Friday 31 May 2013
Ride out to Scaletrix track aborted .......
Yesterdays planned ride out for our weeks resident 8 sports bikes was to ride the 'Scaletrix track'. Leaving Pyrenees Motorcycle Tours in heavy rain everyone was looking forward to some Spanish sun, however on arrival in Spain we were greeted with snow ploughs and cars coming down from the mountains covered in snow. A unanimous vote declared we didn't go any further!
Tuesday 28 May 2013
Rain, rain and more rain ......
When is this weather going to improve! Yesterday we had a group of 8 arrive all on sports bikes, this morning they have all dressed in their wet weather gear and heading in the direction of Spain, with Mr PMT showing them the way, hoping to find some dry roads in the Spanish Pyrenees.
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| Leaving Vielle-Adour |
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| Waiting for Pete |
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| All ready for the off! |
Sunday 26 May 2013
Product review number one
Bought a new tyre last month for my Tiger, namely a "Full Bore" Adventure Sport Trail Master made in Korea, why? cause it was cheap :) ! Cost me 80€ from pneus online.
BUT alarmed at the wear rate! I normally get 6000+ out of Tourances and only 1447 miles later I'm down to 4mm in the centre giving me a theoretical life of about 2500 miles, which is perhaps acceptable on a sports bike, but not on my Tiger.
Will probably get a lot more wear out of the edges because normally around the mountains they go before the centre so time will tell
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| "Full Bore" Adventure Sport Trail Master - looks impressive (don't you think?). |
BUT alarmed at the wear rate! I normally get 6000+ out of Tourances and only 1447 miles later I'm down to 4mm in the centre giving me a theoretical life of about 2500 miles, which is perhaps acceptable on a sports bike, but not on my Tiger.
Will probably get a lot more wear out of the edges because normally around the mountains they go before the centre so time will tell
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New route via Intersport?
A quick trip to Intersport in Tarbes to buy Steve additional layers, where at one point we had 4 lovely young ladies helping to make the selection, this was our first stop on yesterdays ride out. With temperatures still well below 'normal' for this time of year we set off for Col de Mente stopping off at St Bertrand de Comminges for a coffee.
Ade skillfully joined in to the tune that was playing in the cafe and enjoyed a round of applause from the other coffee drinkers.
The resident chien was well impressed.
We continued on our way to the top of the Col where we stopped for lunch, service was quick as we were the only customers present.
Temperature gradually dropped and at Col d'Aspin we were greeted with horizontal snow, Steve was pleased he had some extra layers! Todays riders; Ade on his Triumph Explorer, John on a Triumph Tiger 800 and Steve (warm and toasty) on his BMW R1200GS Rallye
Ade skillfully joined in to the tune that was playing in the cafe and enjoyed a round of applause from the other coffee drinkers.
The resident chien was well impressed.
We continued on our way to the top of the Col where we stopped for lunch, service was quick as we were the only customers present.
Temperature gradually dropped and at Col d'Aspin we were greeted with horizontal snow, Steve was pleased he had some extra layers! Todays riders; Ade on his Triumph Explorer, John on a Triumph Tiger 800 and Steve (warm and toasty) on his BMW R1200GS Rallye
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| Col d'Aspin |
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Pyrenees Gorge ride out
Snow on the mountains, none on the roads today! Great ride out again with H and Russ both on BMW GS1200 and today joined by local boy Will on his BMW 1200RT, todays destination was the Spanish gorge with breathtaking views, never fails to please :)
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| Waiting for the green light at Bielsa Túnel |
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| Monte Perdido National Park |
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| Monte Perdido National Park |
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| Monte Perdido National Park |
Monday 20 May 2013
Typical ride out....... NOT
Unexpected surprise on our way across the Pyrenees into Spain at Col du le Pierre St. Martin where we encountered snow covered roads! Hayley (H) and Russ both on BMW GS1200's, Keith on a XT660 Tenere and Phil on his Tiger 955i all coped well with the conditions, even passing the car that stopped to fit his snow chains, bet the driver didnt expect to be fitting them in May ...... (perhaps we should start providing snow chains as part of our Pyrenees Motorcycle Tours).
The pictures say it all ..... We had all weather conditions; rain, sleet, cold, sunshine and even a little warmth, likewise with the road, ice, snow water and even dry!
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| 'H' overtaking car |
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| Made it |
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| Hayley and Russ |
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| Keith |
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| Hayley |
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| Sunshine |
Friday 17 May 2013
Bardenas Reales ......
No guests for a few days, so we took the opportunity to have a couple of days away in our VW Campervan. Phil had heard of the semi desert area in the Navarre region of Spain and it looked like an interesting place to visit. All packed, dogs ready (Buster waiting patiently), we set off!
We took the easy option to cross the Pyrenees using the Somport Tunnel which lead us to Pamplona and then south to Bardenas Realas Natural Park. We visited the information centre only to be told that the Park was shutting in half an hour and did not allow camping so we set off to a town nearby where we where told campers were allowed. It turned out to be the car park of the sports centre but that suited us well for that night.
After a quiet night we made an early start for the desert area and were rewarded with a fine sunny day with very few other visitors.
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| Somport Valley |
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| Somport Valley |
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| Bardenas Reales |
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| Bardenas Reales |
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| Bardenas Reales |
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| Bardenas Reales |
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Here is Phil searching for fossils in the rock.
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| Beautiful wild flower meadow |
Saturday 11 May 2013
Ride out to Col du Tourmalet
Leaving the village overcast we went in search of some sun!
The cloud was low in the mountains and we wondered if we would be able to climb out of it on Tourmalet, but we were not sure how far we would get up the pass. As it turned out not very far, the road was only partially clear 1km out of La Mongie, although we had to ride round the 'Route Barree' sign. However we did manage to get above the cloud line and find some sun and much needed warmth.
On the way back down we stopped to look at an avalanche which had a stream flowing from beneath it.
The cloud was low in the mountains and we wondered if we would be able to climb out of it on Tourmalet, but we were not sure how far we would get up the pass. As it turned out not very far, the road was only partially clear 1km out of La Mongie, although we had to ride round the 'Route Barree' sign. However we did manage to get above the cloud line and find some sun and much needed warmth.
On the way back down we stopped to look at an avalanche which had a stream flowing from beneath it.
Thursday 9 May 2013
Trimming .....
Yesterday was devoted to tidying up the courtyard at Pyrenees Motorcycle Tours. Phil was up the ladder taking out the dead leaves of the palm tree, earlier he was repainting the front doors in glorious sunshine - 25 degress!
Monday 6 May 2013
Quote "Best biking day ever"!
What a beautiful day for a ride out! With temperatures in the low 20's in the valley, dipping down to about 10 in the high mountains.
The scenery is just breathtaking at this time of year with the snow still on the mountains, sun shinning, wild flowers in the meadows, streams in full flow with the snow melt, roads are dry and clean and barely any traffic.
There were 6 of us in total, Doug on his Triumph Bonneville T100, Martin and Barry both had Triumph 1050 Tigers, local boy Ken on the KTM 990SM, Sarah out on her Honda Hornet for the first time this year and Phil on his Triumph 955i Tiger. They left Chez Bouillon at 9.30am heading for Col d'Aspin. The chosen route was a loop into Spain which has just about everything from amazing views of deep gorges to sweeping bends.
They didn't get back until 8pm, so a long day for all in the saddle, a quote from Martin 'BEST BIKING DAY EVER'!
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The scenery is just breathtaking at this time of year with the snow still on the mountains, sun shinning, wild flowers in the meadows, streams in full flow with the snow melt, roads are dry and clean and barely any traffic.
There were 6 of us in total, Doug on his Triumph Bonneville T100, Martin and Barry both had Triumph 1050 Tigers, local boy Ken on the KTM 990SM, Sarah out on her Honda Hornet for the first time this year and Phil on his Triumph 955i Tiger. They left Chez Bouillon at 9.30am heading for Col d'Aspin. The chosen route was a loop into Spain which has just about everything from amazing views of deep gorges to sweeping bends.
They didn't get back until 8pm, so a long day for all in the saddle, a quote from Martin 'BEST BIKING DAY EVER'!
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