Off in the morning, as the forecast looks good for a few days. Heading down past Castres, then to Tarascon sur Ariège, near to Foix. Plan after that is to ride some pre selected roads in the mountains. Finish near Pau, but booked in to a Hotel at Lourdes. Then a cunning plan to find some twisty roads back, roughly via Agen. Some photos and road numbers to follow in next few days...I hope.
Went down to Spain a few weeks ago, stayed in Pau, France then into Spain, did most of the 260, stayed in Ripoll Spain for 3 nights. Fantastic holiday. Enjoy
Mmm looks great. Enjoy the sunshine. I have fond memories of the road from Mazamet to Carcassonne when visiting a mate in Bram many years ago.
Yep, good roads. A few years since I was on that section, in a car at the time. Probably stop for a coffee in Castres. (some big trout in the river there btw..)
Got loads of photos and some good roads to share In Lourdes tonight. If anyone is short of money, you need to find god. Never seen as much ' religous' commerce.
Started at 8 degrees, quickly down to 4! Meh, Northern lad, thats warm... 25degrees this afternoon. Pyrenees, awesome. Barely any traffic atm. Though some roads closed. Gmaps worth using as well as sat nav...for when roads are shut. What a swine having to do an amazing pass twice! At speed second time, trying to ride in daylight. Amazing the diffrrence with low sun this time of year. Some valleys nearly dark, much earlier than you would think.
Obviously, did this trip on the GS. Wish I had put the hand guards back on. Cold on a morning. Sticky late aftrnoon. GS is still THE do-it-all. Foot pegs down, in comfort. Big thumbs up from a guy on one of the passes when he saw the fast tractor hooning past him. Well, I was running late..
If it helps, watching a western on the telly. James Stewart, John Wayne. In French. But the French sub titles do not match the speach. Life is hard.
The hell it is !! (does John Wayne say that it French !) What a result with the weather and the scenery. Probably got there just in time - could all change soon and that would be it for the year. I rode down to the Aragon MotoGP one year in September and that was great as well. The fierce heat of summer had gone and the light was all different and the colours richer - not so bleached out from the summer sun. Something really different. Keep us posted....
Heading back home (to me) in the morning. Probably wet by the afternoon looking at meteo. Lets see if can find some new good roads enroute, and pics. Cant complain, better than going back and forth over Hartside for the rest of days, though one of the few roads I miss.
Btw, save up if heading over in 2022. 30 euros for just short of 18 litres yesterday, posh 98octane, but what the fcuk, and from one of the super market forecourts at that. What price super posh Shell?? But they had sh1tloads of fuel Pah, but you guys have Ducati and loadsa money.. Things sure have changed since my first France trip in 08!
So, left Lourdes this morning. Realised why parking was so expensive at Best Western...I had hired the whole floor! Found some good roads, heading north back to my place, trying to avoid motorways and miles of straights. Merciac looked a bit grim on the approach road but had a fantastic centre ville. This was the view back with the Pyrenees behind (next year...) Then some great little villages but I wanted to make progress...boring photo...showing road number for my return. Great surface, fast, low traffic, no cameras...
