Off to Spain

Early start for our ride out yesterday, on the road at 9am!  There were 9 in total leaving Pyrenees Motorcycle Tours and we headed west to Col de la Pierre Saint Martin where we should have seen some beautiful scenery but were greeted by cloud cover and temperatures down to 7 degrees on top!  Into Spain and still low cloud, but once we reached the bottom of the valley the cloud cleared and we headed into a gorge for our lunch stop.

After lunch we headed south into another gorge where we watched an amazing display of Griffon Vultures over head.  Our route back into France was over Col de Somport.

Col de la Pierre Saint Martin

Too cold to remove helmets

New tarmac

New tyres

James arrived three days ago on his Kawasaki Z1000 with tyres that were well past their best!  So after two rides with Pyrenees Motorcycle Tours we called into the local motorcycle shop and he bought a pair of Michelin Road Pilote 3's, which should transform the handling on his bike as his front tyre was triangular.

Before leaving this morning Phil fitted the new tyres for his onward journey to Bilbao and then north through France.

VFR loaded with the new tyres

Removing tyre from its rim

New rear fitted

Fitting new tyre

Job complete

Vintage bike rally

On our ride out we came across this vintage rally in Isaba, Spain, some really interesting bikes were on display all having been ridden there ......

Speedy recovery Steve!

Steve stayed with us for 3 nights, two rideouts about 12 days ago.  When he left us he was heading down to Malaga to visit family, then riding back to the port of Santander.

During the journey he had an off at low speed in his words:

Writing this from hospital bed in 2 plaster casts.  A bit dramatic but had a minor "off" at 10 to 15mph and broke several ribs, left leg above ankle and broke ligaments in left thumb. Disproportionate injuries but will be on crutches for weeks and probably not on the bike for a while even though I rode it 1500 miles home after crash!

We wish him all the best for a speedy recovery, unfortunately this means he will miss out on the Morocco trip in October.  Most impressed that he rose 1500 miles with broken bones!  Eat your heart out GP boys :)

Damson crumble, Damson & 3 Spice Jam .....

Yesterday I went to a friends house in Peyraube where he has a 200 year old damson tree laden with beautiful fruit, ideal for making jam or just eating straight from the tree.  I picked around 10kg of fruit in about half an hour, not bad going considering it was so hot.

Damson tree - 200 years old and still producing

So for dinner last night I made a damson crumble for pudding and very nice it was too.

Damsons

Damson Crumble recipe (4 generous portions):

  700 grams damsons
  70 grams butter
  120 grams plain flour
  30 grams flaked almonds
  30 grams porridge oats
  30 grams light brown sugar

Stoned damsons

Rub butter and flour together, stir in almonds, oats and sugar.  Stone damsons and put in an oven proof dish with some sugar.  Top with crumble.  Bake for about 25 mins - until the crumble is golden - oven temperature 170 C.

Damson crumble

Damson crumble served with vanilla ice cream

Then this afternoon I used some more to make a very tasty Damson and 3 Spice jam fingers crossed it will taste ok as it was my own recipe.  With the temperature in the kitchen reaching 30 degrees, probably not the best day for jam making!

30 degrees in the kitchen

Damson and 3 Spice Jam recipe:

  2 1/2 kg damsons
  2 1/2kg sugar
  1/4 pt water
  20 cloves
  10 cardamoms (seeds only)
  2 nutmegs

Stone damsons, cook with water, add sugar and ground spices, boil until setting point is reached.  Pour into jars, immediately place the lids and invert jars, this sterilises the lids.  I made 8 jars of various sizes.