31 August 2014

New Rain Jacket - Update

The Triumph Rain Jacket proved itself in one day.  Once we arrived in Poole it started to rain, and for most of the way back to Kent. It fits a little snugly over the JR but it perfect;y waterproof and for that, it is worth the £39 less RAT discount.

Recommended.

28 August 2014

Döra on vacation

Rather than double post, this is the link to the trip Claire, Döra and me just did.

Thanks to LD Lines ferry service to Spain from Southern England mileage was cut down by about 1600 miles and in the end Trip 2 recorded a total for the trip at 1102.0 door to door.

Over the entire trip Döra was the perfect travelling companion. And like most, she did like the occasional drink but she didn't need any oil!


Some pix....

At the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid


At the Puerto de Navacerrado


Undercover at the Parador in Cervera de Pisuerga


Santander port...

Döra on vacation

Rather than double post, this is the link to the trip Claire, Döra and me just did.

Thanks to LD Lines ferry service to Spain from Southern England mileage was cut down by about 1600 miles and in the end Trip 2 recorded a total for the trip at 1102.0 door to door.

Over the entire trip Döra was the perfect travelling companion. And like most, she did like the occasional drink but she didn't need any oil!

The blog starts here -  http://devalltravel.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/revisita-espana-2014-day-1.html

Some pix....

At the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid


At the Puerto de Navacerrado


Undercover at the Parador in Cervera de Pisuerga


Santander port...

The Champions League

It's back again and Arsenal qualified again for the money spinning six games guaranteed league section.

Jolly good show.



27 August 2014

Revisita España 2014 - Day 11

After the late night we didn't get up too early. We had hardly unpacked and so we ended up back in the restaurant for another breakfast on the same bill as the half we'd had when we arrived.

From there the weather had looked up a bit and we headed off with TomTom leading us along the coast through Bournemouth before we were free of the built up area.

Along this section it seemed the main income stream would be from the speed cameras dotted all over the place and the intellectually subnormal speed limits to make sure that the income is high.

The ride home was far less eventful than the ride down the week before.  The motorways not too busy, no more than a normal working day.

We were home in good time and parked up at home in the early afternoon.

Once again Döra had been the perfect bike. Comfortable two-up. Powerful enough and economical enough when needed. With the larger Kappa topcase and the OEM panniers there was enough luggage space for this length of trip.  

I hope this won't be the last bike trip we go on.


26 August 2014

Revisita España 2014 - Day 10

At sea.

Before the 3G signal faded last night I checked the booking in Poole. Actually the most expensive hotel of the entire holiday. A Holiday Inn in Poole. More expensive than both the Paradors!!

Still, very convenient for the harbour late at night and has breakfast included and free wifi.

The day started with Biscay playing to its famed bumpy self. The ship rolling in a decent swell. We got up late and set off for the restaurant for breakfast. Both of us are usually good sailors, but not now. At least Claire made it to breakfast! I returned to the cabin. I was very tom and dick!

After a few hours the good weather arrived and stayed with us for ten or eleven hours until we were only a few hours out of Poole.

Oh yes. After a whole holiday in the dry, it was drizzling....

Then bad news. An announcement that due to traffic in the harbour, we would be late docking by an hour. Instead it wasn't that bad and we eventually arrived about half an hour later.

We had some chat with the other bikers, a fourth had appeared after we loaded. A guy on a Tiger 955. 

The hotel was only a mile and a half away, but the drizzle made the roads very slippery. It was about 0030 when we arrived. The hotel has a canopy and I stopped just short. 

The guys that checked us in gave us an early breakfast and then time for bed. It was nice to be in a bed that wasn't moving up and down and side to side!!



24 August 2014

Revisita España 2014 - Day 9

Not a bad night once the screaming brat closed down for the night.

After two of the three S's were accomplished we went down to desayuno. It's included in the room rate. As we are both old we qualify for the "golden age" rate at the Parador that gives us a discount on the room rate of about 10%.

Breakfast was a buffet. Plenty for everyone. 

Views from the terrace.




Sorting what goes in what bag not so simple! To save carrying loads what we need for the duration of the boat crossing and the hotel stop in Poole we needed one bag. Once sorted we loaded Döra and then checked out. 

The Parador

We reported the broken chair and I left a note and took pictures!!


The broken chair

The first planned stop was Potes on the edge of the Picos. 

Today there was only one mountain pass, Puerto de Piedroluengas at 1355m. It is on the border between Palencia and Cantabria. 

The descent on the northern side is a series of bends and hairpins. Luckily there were few other cars to hassle us

In the end we stopped for the first time just outside Pesaguero at a road side restaurant for a coffee. The scenery is much better here than further south.

Then into Potes where we bought rolls, ham and cheese and some drinks in the supermarket to have a picnic lunch. Once into the Hermide gorge of the River Deva it looked unlikely we'd find anywhere until a mirador popped up.  


The gorge is steep sided and goes on for about 8 or 9kms. The mirador was not all that nice as the refuge building was used as a toilet and stunk. 

We then entered a flatter land and then to the coast at San Vicente de la Barquera. 

Here we simply wanted a drink, but despite my near perfect annunciation the waiter gave us a menu. One crème caramel and a rice pudding later we returned to Döra, still in the shade where we left her. 

This is a popular seaside resort with a long sandy beach across from the town accessible by a road and footbridge across the mouth of the river joining the sea. Certainly somewhere I'd like to go again on a leisurely holiday. 

Claire was anxious to get to the port pronto to check in and so we headed mostly off the autovia, stopping at Treceño to fill the tank with €1.40 a litre unleaded. LD don't check fuel so arriving with only 35 miles out of a full tank isn't a problem. At a saving of 12p a litre over UK prices it was well worth a top up!

We finally arrived about 5.30pm to find two other bikes in the LD Lines queue and a lot more queuing for Brittany Ferries.

Döra the Explorer at the port

When we checked in we were given a ticket to operate the gate so we could go into town. Great idea and we went to a shop for some vittles and a drink in a café.

It was just after 8pm that the trucks started loading and then the bikes. I remembered to put the alarm on ferry mode. Unlike some of the cars on the upper deck.

So now 25 hours at sea...

We sat on deck chatting to a couple as we sailed out of the harbour. The sea wasn't the mill pond of the way out and the boat tossed about a bit. We were in bed anyway.....

Our cabin for the duration

23 August 2014

Revisita España 2014 - Day 8

Only one more night left in Spain but the best part of two days.

We didn't get up too early. The alarm was 0800 but as check out was 1200 and no breakfast in the hotel, thought we'd lie in and then pack and go.

The first stop was the Bernabeu Stadium. Of course I went into the car park the wrong way, had to "off road" across some pavements to set Döra up for a photo session. 

Stadio Santiago Bernebeu

Stadio Santiago Bernebeu

Stadio Santiago Bernebeu

Stadio Santiago Bernebeu - don't ask about the orange character

We still hadn't had breakfast, so after a few pix we set off again. TomTom took us around the entire stadium and through the car-park of a shopping complex and we saw a Musee del Jamón. Parked and a ham croissant and coffee later we were off to the second stop at Segovia.

The route I planned took us over the Puerto de Navacerrado. It's over 1800 metres and progress was deadly. To cover today's long distance I opted to take the autovias. The built-up area leaving Madrid seems never ending.

Once off the autovia it was solid traffic for about 25kms. The going-up from the South is long sweeping bends but car drivers make a pretty poor fist of it. Once at the pass we stopped for the obligatory picture or two and then a coffee.

Puerto Navacerrado

Spot the new "bull" sticker......

The down-side (for us) going north starts off okay and then becomes a mini-Stelvio of hairpins. We had a few cars in front all seemingly stuck behind Mr Cautious in a Mondeo. Over braking into the turns and slow out was a nightmare.

In the end a few miles short of Segovia they all turned off together!

Bliss. Apart from the Portuguese in the Audi 4WD that had accelerated to stop us joining the traffic line at the pass, was now up our arse tail-gating us.

He flew past in the 50kph zone as we entered Segovia itself.

We stopped right by the aqueduct and took some pix. We were amused by a group of Asian girls that did the peace sign for every photo as they took turns with the imposing Roman architecture behind them.. Or the other pose, hand under chin. We tried to recreate a few!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqueduct_of_Segovia

Aqueduct at Segovia

Claire mimicking other tourists at the Aqueduct at Segovia

More posing!

Me - the wrong gear for this heat.

From Segovia we still had around 225kms to the Parador. Much to my chagrin I opted for the autovia. Boring.

We had a strange detour at Valladolid when we came off the autovia and after a loop via Michelin's tyre factory we were back on it.

One more fuel stop near Palencia and we slogged along one almost empty autovia after another before turning off for Cervera. Once again the roads were almost deserted as we headed some 35kms into the mountains to the Parador.

The hotel is very well situated. Our room sadly overlooks the front rather than the mountains and the lake. A pattern with Paradors and us?

The view from our balcony.

Parador de Cervera

Parador de Cervera

Some postings on TripAdvisor said it was old and a bit worn, and that is a bit extreme, although there are things in our room that need attending to. We have a nice seating area with French windows to a balcony. One of the rustic style chairs is broken, the second looks as though it has been repaired in the past. The problem looks to be the same weak point!

Apart from the noisy kids in the dining room; the parents sit smiling or laughing at their antics, as they disturb the rest of us, the hotel is well situated.

Dinner was the Menu del Parador and €29 for three courses. This is going to be our most expensive overnight stay in a long time. 

We had a little walk to check on Döra before bed. There are other bikes up here including a Spanish couple with a Gold Wing registered in Elche near Alicante.

Night night Dora the Explorer

Tomorrow we will not hurry as we have about 10 hours to get to Santander to catch the boat and it is about 80 miles away!!! 

The scenic route up through the mountains is about 100 miles and TomTom had plotted to take us along the coast once we run out of Spain going north!

Question. Whether to fill the tank again. Spanish unleaded 95 is about 12p a litre cheaper than at home..... Mmmmmm.

Revisita España 2014 - Day 7

Today we had a full day of sightseeing. It is not as hot as Toledo but still in the high 20's.

Breakfast. We had a walk up Huertas again to the top and chose a cafe on the square. Croissant for Claire and porros for me. Porros are huge fat churros! I managed two of the four.


Our sightseeing included El Corte Ingles, Museo de Jamon, Plaza Mayor, the market then down to the Royal Palace. Somehow we were out for six hours.

We adopted the tapa style of eating and in the market, more a food place now than a real market,  we had some small fish tapa at €1 each. They all came on small pieces of toast. The "pulpo" was quite hard to eat, but the cod meat in a sauce was superb.





On the way back to the hotel we called in the Carrefour. Fanta is €1 as well. Maybe the San Miguel is better value?

After a siesta, we dressed, my chinos got their first outing! We had walked so far in the day we wanted somewhere local. In the end we had a great meal at a Cuban restaurant on Huertas called Colonial.




After a short walk to walk off some of the food we went back to the hotel.

There was a lot of street noise and it turned out the Madrid teams, Real and Athletico, were playing each other in the Spanish Super Cup. I watched the second half on the tiny TV in the room. Athletico won 1-0 on the night and 2-1 overall.

Tomorrow we are off north again for our last night in Spain.

On Vacation!

http://our-spain.blogspot.com


Back all too soon!

22 August 2014

Revisita España 2014 - Day 6

Time to leave Toledo and head firstly to Aranjuez and then to Madrid.

Or rather firstly we would pack the bike and ride out of the old town via the steep streets. The streets are not simply cobbled but the surface is flint stones embedded in concrete. Not that easy on a large bike with luggage and two adults!  

We made it and then ignored TomTom telling us to take the main road, instead we headed down the south bank of the Tajo to a couple of viewing spots.

Roman Bridge

The Alcazar

View of the old town

Dora and Claire

The run to Aranjuez was on another autovia and it was only signposted just before the junction with Ocaña and Cuenca seemingly more important.

We topped up with fuel at the first station. At €1.369 per litre the cheapest so far.

The onboard temp gauge showed an air temp of 34.5℃. Who knows what it was when stopped.

We had lunch at a café right by the old Royal Palace. It was open but simply too hot to go across.  

Once on the road again we entered the burned wilderness that makes up much of central Spain. The highlight being road works in the middle of nowhere and oddly near a large prison!

Arriving in Madrid is by autovia. Through  suburbs until suddenly you are alongside Atocha station.
The hotel was easy to find. Not bad but the area is quite seedy with loads of "community drinkers" and rough sleepers. No doubt attracted by 1 litre bottles of San Miguel on sale at €1 a pop in the Carrefour Mini across the road. Not only that they make a racket all night.

Once again I was glad the hotel had private parking.  In this part of the city there is very little on-road parking anyway.

After we had checked in and changed we headed out to get a drink and something to eat. The hotel is near the Prado gallery and Plaza del Sol is a short walk. We headed up Calle des Huertas and had a beer. At least it is all downhill on the way back.

Dinner was in a Murcian restaurant called El Caldero. Mixed reviews on Tripadvisor, but we had a good meal of Murcian black pudding and then paella. Maybe a bottle of red was a bit over ambitious. Pogged we went back to the hotel to go to bed!

20 August 2014

Revisita España 2014 - Day 5 Part 2

Firstly a trip up to the roof terrace to take in the view. Exceptional.

Toledo Cathedral and Alcazar


Alcazar de Toledo

And then out to look for dinner. Ended walking miles, had a beer and tapas then more walking and eventually dinner near St Tomé.

Tomorrow we are off to Madrid. So time for some packing and bed. 

One last visit to the roof to find none of the buildings lit up. 

Revisita España 2014 - Day 5

If it's day 5 it must be Toledo!

And sure enough it is. Opening the shutters reveals another sunny day has begun. Scorchio!

Breakfast was soon consigned to the past. We opted for the €5 version. Tomorrow I'll go €3 instead. That should be quite enough.

We weren't particularly early but made straight for the Cathedral.  Incredibly only a few minutes to get a ticket, at €8 per person including audio headset.

And into the cool quiet interior.

The place is massive, begun in the middle of the 13th century it took them 267 years to complete! Better be forewarned if you want a Spanish builder!

There is simply too much to tell about here - Link!

Some highlights:


As the inner apse has no natural light the solved it with this window and a special "window" in the wall behind. Amongst the decoration you can see it.


Here, I did it for you.

The main altar is a magnificent piece in gold.


El Transparente still providing light along with El Electrico.

More from the interior...





The Sachristy is now the art gallery and is chock full of paintings by El Greco with Francisco de Goya and Carravagio in support. The best and most colourful is this one.


The next two pictures are the top and bottom of a gold and silver piece called  a Processional Monstrance. Created between 1517 and 1524 by Enrique de Arfe.

It is said that Queen Isabella said that the first gold to be brought back from the New World should be used for it. 



It's a small room and getting a picture of it is very difficult as the independent tour guides stand in the way talking!! Maybe their clients get an uninterrupted view?

From the cathedral we followed the signs to the west of the Cathedral to what was the Jewish Quarter.

A stop for a cake and drink fortified us for another 34 degree assault. Up and down the often steep hills.

Down to the El Greco Museum and a viewpoint over the Tajo gorge.




We bought a bocadillo of jamon iberico and got told off as we served ourselves, not realising the large shop had one person working there. "I'd prefer you didn't do that" she said. "I won't again" replied Claire. Not bad for €3. Might have sold two had she not been so rude about it!

We bought another at a second shop and returned to the hotel to eat in our little seating area in the room.