markturner1960
Well-known member
- Joined
- 26 Nov 2016
- Messages
- 215
The planned highlight of the year for me was A Spanish road trip, just me and the wife in the GT3, not an organised one like last year. I have been planning it for a few months now, and had booked the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao so we arrived right in the good stuff and limited the miles I would be putting on the car ( Travelling down through France can be nice if you have the extra few days to make the most of it but time was limited and the mileage consideration was also important, having done 3500 miles last year when I drove all the way).
We had booked accommodation at the Paradors, different one each night. These are state run hotels, usually either in some historic old building or spectacular location and are generally reliable and very nice to stay in. The wife and I had also stayed in some of them on a road trip we did when we first met around 20 years ago, so we thought it would be nice to revisit some of them!
Unfortunately as D day arrived, on the 28th, it was clear from the forecast, that not only was it likely we would be leaving in the rain, but we would also be dodging it on my planned routes in the Pyrenees. This meant some frantic re planning of the route in conjunction with the Spanish weather forecasts and new GPS files etc for the garmin, which I did not need at the last minute! OK, its just a bit of rain, you say, but there was no way I was going all that way to drive in the rain on those roads!
I had originally planned to zig zag across up and down the valleys and cols from West to East and then back again, so factored in a southerly detour for the rainy day in the Pyrenees down to the Parador at Alcaniz and then back up into the mountains to carry on east to west back to Bilbao.
I had spent some hours planning the route, deliberately choosing roads that looked twisty and interesting and hopefully a good mix of fast sweeping stuff and more tight and twisty corners. I was not to be disappointed ! Curves Pyrenees by Stefan Bolger provided some inspiration, as well as some roads I remembered from several sorties on my motorbike with the lads several years earlier.
So everything was carefully planned, the car cleaned, checked and ready, with plenty of tyre repair get you home aerosols ( My main worry was a puncture out in the boonies...for which reason I fitted the standard wheels , figuring those sizes may be easier to get a replacement in) tools, small bags packed ( the scaffolding in the back of the GT3 means access for any rigid bags or cases is impossible) and we were ready to go.....
Wednesday morning, we were up at 5am, and off at 6 to Portsmouth, in the rain as predicted, which was a blow, but it did stop outside London, at least...The ferry trip was 24 hours , which we were dreading a little and sure enough, it was rough on the way and pretty boring, but we managed to sleep OK and woke up the next day excited and ready to leave. It was humid and slightly overcast in Bilbao, which boded well and we were soon on our way, only for it to piss down about 20 minutes in...ho hum...The road was also really busy and slow with lorries and roadworks as we headed southeast towards Olite, our first stop. However, as soon as we cleared the coast area, near Vitoria Gastiez, we were in decent weather, which put a smile on my face, especially as I could start to stretch Yellowbird's legs a bit. We were on the A132 from Vitoria towards Estella then the N132 towards Tafalla. A great bit of road, through rural farmlands of the Rioja, very little traffic ( which was to be a feature of the trip) and some great opportunities for some "spirited driving", so I let her rip...Here is the route we took:
We rolled into Olite around 4pm, which strangely , was not at all how we remembered it from 20 years ago ! I left the missus relaxing at the Parador and went to clean the car and fill up with 98 so we were ready for the morning. Then I got the car parked up:
Once back we had a walk around the lovely old castle and church complex the Parador was part of:
and then got stuck into some a couple of beers and very welcome massive " spanish measures" Vodkas and tonics in the town square,
While we waited for 8.30 to roll around ( generally the earliest you can head out for dinner in Spain..) We found a very nice Tapas restaurant nearby and ate very well on barbecued prawns, peppers, local cheeses and ham, all washed down some some very agreeable local red (14% !!)
Next day, we had a pretty intense day planned, as we had to get right across to Vic in the East, without using motorways and boring roads, so it was 280 miles of twistys and fast stuff, we needed to on the way by around 9am......
To be continued....
We had booked accommodation at the Paradors, different one each night. These are state run hotels, usually either in some historic old building or spectacular location and are generally reliable and very nice to stay in. The wife and I had also stayed in some of them on a road trip we did when we first met around 20 years ago, so we thought it would be nice to revisit some of them!
Unfortunately as D day arrived, on the 28th, it was clear from the forecast, that not only was it likely we would be leaving in the rain, but we would also be dodging it on my planned routes in the Pyrenees. This meant some frantic re planning of the route in conjunction with the Spanish weather forecasts and new GPS files etc for the garmin, which I did not need at the last minute! OK, its just a bit of rain, you say, but there was no way I was going all that way to drive in the rain on those roads!
I had originally planned to zig zag across up and down the valleys and cols from West to East and then back again, so factored in a southerly detour for the rainy day in the Pyrenees down to the Parador at Alcaniz and then back up into the mountains to carry on east to west back to Bilbao.
I had spent some hours planning the route, deliberately choosing roads that looked twisty and interesting and hopefully a good mix of fast sweeping stuff and more tight and twisty corners. I was not to be disappointed ! Curves Pyrenees by Stefan Bolger provided some inspiration, as well as some roads I remembered from several sorties on my motorbike with the lads several years earlier.
So everything was carefully planned, the car cleaned, checked and ready, with plenty of tyre repair get you home aerosols ( My main worry was a puncture out in the boonies...for which reason I fitted the standard wheels , figuring those sizes may be easier to get a replacement in) tools, small bags packed ( the scaffolding in the back of the GT3 means access for any rigid bags or cases is impossible) and we were ready to go.....
Wednesday morning, we were up at 5am, and off at 6 to Portsmouth, in the rain as predicted, which was a blow, but it did stop outside London, at least...The ferry trip was 24 hours , which we were dreading a little and sure enough, it was rough on the way and pretty boring, but we managed to sleep OK and woke up the next day excited and ready to leave. It was humid and slightly overcast in Bilbao, which boded well and we were soon on our way, only for it to piss down about 20 minutes in...ho hum...The road was also really busy and slow with lorries and roadworks as we headed southeast towards Olite, our first stop. However, as soon as we cleared the coast area, near Vitoria Gastiez, we were in decent weather, which put a smile on my face, especially as I could start to stretch Yellowbird's legs a bit. We were on the A132 from Vitoria towards Estella then the N132 towards Tafalla. A great bit of road, through rural farmlands of the Rioja, very little traffic ( which was to be a feature of the trip) and some great opportunities for some "spirited driving", so I let her rip...Here is the route we took:
We rolled into Olite around 4pm, which strangely , was not at all how we remembered it from 20 years ago ! I left the missus relaxing at the Parador and went to clean the car and fill up with 98 so we were ready for the morning. Then I got the car parked up:
Once back we had a walk around the lovely old castle and church complex the Parador was part of:
and then got stuck into some a couple of beers and very welcome massive " spanish measures" Vodkas and tonics in the town square,
While we waited for 8.30 to roll around ( generally the earliest you can head out for dinner in Spain..) We found a very nice Tapas restaurant nearby and ate very well on barbecued prawns, peppers, local cheeses and ham, all washed down some some very agreeable local red (14% !!)
Next day, we had a pretty intense day planned, as we had to get right across to Vic in the East, without using motorways and boring roads, so it was 280 miles of twistys and fast stuff, we needed to on the way by around 9am......
To be continued....