|
|
Today we rode back across the bridge to BMW to get new steering head bearings for the 800.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5344/1...99fe6b49_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5349/1...b89c5bea_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr For the rest of our last day we hiked up to the Castle of St. Jorge for a panoramic view of the city. https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5466/1...e34b8e6e_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8847/1...6abafae1_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8694/1...720a7c56_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8839/1...213864a4_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7677/1...807d08b6_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8749/1...3e183bf7_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 37 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7794/1...f97eb302_c.jpgcabo do Roca-Castillo St Jorge 43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Here we parted from the Swede for a few days, as we needed to get back to Madrid today. This meant a 635 KM highway ride back to Spain.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8759/1...dac4b281_z.jpgScreen Shot 2015-05-20 at 1.16.53 AM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7760/1...4f731b95_c.jpgFILE0403 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8746/1...f5ec5c3f_c.jpgFILE0469 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
New luggage that does not leak
We arrived to Modesto’s apartment where he had stored our new chains and sprockets and our NEW BUMOT PANNIERS!
First we needed to get the old racks off. Several of the crappy screws were stripped on one side of both racks and this meant actually cutting the rack off with a grinder. Opening the boxes from Bumot we were so stoked to see what great build quality the racks and panniers had. The hardware is stainless steel. The panniers themselves are very attractive. The lid system opens out so that the top lies flat and can be used as a shelf. There is no chance it will slam on your fingers (and kill the nail on your thumb like Daniel did on the first moth of the trip). There is no stupid wire holding the lid half open and that gets caught all the time when you are closing the lid (and no white screw knob to hold the wire on that falls off regularly). The top has a rubber gasket so they will not leak like sieves and soak all your gear like our old boxes did almost from day 1. They are really well designed and constructed. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7745/1...85ee04d3_o.jpgbanner by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7664/1...6d9d90fa_o.jpgSONY DSC by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8837/1...51039d76_c.jpgtool_box by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
DID chains
Next we headed to the workshop of Modesto’s friend Javi to cut and install the chains and the sprockets. The DID chains we had put on about 60,000 km ago have lasted very well, but are now done.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7742/1...73425805_c.jpgIMG_3939 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5450/1...9690293e_c.jpgIMG_3935 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7742/1...42ac97e8_c.jpgIMG_3940 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
North to the UK
We finally finished up and left Madrid at 6 pm. We managed to get 167 km north before we had to stop for the night. These are the less glamorous times when you have to do highway time and its raining.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8784/...944ac9b8_o.pngScreen Shot 2015-04-30 at 8.36.57 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
We had been invited to the Bordeaux home of Mike Waterman, who we met at the Moto GP in Argentina last year and who coincidently is going to Iceland on the same ferry as us in June. This meant another 544 KM ride today.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8796/...bc5cf1b6_o.pngScreen Shot 2015-04-30 at 8.35.43 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr Getting up in the morning it was pouring and this continued all day. We rode north again trying to get on and off the highway to avoid the tolls. Near the border of France the road signs are in Spanish and Basque. Welcome to France! https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8712/1...0f354f0b_c.jpgfrance 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We were headed to Mike’s house near Bordeaux. What hospitality. We had aperitifs, bubbly, red wine, oysters on the half shell, steamed mussels, duck, and cassolet. All this and we managed to get to bed finally at 3 am.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8747/1...6f5eceda_c.jpgfrance 7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7708/1...54b434e8_c.jpgfrance 2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8803/1...c020c527_c.jpgfrance 4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8824/1...ddd827e2_c.jpgfrance 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
It was raining, but only lightly today, as we made our way north to La Rochelle to meet up with the Swede.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7791/1...7803cf977d.jpgScreen Shot 2015-05-11 at 9.24.20 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The fastest way from the coast is to get the ferry from Le Verdon-sur Mer to Royan, which stays on the coast but saves driving the long way around the inlet. https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5322/1...bb412e93_c.jpgfrance 13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/world_wide_ride/17575082042" title="IMG_3948 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7764/17575082042_5f78fbe5e8_c.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="IMG_3948"></a> https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8788/1...f7c18b67_c.jpgfrance 14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8784/1...b7e16489_c.jpgfrance 15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
This is a nice little French city on the sea, but in the rain it is just not as picturesque.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8820/1...41899a0b_c.jpgIMG_3958 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7669/1...843f21b6_c.jpgIMG_3960 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5348/1...0cebebd5_c.jpgIMG_3967 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7719/1...3fb863b6_c.jpgIMG_3968 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Today we say goodbye to the Swede again until we get to Sweden in July.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8826/1...c2808b57_c.jpgfrance 17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We set out in the rain, but it only lasted a few hours. We tried to stick to the small roads on the coast, but after 4 hours we had only made it a couple of hundred km, so we headed inland a bit to a secondary road. https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8715/1...768b6752_z.jpgScreen Shot 2015-05-11 at 9.25.21 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We stopped for the night near Carnac to see the Carnac stones, which is a large collection of megalithic sites around the village. There are more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones, which is the largest in the world. They date from 3300-4500 BC. There are 11 converging rows of stones that may have been a circle.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8841/1...76b7ac48_c.jpgfrance 19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7778/1...f0dd2a9d_c.jpgfrance 20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
From here we continued north and then west thru Brittany to get to the port at Roscoff.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5325/1...ee9affea_o.pngScreen Shot 2015-05-19 at 11.47.22 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
To the UK!
By now it was raining again. The ferry leaves Roscoff daily at 3 pm for the 6-8 hour crossing to Plymouth.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7733/1...c66bb166_o.pngScreen Shot 2015-05-19 at 11.48.09 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr You arrive 45 min early and check in at the gate. Here they will ask for your booking reference and passport. After this you drive ahead to the French immigration control where they again want your passport and give you an exit stamp. Drive ahead as directed and to the designated bike parking on board. There were about 20 bikes, but there were several staff there to quickly secure all the bikes with tie downs. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7781/1...c65ef585_c.jpgplymouth 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr They you go up on deck for the 6-hour journey. The sea was fairly rough for the first 3 hours, but then calmed down. Arriving in the UK at 2030 we were directed to off load. All the bikes were then asked to lane split the cars to get to the front of the line for passport control. This was an easy process and we were out to meet our friend Steve. He and his wife Maggie had kindly offered to host us. We had met him at the moto GP last year in Argentina and then again in Cusco, Peru. We hosted him in Vancouver last summer when he was on his way to Alaska. They were incredible hosts in their classic English village. https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8805/1...37e3db64_c.jpgplymouth 2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Plymouth
Steve took us around the city to run all of our errands. He then toured us around the city of Plymouth including an exclusive tour of the Citadel. He is a retired 29 th Commando.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8876/1...0429f4c3_c.jpgplymouth 59 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8810/1...4775aec8_c.jpgplymouth 61 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8771/1...37773cc0_c.jpgplymouth 39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8888/1...09cfa401_c.jpgplymouth 20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5450/1...74079733_c.jpgplymouth 4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8769/1...2e70b332_c.jpgplymouth 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5335/1...2f7df682_c.jpgplymouth 7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7755/1...d495457e_c.jpgplymouth 15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7704/1...0764b2d2_c.jpgplymouth 14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5321/1...015e9f7a_c.jpgplymouth 16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 14:58. |
|