Pedro

Not yet, give them until the weekend I was never out of touch with work, though, usually saved the laptop stuff to the end of the day but was frequently on the phone. I did get a bit fed up with it because you get to this level of anxiety that makes you feel that during the week anyone can throw a crisis on you at any moment and ruin a perfectly enjoyable trip that's meant to be relaxing.

I woke up excited to see what the Picos da Europa are all about, we started with a short ride to San Vicente de la Barquera for breakfast, a nice seaside town. The ride there felt like the Alps. And a little walk around town, it's a lovely place as far as towns go. Temperature started to rise and the little walk soon turned into a chore, we got on the bikes and moved off. Next stop was to be Cangas de Onis, now away from the sea and what may be the main town in the area. We stopped in what felt like a heatwave, my winter jacket would not have been my choice for this. We parked in the shade and went to look around the streets a little, to buy something to eat later on. A custom yellow GS, cool colour, BMW should never be without a yellow GS: Lunch purchased and packed, our next stop was to be a lookout point. There's two of them, I can't bother with looking up names, one is very popular with tourists as was very evident by the stream of cars pouring out from the access road, we took the next one. Our choice, according to Sofia's research was usually empty of tourists but had a couple kms of dirt access road, so we left the Triumph safely parked in town and got on the GS to get up the hill, my expert traveling skills made me choose what looked like a nice looking shortcut and instead of a 2km dirt access road at the end of the tarmac we ended up getting the 14km up the hill on a pretty steep gravel road. Good fun though, and the views were worth it. Back in town to get back with the Triumph, we rode off on a lovely twisty road buried deep in a river canyon, a eventually gave up on finding the ideal picnic location and settled with sitting on a wall in a cool shady area to eat our empanadas. The motorcycling was top notch after that, too, twisty roads and traffic was a non issue except for a stretch of roadworks were we got stuck behind a bus driver that had no business driving mountain roads. Some of the peaks seem to rupture from the earth very dramatically, it's very cool landscape and the roads were a surprise to me, they're very well made and you'll have fun on a slow trail bike as well as on a sports bike. Back home for a shower and a meal after a hot day on the bikes. Turns out the restaurant wasn't closed for their weekly rest but instead just closed for holidays, similar to most other places in the area, so we hoped on the GS and rode over to where we had dinner the previous day, this time enjoying a very nice sunset: Dinner was lovely, we shared a squid entre and then the bbq beef The next day we have a ferry to catch.

We didn't exactly leave at first light, after a lazy breakfast we eventually got the bikes out and made it to Spain after no more than 10 or 20 km. I always get a kick at how the road surface changes immediately when you see a border. We did a detour over a dirt road, what looked like a scenic road in the map turned out to be a few kms of gravel road over a hill, the views were nice and all but not really the stuff to which the Speed Triple and it's fancy Pirellis call home. After a bit we stopped for a taste of the shit Spaniards call coffee, pitiful really, but the rain was holding off and we were headed to proper hills and nice roads, the skies were shy about turning blue, but all was good, we rolled on. A lunch stop while all hints of bad weather vanished and temperatures climbed, and shortly after I'm being led around some lovely mountain roads. Cantabria is known for mountains, higher altitudes and green pastures, cows with plenty to graze on because of a lot of rain. We saw mostly drier rivers and reservoirs in what looks like a worrying lack of water in a high temperature September. Some lovely views and really nice roads, I now understand why this is such a migration area for motorcyclists from Portugal and the UK. Sofia had done her research and took me through the least travelled roads, which included some interesting canyon roads with very little traffic. I could get used to this. That's @Sofia down there in the road: The last hour, as the sun was starting to lower was pretty cool. The roads, the forrest, the colours reminded me of my time in the Nurburgring a while ago, it was a very nice ending to a great day on the bikes. We settled into a small countryside apartment, our base for two nights. Lovely view from the back window: There's a small restaurant the across the street from the place we were sleeping in, but turns out it was closed. We took the chance to have a nice longish walk to the next open place and it did feel nice after a warm afternoon on the bikes. A nice dinner and a (now feeling longer than the first time) walk back through Ucieda. Long day on the bikes, nice long walk, well fed, I slept soundly. The next day we would ride around the area, check a couple of nice looking roads and a few scenic locations, and come back to the same place for the night. Bonus is leaving the luggage behind for the day, although I don't really feel a big difference on the GS with it on.

I had been to the UK twice, once as a 9 year old boy with my parents, and another time for a long weekend to watch the opera in London. I remember very little from the first trip except a few spectacular moments like the assembled dinosaur bones in the museum or my little brother being chased by geese, and the second was limited to the center of London so not really a representation of the UK. I do have a few friends from England, that I met often at the Nurburgring, and also seem to get along fine with this forum. @Sofia has worked and lived in the UK before, and was missing the place a lot, she had made her mind to visit both the land and her friends on the bike since January, but I wasn´t too keen on it. People spoke of very congested roads, very high prices for everything, rain and overall bad weather, etc, all major things I usually dislike in places and make me want to give them a pass on a motorcycle trip. Sofia was very keen on it, though, and I decided to tag along mostly to see how happy she would be there, but not before giving a suggestion: I would want to go to the Isle Of Man. Going to the UK on my bike and not go to the IOM didn't make sense to me, I do love the feeling of motorsport locations when normal life is going on, there's an aura that's left in the roads or tracks, and a melancholy that really suits me. I was to go on this trip with an open mind, decided on enjoying the experience even if I didn't agree with the place, and being guided by someone that really loves it. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it like I did, but it did provide a few culture shocks. Will leave my observations to when they occur in the trip, both good and bad. I have just reviewed my pictures and I have almost 900 of them, a lot of that are motorcycles in museums though, I'll do my best to test Pete's servers but keeping it to a viewable amount ... We were to sent off from different locations and meet half was through the day in the high Douro. That suited me fine, I would leave with nothing but a 15km motorway quick ride and then make my way up the Douro valley, all on lovely twisty and scenic northern portuguese roads, little concern for formalities such as road markings and too many traffic signs ..., and then meet up for a couple of hours more before stopping in a well known previously visited location for the night and dinner. I rode with almost no specific photo stops, by 9:30 was making my first stop for a morning espresso And by 10:45 was stopping to watch the train I had shortly before passed play catch up on the other bank of the Douro river: I usually take a lot longer to get here, taking small detours forgotten roads amongst vineyards, but today was all about efficiency, I kept to the main N108 and then the 222, a lovely way to set off on a trip: Hardly ever stopping, I got to our meeting point a while ahead of schedule. Sofia was leaving Ericeira quite further away, to face a 300km (or more) motorway trip under severe rain, I just sat down outside a local cafe and had a sandwich, did a few work phone calls and settled into my favourite traveling pace, slow and take it as it comes: A while later, and after riding through a monsoon, there she arrived riding what looked like an overloaded Speed Triple: Hardly no pictures were taken that afternoon, we rode two or three hours to our final destination through Tras os Montes, and arrived just in time for a nice shower and a stroll to the restaurant enjoying a lovely September evening on the countryside. The wild berries on the way to dinner were just too tempting... We feasted on coal grilled beef. This restaurant now becoming a little bit of a friendly home away from home after a few rides, I think it would be an ideal stop on the way back home. Well fed, we strolled back to the room and had a lovely silent night. The next day, we'd point the bikes to the Picos da Europa.

Well, if one bike has always had sharp lines since forever a Katana would be it.

I have never tasted RedBull, quite proud of that!

Made it home today. Yesterday we had a lovely evening back in Portugal, and today rode to my parent’s place using mostly small roads. The absence of cameras was a shock, but we got used to it. I hope there were no cameras, too. I will look at making a ride report but I’ve got hundreds of pictures, mostly from bikes in museums, so it may take a while. Good trip, though, and we did end in a high which is always great because it dictates the mood with which you look back on it.

You have the train as an alternative, it’ll last almost the same if you arrive in France and jump straight on the motorway. Sofia went to the dreamland from sleeping pills, and now it’s nice and sunny in Santander while all other vehicles exit the boat while motorcycles wait. We shall sleep in Portugal and have a nice roast for dinner!

It seems to be kind of both ways, proved by watching water in a glass. It’s getting pretty rough now, too. We shall overcome!

She was, but now laying down under the effect of motion sickness pills. It's going to be a choppy ride, just went out and it's blowing a gale, you can sense the boat crashing down every now and again.

Sailing out of Plymouth right now, Sofia’s feelingthe waves and not enjoying it. Not me though, I’m feeling like a well seasoned sea wolf, drinking a pint and watching the rugby.

Top day yesterday, absolutely great museum and amazingly beautiful bit of Dartmoor hills with poneys. Loved it, now in a pub’s tiny room waiting for tomorrow to come and catch a boat to Spain. You have some really beautiful areas in this island but pretty shitty data connection so not able to post photos today.

No, there's a bit that wraps around the handlebar, an arm, and then the bit with the blue bit that clips onto the phone. You can leave the arm out and bolt the two end together without it. Looks like this except mine has the vibration dampener:

You can get rid of the little arm between the piece that hold onto the handlebar and the bit that holds onto the phone, and just assemble one to the other for a cleaner look.

No I didn’t. After Isle Of Man we stayes a couple of days in Wincham, rode around the Yorkshire Dales and then Peak District, then south and a couple of days in West London, then south and spent a couple of days in Lee Upon Solent, always visiting and staying with friends, and today on the New Forrest, which is the prettiest area in England in my opinion. Tomorrow will visit the Sammy Miller musem and head to near Plymouth to catch the Ferry on Sunday. I was hoping to go back near where you are but decided to spend time with some of Sofia’s very close friends, will have to save it for next time if my license plate doesn’t get banned from the UK.

Yes, Lee on the solent for the last two nights, now heading out not too far away but not sure were we’ll sleep except going to see a motoring museum. It’s been interesting, mostly visiting Sofia’s friends over the last few days. Ferry from Plymouth on Sunday.

Always nice to spend a little time on the bike by yourself on a birthday, good one.

Happy birthday Chris!

Dany’s my good mate who started riding motorcycles a little while ago but manages to ride several times to work so gaining experience with every week. He’s good people!

He is one of the true gentlemen in MotoGP. I don’t often say this about spaniards

Dick Tracy he is!

Name a town, I'm not sure. We'll go to Liverpool and ride through to catch a ferry to the Isle of Man, then catch it back and spend a few days riding around going south again visiting a few of Sofia's friends. If the weather remains sunny we might go further north to Scotland, but if it turns to rain at the time we won't.

We are

Boating to the UK now, just had a nice prosciutto and cheese sandwich and will enjoy the view for a while. If I get drunk tonight the plan is to sing songs in a piratey way.