South from Zaragoza
The balmy weather that greeted us on our arrival in Bilbao and kindly rode with us to Zaragoza has parted company and a chilly morning in single digits Celsius greets our departure from Zaragoza. We successfully negotiate the two levels of underground car park and are soon heading heading south, well rugged up with winter thermals and winter gloves to keep us warm. The heated grips still work, yeah. Unfortunately the dexterity required to operate cameras is sacrificed, so fewer of Anne’s great riding photos will populate this blog entry.
A coffee stop reminds us that you can still get your favourite tipple; beer, spirits etc at the motorway cafes, this has not changed since we rode here in 2012. What has changed is the number of people that speak english, usually the younger generation but not always. We even met one woman with a Manchurian accent from her time in the UK. It does make life easier for us, especially me.
We leave the highway and onto the smaller roads we prefer as we head for a planned lunchtime stop at Albarracín. As we approach, the ever darkening skies portend heavy rain later in the day. Our final destination is only 100km away but the twists and turns en route it will take us two hours. A snap decision, we do not want to ride wet and cold on mountain twisties, Albarracín will have to wait for another day. Through the tunnel under Albarracín we go. As we wend our way up and down over various passes towards Cuenca, the temperature drops as we cross each pass at one point the sign says 1685 m which I take to be metres above sea level, over 5,500 ft. We avoid most of the rain (although we did stop to don our waterproof jackets) and arrive some two hours later as predicted. I would not want to ride any faster thanks. Although cold, what a fantastic ride, through ever changing scenery, perfect curves and very little traffic.
While we are staying away from the old town at a hotel with off street parking, we head towards the centre of town to look at a couple of restaurants Anne has identified as having gluten free options and are open from 8pm. At the first, the sign of a painter with his brushes and paint locking the doors just before 8pm is an indication you cannot rely on what you read on the internet, similarly the locked gate at the second restaurant means we will rely on old fashioned looking in windows to chose our dining place.
We enter Mesón Darling a quiet looking cafe. We get the menu and Anne reads out the options, “tail”, “trotter”, “ear”… “Anything from the middle” I ask. I really am not that adventurous on eating all the extremities of animals, tasty as they may be. We do get a couple of good options and as we eat the place fills with locals eating drinking and talking, the cafe really is part of the social fabric of Spanish society.
Cuenca old city is a thin finger of land rising upwards as we trudge up from the bottom. There is a bus service to the top, but you cannot enjoy all the sights in the same way from the window of a bus, so we walk up. The photos say it better that I can but we really enjoyed our time here.
While we have adapted slowly to the eating habits in Spain, we have enthusiastically embraced the depth and variety of Tapas, but our stomachs have not fully adjusted to the later eating times. Each place we visit to eat from city restaurants to country cafes, we find we are able to navigate the respective menus and get “sin queso” “sin gluten” options. We are impressed with the friendliness of the staff and always get a free small plate of something from the kitchen even of we are only having a drink.
Apart from the cool weather and occasional rain which we have managed to miss most of we are having a very enjoyable time in Spain. Tomorrow we continue further south having seen and done so much in less than a week.
– Anthony
P.S. Can you add your initials or name to any comment so we can identify who they are from. Thanks
Zaragoza
We wake in Zaragoza in the centre of town. Anne found a hotel location with offsite parking, hard to find and only two levels underground to navigate. (Anne’s note: it wan’t just “only 2 levels underground”. It was a scary ride down a shiny, dark, very tight corkscrew which kept Anne awake the following night with worry. While the dirt road riding before Olite had gone really well, one tight left hand hairpin was badly handled and forced Anne to stop. Righthand hairpins were never a problem. The left ones were now nervewracking. Very annoying. The thought of riding back up that corkscrew terrified her until she decided to walk it the next day – it wasn’t that bad after all and would be easy enough. Her head can get in the way sometimes!! And the ride back up a few days later was fine indeed).
Zaragoza lies roughly in the centre of the autonomous province of Aragon and half way between Madrid and Barcelona.
Yesterday after our arrival we found a great cafe with many gluten free options across the road from the hotel, so food is covered.
Supermarkets are cleverly tucked away inside the centre of large buildings – their street frontage barely wider than an apartment entrance and easy to miss. A small entrance and what looks like just a couple of aisles of products can expand to include fresh meat and fish stands. Everything you need close to your apartment.
It is apparent that many people in Zaragoza live in apartments and life appears to revolve around nearby parks and the cafés which seems to be the social hub. Each cafe had customers at the counter, small tables and often a more formal dining area towards the back.
The sixth is Anne’s birthday and after giving her a birthday card, no room for presents on the bike sadly, we are off to our first site to visit today: the laundrette for an exciting hour of watching clothes going round and round.
Better follows for Anne though, despite her migraine and coughing bug she woke up with, as we go to El Sardi for a Birthday lunch. We are the first guests again, not quite used to the Spanish eating times. While the meal was delicious, it was the random act of kindness from the restaurant manager which was the most memorable. He had noticed how much Anne had enjoyed a whole tin of anchovies that he presented her with another one before leaving. Those anchovies were not only delicate and juicy but without a single fish bone – couldn’t call these “hairy fish”. Lucky Anthony doesn’t enjoy them!!
The weather forecast in Spain has been cold and rainy and we are glad we stayed put an extra day.
Time for lots of walking and discovering including a visit to the Palace of Aljafería.
After a few relaxing days in Zaragoza, it looks like the weather is fining up a bit, so off we head to Cuenca next.
No camping though as it is still forecast to be pretty cold and wet so a hotel booking is made for Cuenca.
– Anthony
An early start from Bilbao.
Brittany Ferries operate on UK time while at sea, but port arrivals are in local time. I guess it makes sense as most of the passengers are from the UK but as we passed the French coast around Ushant off Brittany on Friday our mobiles switched to French time an hour ahead which caused us no end of confusion for setting alarms for our early arrival into Bilbao.
We realise as we are passing the Brittany coast that in early July 2023 we were camping above the beach near the three rocky outcrops. What a coincidence.
Packed, breakfast and down to Streak and Storm waiting patiently for our arrival. A quick U turn, down the ramp and we are on Spanish soil. A cheerful and swift passport control, waived through Customs and we are off. Since the demise of our trusty Garmin GPS on the last trip in 2023, I have relied on the maps on the iPhone as a substitute using a Quad Lock to secure the iPhone to Storm. The Garmin had features such as “avoid tolls” which if they exist on the iPhone maps I have yet to discover them.
The superb maze of highways around Bilbao provide us a clean exit from both the port and city as we follow the well signposted A-8 eastwards. Given the difficult landscape, which includes soaring peaks that need numerous tunnels, we find all the roads have been well constructed. Some countries could take note of the excellent engineering undertaken to provide a quality road network. We plan to take the lesser well known roads and zig zag our way to Olite/Erriberri where we will see Palico (Palace) Real de Olite.
A stop in Altsau/ Alsasua provides Anne with a coffee fix and me with the thickest chocolate drink I have ever had. I had to eat most of it with a spoon. More like a desert than a drink but yes I would go back in an instant for another one.
Onwards and upwards, a combination of the NA-7183 then NA-718 from Altsau/ Alsasua to Estella-Lizarra take us up through winding hairpins, scenic views and moss covered forests. Our so called adventure riding exploration is tempered by the large number of extremely fit cyclists undertaking the same roads! Along with walkers and other motorcyclists it seems the entire population is undertaking some outdoor activity.
Palico Real de Olite which was one of the seats of court of the Kings of Navarre until the conquest of the Kingdom of Navarre by Castile in 1512. The current palace was rebuilt from 1937 onwards having been damaged by fire in 1813 by Spanish forces to stop Napoleon’s troops using the castle as a base. It was worth the visit and we get over 65’s rates. Both in the castle and around the town of Olite we realise that the majority other visitors are Spanish. We enjoy walking around the town, stopping at a market stall to buy tasty caramelised almonds.
As we walk back to our hotel with lunchtime supplies for the next few days the familiar sound of a group motorcycles draw near. Anne realises it is the crowd of riders from Pickering in Yorkshire on the same ferry. Not only have they followed us to the same town, but the same hotel. Well not quite. They are all riding 350 to 400cc bikes lightly packed and splattered with mud. They have been following sections of the Spanish TET (Trans European Trails), what is that you may well ask, en route to tackle the ACT (Adventure Country Track) across the Pyrenees. They are all seasoned off road riders and have had a most enjoyable day. It just happens that the TET in Spain crossed our path in Olite. Note to self: must put some mud on the bikes to make us look more adventurous.
The TET in Spain is part of a similar network of motorcycle trails across Europe identified and available for off road riders. The riders from Yorkshire explained that the TET can be harder in places than the ACT but we know that neither will be in our plans for the next few weeks.
The Bardenas Reales of Navarra is a desert like area of over 41,000 hectares / 100,000 acres in the South East of Navarra Province which was declared a Natural Park in 1999. A 34km. / 21ml. gravel road gives us an opportunity to both explore the area and try some of the mildest off road conditions we could experience. Beautiful scenery, stark peaks greet us as we ride around the centre of the park. Birdsong greets us each time we stop.
We ride onwards to Zaragoza where will spend a couple of nights ahead of Anne’s birthday. Two magnificent days with Streak and Storm on a variety of roads under blue skies. We are so lucky.
– Anthony
Family time
We arrive at London Gatwick quite refreshed after our slow 3 hop journey from Brisbane, my sister and brother-in-law there to welcome us back which is always lovely. Luckily, our 3 suitcases, suitbag, one helmet and 2 on-board wheely bags fit in their car. Yes that is a ridiculously huge amount of luggage – in our defense (maybe) is the fact that we are away over spring, summer and autumn, have a 2.5 month motorcycle trip and a 2 day wedding mid June – one large suitcase is full of just our motorcycle gear.
The priority for this trip is family and in particular seeing and spending time with my 95 year old mother. We saw her every day over 7 days. Ageing can be tough and cruel but at least everyday is a welcome surprise seeing us…
We are fortunate to have spent time with both our sisters and husbands, all my nephews and nieces (Anthony’s will be when we return hopefully). Lots of chats, games indoors and outdoors, lots of good food, plenty of champagne and a short trip to Paris to see my stepmother. Even saw our grand-nephews singing in the Salisbury Cathedral choir (No photos allowed).
Our trip to Paris to see my stepmother Marie-Laure is short and, as always, filled with exhibitions and of course good food and champagne. The first ones are at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, starting with an exhibition of Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, an icon of Art Deco, who triumphed at the 1925 Exhibition. Although he is famous for his luxurious furniture, his passion for decorative motifs is less known. This exhibition only covered his textile design, no furniture. Due to the small intimate size of the exhibition, we spent longer admiring each item. Unlike when one visits places like the Louvre or the Hermitage where the sheer size of the rooms and the number of artworks can become overwhelming and you end up glancing or walking past the majority. One surprising addition were 2 sketch books of Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann’s which we could flick through.
We made the most to admire some early 20th century jewellery in another exhibition next door and especially some art deco masterpieces.
The only Australian one displayed was this…
I get Anna Darven’s message relating to British colonisation and Australia’s iconic indigenous animals holding decapitated heads of introduced species – I was surprised that this was the only Australian inclusion in this display, so different to all the rest.
And finally, David Hockney, 25 – David Hockney’s largest ever exhibition, taking over the entire Louis Vuitton exhibition space, concentrates on his past 25 years, spent mainly in Yorkshire, Normandy, and London.
A huge room is dedicated to 220 small iPad paintings he made for friends during Covid to lift their spirits, telling them “Remember, they can’t cancel spring”.
As you may know, I recently finished my last project a few weeks ago. Coincidentally, one of my colleagues Mon was going to be in Paris at the same time as us so we just had to meet up in front of the Eiffel Tower and take a photo for our team, followed by a glass of champagne of course.
We were both glad we finished the project but also grateful we did it with the team we had and the dear friends they became.
Our time in Paris flew by. It was good to return to my father’s grave for the first time since his funeral exactly a year ago and help my stepmother plant some fresh flowers. A good way to end our Paris trip.
Back to my sister overnight for a quick repack for niece-to-be’s hen do. A hosted murder mystery is planned and we are each given our roles a week before the event. So much thought and planning had gone into that week end, held in a massive stunning converted barn in Kent, it was worthy of quietly making the effort into finding the right outfit. But didn’t anyone about it. I couldn’t wait to see my sister and nieces reaction! It was worth it from their screams:
What a fantastic week end! The best hen do I have ever been to. With so many fun and also thoughtful activities.
Visited my mum again then headed to Anthony’s sister Tansy for a few days and lots more chats and meals together. Streak and Storm are stored nearby and we waste no time in collecting them. What do we have in all those bags?! Packing always takes ages as we sort and cull and fix.
What an amazing time we’ve had with everyone, lucky with superb warm weather and our tight timeframe seeing everyone working out perfectly.
And just like that, with time flying by, it was time to say goodbye until we meet up again mid June for the most anticipated wedding and we set off on Streak and Storm loaded and ready for our next road trip, heading for Portsmouth and a ferry to Bilbao.
- Anne
2slowspeeds 