, staying in a castle on top of a hill in the town of Cardona in Catalunya.

I had  a great morning, leaving Ste Enimie at around 09:00,  I spent the next couple of hours on marvellous twisties around the Gorges du Tarn, heading towards Millau. I didn't feel like making a big detour just to go over the bridge, so took the motorway south towards Spain. As usual, I marvelled at the French highway engineers ability to create wonderful roads and at te many well appointed aires that ensure one is never without a place to eat, have a pee or just stretch ones legs.

I knew that the weather in the high Pyrenees was likely to be a bit problematic for biking (the French ski resorts are open again this weekend!), so I phoned ground control (Mary with her computer) and enquired about weather conditions around Spain. Having heard that my preferred destinations in the Pyrenees were likely to be wet for the next several days, I decided to do a more or less clockwise exploration of Spain, hopefully finding good weather in nice biking country.

Today was lovely weatherwise, I found the sun and discarded two layers of clothing and my jacket liner so I am now in a tee shirt and it feels like summer!


I had hoped to put up some video but my headcam seems to be playing up so I shall just stop for a few more stills - here are some recent ones.


Estoy ahora en España, alojarse en un castillo en la cima de una colina en la ciudad de Cardona. Es uno de los paradores españoles famosos y hasta el momento está a la altura de la buena reputación que tienen.

Tuve una mañana estupenda, dejando Ste Enimie en alrededor de las 9:00, me pasé un par de horas en maravilloso "twisties" (caminos con muchas curvas) alrededor de las "Gorges du Tarn", hacia Millau. No quería hacer un largo desvío de mi ruta sólo para cruzar el puente, así que tomó la autovía hacia España. Como siempre, maravilló a la capacidad de ingenieros franceses de la carretera para crear maravillosos caminos y muchas zonas bien equipadas que uno esté nunca sin lugar para comer, tener un pis o a estirar las piernas.

Sabía que el tiempo en los Altos Pirineos podía ser un poco problemático para dar un paseo en moto (¡las estaciones de esquí francesas abren nuevamente este fin de semana!), por lo que llamó "tierra control" (Mary con su ordenadora) y le preguntó sobre las condiciones del tiempo en España. Habiendo escuchado que mis destinos preferidos en los Pirineos eran propensos a estar mojado para los próximos días, me decidí a hacer una exploración del país más o menos hacia en el sentido de las agujas del reloj.

Hoy ha estado encantador desde el punto de vista del tiempo, me encontré el sol y había quitado dos capas de ropa y el interior de mi chaqueta así que ahora estoy en una camiseta y se siente el verano!

Esperaba subir algún video, pero mi "headcam" no funciona bien, así que dejaré para sacar más fotos - aquí están algunas de las más recientes.

Hay una cuenta muy extraña sobre este hombre...

This is Troyes

This is Noyers

Somewhere in Morvan national park

A long day today of around 400 miles but all fantastic. I spent the morning on superb twisties in lovely countryside and then moved on to great sweepers before deciding that if I wanted to get to Spain, I had better get some miles under my belt.  I headed south on faster roads and picked Ste Enimie as a a place to stay. I am in the Auberge du Moulin which, on a scale from 0-10 scores about 18. It is a wonderful place - not too expensive, well appointed,  great food and situated on the banks of the river at the bottom of a spectacular gorge. Mine host knows bikes and had a chap come out to show me the private car park and to place a plank under my sidestand so that there was no danger of it sinking into the grass.

If I were not headed for Spain, I would definitely stay another night or three here. Put it in your travel diaries folks! The wifi is also very good!

I'll try and get some pictures posted.

Ste Enimie

Una vez más por mi iPhone. Estoy en los desfiladeros de Tarn, no lejos del puente famoso de millau. El paisaje es fenonemal. Intentaré escribir más por wifi

Sent from my iPhone

I am in Troyes, having decided to use the autoroute as far as here and save exploration of the smaller roads in noerthern France for day and weekend trips from home.

Staying in a modestly priced Logis de France, good value except the advertised internet is so slow that I am using my phone in tethered mode for preference.

The road was virtually traffic free and reminded me once again how overcrowded and poorly maintained our roads in the UK are. Likewise when I saw the lunch offered at one Aire (huge joints - Subday roast style, extensive salad bar and great tasting coffee, i was reminded how poorly served we are with our Motorway services. All too expensive and lousy quality.

Weather was cloudy and cool to begin with but has warmed up during the afternoon. Mary says she had sun all day, so the title of this blog might have been better phrased as "Escaping the Sun" as far as today goes!

Tomorrow, I am on country roads, heading generally south..

Photo test

Tyres fitted at Watling tyres - my preferred tyre fitter.
Me gusta la empresa "Watling Tyres"para el montaje de neumáticos nuevos

Just checking the method of posting by sending an email to the blog from my iPhone. It's a pity the camera isn't better.

Sólo comprobar el método de hacer una entrada al blog por un correo electrónico  desde mi iPhone. Es una lástima la cámara no es mejor.