HuskyHobo, Kosti (2025)

17/06/2025

The Balkan planning has progressed. I've booked the outbound Eurotunnel for a date in July. That's as far as the planning goes.... get to France and head south. Probably ride a couple of ACT's and have a mosey of parts less visited. No idea where we will stop or when we will get back.... Meanwhile I had a trip to Wi******er cathedral. Picture 1 is the 12th century crypt. No idea why they put a modern statue in the middle of it and even less of an Idea as to why he appears to be looking at a mobile phone!
Photo 2 is a real statue in the main cathedral. On taking the photo I realised this or something very similar must have been the inspiration for the "stone angels" in Dr Who......
More updates on the Balkans in due course....

15/06/2025

Oops post in wrong place!

10/06/2025

No motorcycle mayhem as I am with car and caravan in deepest Dorset, enjoying the luxury, the sunset, and avoiding all the prep (I.e. full service, tyres, packing, route/accomodation planning, remembering how to light camp etc.) that I need to do for a bike trip to the Balkans and beyond next month.....

10/05/2025

Today we start our journey back towards Santander, but via the squiggly way of course. Extra squiggly for G who had a launderette moment on a painted road making in the wet. Otherwise all was well. Great views nice roads and dry apart from the one heavy shower. No navigation issues, no road blocks and an unusually efficient check in, as the hotel receptionist had remembered our details from four days ago. This made for an early arrival and time to visit the hotel spa.... or have a quick kip, in some cases, before heading out for dinner.

09/05/2025

Got a bit higher than yesterday about 7800 ft as we exited Andorra to France. It seemed like everyone was going the other way. Duty free Andorra must be causing great angst in the Elysee. If the French would deploy as much manpower in Calais as we saw deployed on roadside checks today, Kent would not have a problem with small boats. I guess preventing French citizens from saving a few Euros in taxes then dying of lung cancer and alcoholism is a bigger vote winner than preventing deaths of foreigners keen to get to Blighty..... The ride was excellent we took a remote route through some beautiful countryside. Some of the narrow road had some non protected precipitous drop offs, which didn't help Martin's vertigo. It was a tad nippy but the rain held out and we stayed dry. I am, navigating with a Garmin XT and a phone running OsmAnd. Both are running the same Tracks. At one point today, the lines went in different directions at a major junction. No idea why. I bet on the Garmin.... and lost. The Osmand track actually existed on the ground. 5km after the turn The Garmin track did not! We had to go back to the divergent junction. I have always believed Sat nav's use Voodoo to calculate routes (which is why I use tracks). I think the Garmin must also have a JuJu option for displaying tracks too!

08/05/2025

High point so far! 6630ft... a little explore around Andorra today. There are not a lot of roads to explore in this small and slightly odd principality. But there is some wonderful scenery and it is a tick in the box for those that have not stayed here before.

07/05/2025

Yesterday we rode the northern foothills of the Pyrenees. Today we head to the higher parts further south in a 250 mile twisty trip. We stop after the first mile. Seduced by blue skies and a toasty warm secure garage, those without sufficient layers discover that 6 degrees Celsius in a morning is quite parky, and more insulation is in fact required. In an apparent breech of the laws of nature, the temperature climbs with our altitude and the said insulation is ditched by coffee time. Shortly after so is the route plan. The "road" so carefully chosen to be remote and unique, has deteriorated to a track with fist sized stones instead of tarmac. There are at least 10 miles to go to hit a larger road. The Husky is fine, JB on his FJ would be left to his own misery whilst we press on, as he was in Morocco, but this is no place for rider with hardly any non tarmac experience on a brand new ninja 1000... So we turn around, head back the way we came for 27 miles and then enact a 38 mile detour..... It is actually no hardship as the detour road is really good. It is clearly well documented too, as we meet groups of Porsches and Ferrari/ Maclaren owners and quite a few bikes going the opposite way. It does however add a bit of time to the planned arrival but as this is Spain, and no one eats until an hour before sunrise, that doesn't matter.
The scenery today did not disappoint, and the hotel turns out to be quite posh with a pool and spa.

06/05/2025

One wrong turn. About 101 traffic lights, an extensive, if unplanned, tour of Bilbao. More sweat than a weightlifter in a sauna, and 50 minutes later we are 50 metres from where we set off.... bu**er!
Eventually we do get out of town and on the route. The first 50 km is primarily a 30mph speed limit. After the first 10 we are in open countryside which should be a "National". This is clearly a ploy to force traffic on to the toll road that runs adjacent.
I subscribe to the theory that, in Europe, the further south you go, the more advisory the law becomes. So we enjoy a fine flowing road at speeds that would been perfectly acceptable until a politician with a point to make, interfered with common sense. Eventually the speed limits on these beautiful roads do become "normal" and, as all the traffic has indeed diverted to the toll road, the riding is sublime. The weather less so, it is at first wet and quite cold. After our coffee stop it dries up a little but ominous black clouds are following us as we try to stay ahead of the weather front. Progress is impeded somewhat by a bloke in a gigantic tractor that is in no hurry to let us past on mountain road that turns into gravel, populated by a heard of unhurried cows. Somehow we manage to patiently negotiate all of this and avoid the worst of the weather. On the descent I spot a "no motor vehicles" sign in my mirrors. Strange, we didn't see one on the way up.... We finally make it to our hotel 250 miles and about 2 hours later than intended, but dry and happy. It was a bit of an epic day after all.

HuskyHobo

17/06/2025

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