10 days touring (of which 2 nights on the ferry) Portugal and the Picos. Plymouth to Santander boat, weather was crap in Santander but soon brightened up as we headed for Leon. One night here then on to Bragança in Portugal for 4 nights. Some great roads around here with very little traffic, loved it. Then 2 nights in Potes to ride some of the Picos, there seems to be a lot more 70 KPH limits here and also more traffic. Great trip until we get home and join that useless M5. Turned off at Chepstow to go the back route home and came across a bloody awful storm, the rain actually hurt through my jacket. Fork lighting, dark, cold and wet. Welcome home!!!! Shit country.
The whole of Northern Spain and Northern Portugal are fabulous for riding motorcycles imo. Mainly great road surfaces, lovely scenery, lots of bends, and reasonable prices. I am off with a group on Wednesday riding my MV Agusta 175 out from Porto, up into Spain and back via the Douro valley. I'm just hoping the wildfires they have had, don't affect our route too much.
Quite a few familiar views there, fabulous area for a tour and the fact that you roll off the ferry and can be in the mountains within half a hour can't be ignored.
I have just returned from a 700 mile, 4 day tour of Northern Portugal and Spain on my MV Agusta 175. Excellent roads and scenery the whole trip. First pic is overlooking the Rio Sil in Spain, east of Ourense. 2nd and 3rd are crossing the Estrella National Park which rises to 2000m. Highly recommended.
Sound like you had an adventure, how did the bikes hold up? I’d quite like to do a trip on my 1977 z400 but wonder how it would cope.
Did the Picos and the Serra da Estrella National Park back in 2019, same time of year. Looks like you got decent weather. I was grateful I'd taken some warmer kit for the ride home from Plymouth... Highest point in Serra da Estrella Dash, check temperature In the Picos on the way home It wasn't all mist and snow though, some decent weather too. just higher altitudes at this time of year can get a tad chilly.
We had 10 bikes taken to Porto in a van, which then became a support van in case of breakdowns and to carry luggage. A sensible precaution on 70 year old 175cc bikes in my opinion. My MV Agusta didn't miss a beat. My mates Gilera broke a clutch cable, and then the clutch lever, but that was a 15 minute fix, filing down a spare lever to fit. A honda 175 had charging issues, but was also fixed. No bikes ended up in the van. On previous trips you often get one fail beyond fixing out of a group of ten. If your z400 is well prepared and regularly does decent mileages at home I would expect it to work without issue. In my opinion the tight mountain roads can be as much fun on smaller bikes. Personally I would have a back up plan such as a van or breakdown insurance with repatriation of the bike to the uk, in case the worst happens.
Great info thanks. I’ve done a 150 mile day on the z400 and it never missed a beat Infact it’s the only bike I have that doesn’t cause me any bother.
