Day 2 - Santander / Caen to Sunbilla
Day 2 - Santander / Caen to Sunbilla
Thursday 22/06/2023
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The reunion
Managed to get a few hours of sleep on the boat in the seating area which was mostly empty. Turns-out there were showers and I was able to refresh myself before today's big push into Spain.
Being around the longest day of the year and arriving in Caen at 06:30 gave me plenty of daylight to cover the miles and reunite with the boys. I had a 4+ hour headstart on them as my ferry was much earlier than their one. Obviously Leon was hungry so they lost more time in McDonalds. By the time they called me to say that they were just about to start their route, I was already 250 miles further South.
The day started well but I got flashed twice by speed cameras (hopefully they were just front facing ones). By the time I was passing Le Mans it was already raining very heavily and it didn't stop until just before Bordeaux. By the time I was able to stop to put my waterproofs on I was already soaked and did get a bit cold. After Bourdeaux it was too hot. Also lost the cover and lock for my toolbox... Shame as I spent ages adopting the lock to fit my key but luckily all my tool somehow didn't fall out. Must have not put it back on properly when I was preparing to remove the wheel in Chippenham!
Very uneventful ride until the last 20 miles when I crossed into Spain and was treated to great roads within minutes. Ended-up getting to the campsite that Konrad found (made my day shorter) before the boys - they arrived 15 minutes behind me having re-jigged the route and having done some adventurous riding. Very tired, but the campsite location is stunning and they have a restaurant so food and beers alround!
We made it, now we can relax and pick-up the schedule from day 2!
I will leave Konrad to record his and Leon's day.
Konrad and Leon:
We left the ferry at 11am, after the usual chaos of unloading, getting some fuel and morning Maccies in- fuelled up for a long day of riding! The plan was to meet our dad north of Pamplona - so we picked a campsite and sent the details to him, built our own route and decided to do a long cross country day on mostly Spanish B roads.
We headed south and went off the motorways onto some smaller B roads straight from the port, including a stop to Las Vegas (Cantabria), through the bumpy, epic pass of Portillo de Lunada, before heading on more B roads to Mirador Puerto de Oraña, and a long switchback road. A dash of motorway and we were in the Basque Country, headed through Legutio and another epic mountain road to Arrasate to grab fuel. Heading east after our stop, we went to Onati, a small series of tiny roads through the hills east to Beasain, then joining a windy motorway to Tolosa, where we took the backroads to Leiza, and an epic empty and twisty section to Doneztebe. We found out we'd been beaten to the campsite by 20 minutes by our dad- so our plan to meet had worked out! It's great to be back together again and while it was an intense day, we had an epic adventure even if we didn't stop as much as we could and got to a lovely campsite with 360 mountain views.
The sheer variety was incredible for five and a half hours- from epic mountain passes, long hairpin ascents and decents, long flowy roads and a mix, Spain has been fantastic and mostly dry so far.
Tomorrow we do a bonus mountain pass before re-joining the schedule. Made it here just in time for the good stuff.
Fines: 0 (possibly 2 in the post)
Bribes: 0 (£45 tolls)
Ass pain: 7/10 (Andy - 5/10 for the others)
Mechanical issues: 1 Puncture, 1 lost toolbox cover
Accidents: 0
Wetness: 9/10 (Andy)
Coldness: 3/10 (Andy)
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