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smilinjack

Smilinjack's Spanish Sojourn

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Nice bit of alliteration in that title doncha think?

Pleasant enough ride down to Plymouth, all dry roads and nicely in time for the ferry. It was very hot work in the car deck with my rain gear on but soon in the shower and that was all forgotten. I did spot a nice big twin nearby, not to mention this Vincent Laughing







Tesco did make one last attempt to recover their 200 Euros....





Blinding stretch of motorway from Santander to Pamplona, wish I had my ZZR on that stretch-it needs real speed!

Through the tunnels and the only rain so far, then down into the valley and within 10 miles we went from 14 degrees to 29, so a quick strip stop...











At this point the alarm acted a bit funny but luckily I realised something wasn't quite right and managed to start the bike before it immobilised. 40 miles later at the hotel gate it killed the bike and went off for 30 mins or so. It appears the lad who strapped the bike on the ferry pulled it down so hard it broke off the trigger sensor in the seat and when that slipped off it trapped the power lead & took the fuse. They've also cracked the fairing a touch too. On a positive note, it now looks like a proper Smilinjack motorbike ShockedEmbarassed I've sorted it all out, been & got new batteries for the remotes as well, and reset the PIN override to a number I can remember. All of which means an extra night here in Jaca (no bad thing), & all the hotels have kindly allowed me to kick reservations forward one day, so hopefully no biggie. Sorry for the long post but I know how much you all worry about me Very Happy Laters wave

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nice to hear from you m8 wave , glad all is well , and i tell you what i will be keeping a eye on them strapping my bike down when i go to the TT affraid just put a bolt with a wing nut to hold your fairing together hide

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@Davehutch wrote:
just put a bolt with a wing nut to hold your fairing together hide


In a rare moment of forward planning I actually packed some duct tape, and it's even silver so looks like a permanent job! Laughing

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@Davehutch wrote:
just put a bolt with a wing nut to hold your fairing together hide


In a rare moment of forward planning I actually packed some duct tape, and it's even silver so looks like a permanent job! Laughing
lol! enjoy your trip m8

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@Davehutch wrote:
nice to hear from you m8 , glad all is well , and i tell you what i will be keeping a eye on them strapping my bike down when i go to the TT affraid just put a bolt with a wing nut to hold your fairing together




Theyre not too bad on the Steam Racket Dave. Just be careful when you take the rope off as they sometimes use the footpeg or brake lever as an anchor and the rope gets jammed. Seen the odd lever get snapped off over the years.

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TheBiker46 wrote:
@Davehutch wrote:
nice to hear from you m8 , glad all is well , and i tell you what i will be keeping a eye on them strapping my bike down when i go to the TT affraid just put a bolt with a wing nut to hold your fairing together




Theyre not too bad on the Steam Racket Dave. Just be careful when you take the rope off as they sometimes use the footpeg or brake lever as an anchor and the rope gets jammed. Seen the odd lever get snapped off over the years.
sorry Alan for the thread hijacked but this is the only thing worring me about going

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great update alan,looks like you got the weather as well shame about the bike though,keep us updated when you can and enjoy the rest of your trip thumbsthumbs

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Great update Alan soz to hear about bike though Shocked didnt realise you'd took a caravan aswell with ya hide














































only kidding dad cya soon and have a safe trip bananabananabananabananabanana

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least you have sorted the bike mate,even if it was with tape LaughingLaughing

enjoy the rest of the trip,and can you stop posting pics of blue sky were not use to it LaughingLaughing

thumbsthumbsthumbs

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Evening all. Just had a walk into town for a quite excellent meal for two-33 Euro all in thumbs hate to rub it in but it's 10:15 here and it's still over 20 degrees. I'm sweating like John Leslie in a lift with Ulrika Jonsson Laughing couple of pics of the walk into town....






Tomorrow I'll hit the N-260 all the way to Berga so should be a good day's riding thumbs

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Great posts smilinjack .... thumbs

I did France several times.

Was never really impressed with the Ferrys,
both the strapping bikes down, and the rought
as f#ck crossing a few times.

Did the tunnel last time. Was excellent.

Have fun and post more reports/pics.

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Holy crap, I've just had a fantastic day's motorbiking. I'm absolutely cream crackered. Just been in the shower, off to the bar to rehydrate. I'll post a few pics later. Very Happy

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Holy crap, I've just had a fantastic day's motorbiking. I'm absolutely cream crackered. Just been in the shower, off to the bar to rehydrate. I'll post a few pics later. Very Happy
thumbs

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Hola, buenas noches chicos! A bit behind due to inability to upload pics and TBH being done in by yesterday's ride. Anyway, we left Jaca yesterday morning and hit the N-260 at Biescas. The morning was spent getting across the Aragonese part-very varied roads from bumpy single track to superb sweeping new stretches where there's no need to go below 100mph except out of respect for your licence Twisted Evil As ever the best bits I couldn't photograph as usually it's not safe and often you just don't want to stop.

Passed through numerous gorges...






and of course a fair few high passes.........









Best and biggest pass was the Col de Canto, where I met these two happy chappies. These pics are at 1,720 metres, pretty much a mile above sea level. The climb up from Sort was awesome.











I will try & catch up a bit more tomorrow, had a fairly short ride today (change from original route)but some great roads and a couple of enjoyable stops.

Footnote: the alarm is fine. On top of the problems from the ferry, it turns out the police station opposite the hotel has an antiterrorist jamming frequency which reduced the alarm remote's range to about 4". I had to press it into the seat to get a response from the control unit. Shocked More later fear fans. wave

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Nice one Alan i hope you had plenty of stops for coffee, cracking pics thumbsthumbs

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looks like your having a great trip alan,cracking pics there and like the anti jamming story LaughingLaughingthumbs

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Great pics thumbsthumbs . If I'm honest, looking with more than a hint of jealousy Embarassed

Maybe need to correct that by doing a bit of touring at some point. thumbs

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Well, we arrived in Berga OK and got a bit of a bargain with the hotel. To get there meant leaving the N-260 and using the local roads C-14 & C-26. What a revelation! Again, fantastic roads and a series of lakes/reservoirs which I couldn't stop to photograph.
Google Panta d'Oliana for a bit of an idea.

Cheat: I downloaded a pic so you get a bit of an idea Embarassed



We decided not to go back onto the N-260 next morning as it was quite a detour and it so happens we'd done this stretch a few years ago on the way into Andorra. We took the quick route into Ripoll by the C-26. It wasn't exactly crap....





And it allowed us time to stop off at Besalu. Famous mainly for it's mediaeval fortified bridge






Morning coffee was taken here....





20 miles down the road we got to our overnight destination-Girona. A quick walk round but tomorrow's a bike free day to explore properly.



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some lovely places alan,always good to take the route less well travelled thumbsthumbs

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Look folks thats what sunshine is like. Aah memories rain2rain2
Great pics Alan

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Im so so so jelous Sad thanks for sharing em Alan thumbsthumbsthumbs

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Great pic's and write up.
Top Job that Man... thumbs

TheBiker46 wrote:
Look folks thats what sunshine is like. Aah memories rain2rain2


I traveled a bit and always felt sad going
back to the UK, untill I realised....

Dont go home! .. Laughing

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Great pics alan thanks for sharing,enjoy the rest of your hols thumbsthumbs

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Well, we had our bike free day in Girona, and very nice it was too. I'm posting pica almost randomly at the mo as I can't see the screen too well in the sunshine (sorry).

Decent view of the city from the old walls



Roads can be dangerous-even some cars wear lids!! Laughing




A nice bike here for Stu I reckon..




What Girona means also is the end of the N-260 for us. We turn south towards our apartment but we are going to take a short detour to the coast to ride the Gi-620 from Sant Feliu to Tossa de Mar. Known as the road of the year as there are 365 bends in it's 12 mile length Shocked

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As a postscipt here are a couple of pics from the coast ride. It was absolutely brilliant-even on a Saturday I managed to ride most of it unimpeded by other traffic. Just a couple of overtakes. If you find yourself on holiday around here, about 5 miles from Lloret de Mar, hire a scooter & do it. Everyone else seems to Laughing





Hope you've enjoyed tagging along so to speak, there are more pics if you're interested here. Hasta la vista. wave

http://s611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/bandit12_photos/Spain%202012/

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Just come off the beach. We were thinking of a ride out tomorrow for morning coffee in Sant Mateu. It's my Spanish equivalent of a ride to Matlock. And I realised you ought to be able to put faces to the thread, so it's hello from me....



....and hello from my dearly beloved Rosita, whose birthday it is today. partyI love you



Just took that so I expect I'll get bollocked cos her hair's not right or she's got no lippy or somesuch. It's a dog's life LaughingLaughing

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nice one alan and happy birthday to your mrs

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She dont need any lippy thumbsthumbsI love you happy birthday I love you she's gorgeous thumbsthumbs

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Nice updates there and some very coolpic, . You should take up travel writing thumbsthumbs
Thanks for the updates and the pics, and partyhappy birthdayparty to the good lady

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