Spain, June,2015

Spain, June,2015

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Zed 44

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1,242 posts

155 months

Thursday 10th September 2015
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Friday 19th June..Leaving home with a 4 hour 34 minute drive ahead, I pessimistically estimated 6 hours. Nearly 8 hours later after crawling traffic from Jct. 20 on the M25 to 10 miles down the A3, I arrived at the hotel. After this, Nissan Micras where I live doing 47mph in a 60 will seem like positively speeding.

Saturday, 20th June. Down to the port early on the off chance the loading chargehand would put me below decks but found this many cars already there.



Happily the guy must have misinterpreted my signal to please watch the splitter while I went up the ramp and changed his instructions and put me below deck.

Sunday, 21st June. Although not partial to motorway driving, the A8/E35 was a joy to drive on as it wound its way around, over and through the ends of mountains cascading down to the sea. One hundred and 40 miles later ended in the French border town of St. Jean de Luz. From there, a selection of winding, undulating D roads through agricultural land, and foothills of the Pyrenees brought me to the first overnight at Bielle. The hotel was a charming Auberge & Logis run by a charming lady. Two large groups of travellers, one of which were cyclists were noisily enjoying their meals of fairly obscure French rural cuisine. I chose one which turned out to be a lamb mince pattie with a strange herb sauce on it that I didn’t particularly care for.

Monday, 22nd June. The next day’s drive was a 160 mile, 5 hour drive to St. Girons. For some unknown reason, the satnav misdirected me on to the good D 937 and through Lourdes which was unexpected and crowded with a hint of religion thrown in. Continuing south along a dual carriageway for a short distance, I soon regained the planned route at Argeles-Gazost Fabulous road over the Col du Tourmalet and on to St. Girons where the mid afternoon temperature had already exceeded the mid 30’s. Thankfully, although the hotel had a genteel old world atmosphere, the room was large, comfortable and air-conditioned.





Tuesday, 23rd June was a 140 mile drive to Ceret inland from Perpignan and a stone’s throw from the Spanish border. The D 618 was a very nice road for quite aways from the start, again winding its way through the wooded areas and foothills of the Pyrenees. A lot of maintenance work was being carried out so there were frequent contra flow systems. Imagine this being done in Britain – the meticulous repair and re-pointing of a natural stone wall on a minor road.





The logistics of this tour due to ferry timetables meant 3 sets of lay over days, one of which was Ceret. Unfortunately, the hotel which was terrible was made even worse by the 36 degree temperatures and flies. Luckily, the owners let me cancel the second day booked here without penalty so I added the extra day to my next destination Platja d’Aro. This turned out to be a mistake as Ceret was a far nicer place.





Wednesday & Thursday, 24th/25th June. Platja d’Aro. The roads very quickly descend out of the mountains onto the plains leading down to the Mediterraenan so were not that interesting.



Going to the Med was a “ticking the box” excercise that should not have been done. The heat, the pine pollen and the sand made it all seem pretty uninviting. Platja d’Aro is a strip of tat shops, bars, discos and restaurants serving “full English”. The Cap Riog hotel was a disappointment . Staff were not good. Parking was tight or non-existent. Wifi was extra. But the restaurant was good value and had excellent views as did the hotel generally.



Friday, 26th & 27th June Platja d’Aro to La Seu d’Urgell. Skipping on the overpriced breakfast at the Cap Roig I had hoped that a cafe serving coffee and a croissant would be open at 8:30am in town, but no such luck. So, it was well past Girona when a fuel stop beckoned and coffee and pastries were served up by a smiling pleasant senora. Unfortunately, a not-so-pleasant senor took the opportunity to liberate a camera and 32gb card that I had fixed to the outside of the car in anticipation of these, some of the best roads so far. And they didn’t disappoint. Accelerating hard, the turbo charged V6 swept though the bends, flicking left and right almost continuously with the occasional sharper bend, hairpin or decreasing radius corner for a change. Approaching La Seu, the road became narrower and mostly twisty with tight left and right handers following one on top of another perhaps more suited to an MX 5.



Sunday, 28th Today’s destination was Larres, a pin prick on the map close to Jaca. The choice of this destination and this hotel in particular was heavily influenced by a photo with what appeared to be a Porsche car club in front. In this case, however, the only car club on the scene was me. The roads getting here were among the best so far, an extraordinary statement considering the outstanding roads in France. A short section of the N260 to Sort lived up to its’ deserved reputation although other parts further on were wide and straightened out. The C 28 up to and just after the ski slope at Barqueira threw up a series of one hairpin after the other on road surface that seemed to have been poured out of a jar.






Between 30 and 40 miles on these roads and not a car seen going the same direction and only about 8 coming the other way. Where else could you step out of a car and take photographs of it sat in the middle of the road?







The hotel at Larres though was a bit of a disappointment, located as it was in a village of about 50 farmers, so there wasn’t a lot to do except watch combines and grain trucks while swatting flies and trying to keep cool.

Monday, the 29th. Larres. My third and final “rest day”, I decided to go back towards Biesca and the French border via. a back road paralleling the N260 . Only saw 1 van but numerous walkers and cyclists who seemed to have laid claim to the road and didn’t welcome the presence of a loud car belching out large amounts of CO2.

Lunch in Escarilla was a gob-smacking surprise. A 3 course meal, a full bottle of wine (which I had to resist with only a sip of), water and a coffee for 13.30 euros. That’s £9.76 in the Queen’s best.

Tuesday, the 30th . Would have hung around Larres for tostada but before 9am the wifi had gone off and the heat and flies had set to work. Today’s route initially headed west along a fairly boring stretch of the N260 before turning northwest onto the N176 at Puenta de Jaca. Resisting the urge to really let rip, I settled into a smooth fast pace on the gently winding roads



Following it and the N137 to Isaba, brought me to the N140, another treasure of the Pyrenees.









Frustratingly, the hotel at Oronoz-Mugaire was as disappointing as the roads had been good. Surly reception staff, no wifi except in a hot crowded bar, cracked window in room and “private parking” that might have been suitable for a Nissan Micra if you weren’t bothered about scrapes and dents getting in and out. The town itself was pleasant enough with a large park, however, but the nearby rumble of thunder and flashes of lighting while out for a walk forced a hasty retreat to the hotel.

Wednesday 1st July. Leaving Oronoz-Mugaire, I quickly found myself on some superb, un-populated roads winding through some fantastic scenery.




Sadly, it didn’t last and and the sweeping bends and lonely roads gave way to the N1 heading down towards Burgos via. Vitoria Gastiez. A coffee stop in Vitoria Gastiez seemed like a good idea so diverting off onto the ring road took me past what appeared to be the worst example of new social housing possible imaginable. Ten or twelve story white slab blocks with the tiniest of windows scattered across an immense area of sand, sun burnt grass and scrub. By contrast, arriving in the town centre was a pleasant surprise with a mixture of old and new buildings, elegant boulevards interwoven with tiny narrow streets. Sadly parking was at a premium, so I had to move on.

Burgos and another hotel with parking problems. Thankfully I was rescued by friendly hotel staff from an irate Dutch woman and her husband trying to get out of the underground parking as if they were going to a fire. The hotel was in a fabulous location just opposite the cathedral and right in the centre of town. Luckily, the festival of San Pedro and San Paul was taking place that week. The town was buzzing with street acts, musicians and artists of all sorts as thousands took to the streets to celebrate with drink and food. Solemn religious celebration did not seem to be much in evidence as the party roared on well past midnight.





Thursday, the 2nd of July and approaching the downhill end of the trip. From Burgos the next destination was Llanes on the coast. Initially the road was straight as a die across what seemed like the Great Plains of America. Wheat as far as you could see. Then in the distance, mountains loomed and excitement mounted at the prospect of some decent roads leading down to the sea.




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In the course of just a few minutes, the temperature dropped from 35 degrees to 13 on approach to the ridge of mountains bordering the Atlantic.



Half an hour later after some exhilarating driving, I arrived at Llanes, a pleasant enough town on north coast of Spain. It has a charming harbour with a mix of fishing boats and pleasure craft. Lining the harbour was a good selection of restaurants taking up 3 to 4 table spaces of pavement. A maze of narrow streets and alleyways spread out from the harbour offering a selection of boutiques, tapas bars and tourist shops. After the tortuous heat of the last two weeks, the 20 something degrees and grey skies offered a welcome respite.

Friday, 3rd July. Espinama today and a mixture of truly wonderful as well as downright UK quality roads. Initially took the LLN 6 then LLN7 which I knew would be slow. They turned out to be rough, narrow roads with heavily wooded sections which seemed to go on and on. Can’t understand why I didn’t go over and take the AS115



After intersection the AS114 things got a little better but the road was still climbing as were the temperature gauges until we hit the summit where the road became the C625 leading on past the Parador de Cangas de Onis hotel and onto the N634 for a fairly uninspiring run westward towards Oviedo. Turning back southeast at Pola de Siero, I eventually picked up the AS 117 a road ideally suited to the GTR with a good mix of sweeping right and left handers with a series of hairpins.





. Lunch at Potes served by friendly staff and another 3 plates with a bottle of vino calypso thrown in for a very modest price of 14 euros.

Arrival at the hotel in Espinama was another parking frustration. It was on a street behind the hotel with a narrow steep access down and a sharp right hand turn at the bottom. If you could have gotten in and were quick, there was enough space for four cars. Following an argument with the madam of the hotel about cancellation without forfeit of booking, I lost and was forced to park on the main road in front. Reminder to oneself if you have a low, wide car. When booking hotels, send pictures and dimensions and ask for them to say if your car will fit or not. Point out if you arrive and it’s not suitable you reserve the right to immediate cancellation without penalty.

Saturday, July 4th. The penultimate day. An early morning start up to the Picos de Europa car park where climbers were preparing their respective assaults on one of the three 2600 meter peaks. A cable car called the Teleferico was, unfortunately not open. Traversing between two of the peaks on a 1400 meter cable, it climbs to over 750 meters to the next peak. Pressures of time and today’s driving distance meant that I couldn’t wait the hour and a half for opening



Returning to Potes, I grabbed a quick tostada and cafe con leche before heading south on the N621 a lovely, smooth fast flowing road. Miles quickly passed flicking joyously between 5th and 6th gears before arriving at Boca de Heurgano and turning southeast onto the fabulous PE215 heading down to a huge inland lake (mostly dried up) called the Embalse de Compuerto held back by this high narrow dam spanning a deep rocky chasm.



A combination of the P210 and C621 wound northeast along the valley. Road surfaces were mixed, depending, it seemed, on whose province they were in. Near Salceda the road became the C281 and for all too short of time provided the most spectacular scenery of the trip. Lined with rock walls on one side and low castellated stone walls on the other, the road weaved through a narrow gorge where in places the rocks had been pierced and sliced to allow the road through.







Sunday 5th July. As the ferry wasn’t until the afternoon, what appeared to be a good hour’s drive around Lake Elbro from the hotel at Arroyo las Rozas seemed called for. It turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax after the previous days’ drive. Arriving in Santander on a cool, drizzly, misty afternoon seemed to sum up the sadness I felt at the end of such a wonderful trip.

Monday 6th July. Arriving Portsmouth on a beautiful sunny day and sailing up the Solent past the Isle of Wight and a myriad of other ships and small craft, made coming back a little more bearable.

All too soon you’re reminded why you went to Spain or indeed anywhere in Europe in the first place.



Couldn't resist another on so going back with a friend in a Porsche Boxster on Sunday, the 19th Sept.

Anyone up for 2016? CarbonXKR, Wozy68?

Edited by Zed 44 on Saturday 12th September 10:36

CarbonXKR

1,275 posts

221 months

Friday 11th September 2015
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Excellent write up Jack. Pity you were disappointed with Platja D'Aro, we were out of town to the east at the Silken Hotel and it was fantastic! Potes was a familiar name, we had food and drink there too on our last trip, lovely little village. Thanks for sharing - always useful when planning the next one..... 2016 may be possible but not until July as we have booked cheap flights to Cyprus for Spring time - £178 for the two of us return!! Looking forward to your September write up, hope it goes well. Cheers, Jeff.

Zed 44

Original Poster:

1,242 posts

155 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for that Jeff. Who knows we may be able to put something together next year. Wozy68 may even come out of hiding. lol. Great price for Cyprus. We're trying to get flights to Zakynthos but are tied to the May bank holiday for which you need a second mortgage to afford them.