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Today was to be a rest day but the night before we found out that if we wanted to ride an out n back trip today no problem....we all put our hands up except one. Pina .... he was riding to Pamplona come hell or high water. He is a bit of a lone rider that way. We all had breakfast another great one...and with that the rest of us loaded up leaving our bags in our rooms. This time Roger was leading....I should let y'all know its not pronounced Roger...its Rojerrrrrrrrrrr.
So the idea of the ride it to go south then north up a valley then cross over into another valley via this small beautifully paved mountain pass roads that almost no one is on. The roads were built just to connect a small village in the next valley at times else they were cut off. These are little things I am learning from our guides when we chat. We will go up a valley following a river then do it again to come down another one....then cross back to head back to where we started. These connecting roads sounded great as Martin and Roger lit up each time they described them in our briefing. Only problem is that they are not traveled a lot and get dusty.... uhhh dust+asphalt+bike= ugh.... so we just need to be aware.
Off we went and its an amazing view right out of the gate....so we ended up following a downhill valley through yet another tunnel and we seem to be getting luck with the weather as it was okay.....sun up and not a bad chill in the air at all. There was a bit of highway drive after the weather is a bit dicey....so we had put our rain gear on, hate that....soon as you do the rain goes away. We turned off the secondary hiway and stopped at a Repsol to full up. I had learned at another Repsol that Rossi had won the last motogp Wahoooo!!!! This is Marquez country and you can buy all sorts of Marquez things in the Repsol stores, not much Rossi stuff for sale.
We continued up the valley and took a left to our first cross over road....whahoooooo. Thats all I got to say about that. Beautiful pavement...an dd very scenic. We eventually pulled into a Basque village that Roger and Martin knew had a cool cafe. We are in Basque country by the way....uh I really never realized how much of a culture the Basque culture is.
Apparently they have unique haircuts....and are known to be the local tough guys. They also dress in a certain way that you can pick them out of a crowd. Also you know you are in something Basque because of the font used in the signage. Its very unique....never knew that.
So we end up in the coooool old town and wander down the street and there is an awesome cafe. Roger raved about the Tortilla Spanish Omelet here so I had to try one. OMG good. Seems its hard to get a really good Spanish omelet here.....its not an easy thing to do right so Roger filled me in. Again...I did not know that...but crap was it good. Its not a tapa though. Also the coffee is top drawer again. Have you notice a trend yet.... we have breakfast....gone at 9 .... ride for a bit...find a cool spot for coffee .... chillax a bit.....ride some more....stop of a cool lunch somewhere neat.....ride for a bit and then another coffee....and we end up at our destination. All along the way culture lessons, food lessons, and I am learning some great riding lines, oh mixed with some espanol too lol. I am very much digging riding with both Martin and Roger, I have some serious respect for the GS now. The throw it around like a gp bike and I have to work the RT more to get the same result I think The RT is keeping up fine however and is proving it can be thrown around no problem.
The owner of the restaurant was a pretty cool ole crusty guy with a big grin on. A tour bus showed up just in time for us to leave.....yup they were wandering about....time to go.
We hopped on the bikes again and it was great riding.....I can not for the life of me remember the town names that we pass through there are so many...and they all have multiple words in the name. So I gave up trying a while before. But we did roll into another really cool town on the river for lunch and followed the cobblestone road to the village center and parked it at the cafe for lunch. A very Basque town. They make a mean bacon sandwich.....and the cool part was 3 girls and 3 boys were playing on a stage that was set u. They were actually doing the local dances and making traditional music and signing. Was cool to watch no one was making them do it they were doing it on their own. After lunch we walked around the Basque village and it was cool and very old. We went to the church and wandered the streets for a bit taking pics until it was time to go again.
The riding was great....and now we got a to the last valley and road out to almost the main hwy. We turned a corner and there was Pini.... he briefly joined us then as we were on the hwy....flew by us all at at least 160 I think ......and he was gone. Roger pulled into a cafe down the road for a coffee break and here told us about the monastery near Jaca and asked it we wanted to split off to see it. I said sure...and so did Phil. It means a turn to the south of the main hwy and there are a couple o ways to get there. Phil was going to take a longer way with twisty roads that went the opposite direction than me. My route was shorter and more direct but had twistys to. Martin put a point in my GPS for the Monastery "San Juan e la Pena"...you should google it....seriously.
The story is that a local noble was chasing a deer and the deer jumped over a hedge. He followed the only issue is that it was a cliff. Seeing his impending death he prayed at whole bunch on the way down...both his horse and himself slowed for a gentle landing.....seems a hermit was living there and all he did was pray...so this guys sold the farm and became a monk / hermit and stated to build the monastery right there....in the rock.
We took of and Phil peeled off.....and I peeled off later. I came into an amazing historic town...so stopped for pics etc etc...then headed up to the monastery...wahoooo great road. this thing popped out of the blue. Parked in front....got in caca....but I was okay to park a few feet from my original spot...hmmm. I paid the fee and explored...wow...amazing and cool. People can do some strange things......but it looked pretty impressive. There are two monastery's the other is a km up the hill. A tour bus showed up.....time to leave. Hopped on the bike for the climb to the second one. Great road full of narrow switchbacks. Popped out on a treed plain with a big building the looks like a hotel, but the front is an old Church...weird. So I parked ... apparently in a bus zone...took some pics and the bus showed up and I got in trouble...so I decided It is not that intriguing so I should go....hopped on....the tourists were taking my picture and am not sure why. I headed back the way I came....wahoooooooooo. I was going to stop at a vew point I saw going up to the first monastery. quick trip down...stopped could see the town I was in and take some cool pics....then realized ahhh crap....I was going the wrong way now. Quick uturn and got to ride it again. As I got to the first monastery....there was Phil parked going the other way I gave a toot and a wave and kept on going.
I got to the same road I had parked on and as I turned the bus driver stated honking like crazy....I though crap what did I do wrong....I slowed up....and finally figured out the the driver was telling me my top box was open. Frig...ooops. Nothing missing but duhhhhhh. I thanked the guy massively and off I went. Crazy road excellant pavement for half of it and it was very curvy and narrow....great fun The other half was same twistiness but very bumpy road. Teeth were rattling on that one...but it was still fun. Pulled into town...now it was simply a matter of finding the hotel again. I zipped along and there was Phil...so I pulled in behind started thinking and waving like he was holding up traffic....nothing....pulled up beside him and he was like heyyy! He was taking it easy so I passed and headed to the hotel where I thought it was. Soon enough I saw the twinkle of Phil's light in me mirror. Seems he did not have GPS so decided to catch up to me just in case... either way we found the hotel no prob.
Martin and Roger seemed happy to see us and were working on Dan's bike. It seem to have developed a small oil leak. Martin also let me know they got a different room for me if I wanted it. I had mentioned more out of curiosity why the rooms were so small as mine was the size of my bed. He went and talked to the owner and I found myself in great room with a deck with an amazing view of the mountains not like my other room. The manager apologized profusely but I was okay with it and thanked him much.
This eve was on us to figure out so we all just ate at the hotel restaurant. I however discovered a bottle of Zacapa rum....yaaaa. good stuff don't even need ice with it. They seem to not measure like back home lots of glug glugs in the glass. The after dinner convo (I had some kinda stew that was really good) got a bit heated.....but no one killed anyone...politics etc. I stayed out of it rum was fine.
Great day...tomorrow we head south......
- comments
Dave I read your bog blog at 40000 feet today looked like another amazing view day