Saddle sore, repairs, 28 degrees and £400k motorcycles

Williams joined the queue from hell to get a beer on the ferry to buy a couple of beers only to get to the end to be told that they will not take Apple Pay….’EDWARDS’! We had a couple of surprisingly good freshly prepared Pizza. Williams tried to order in French much to the bemusement of the French.

After the worse night sleep ever on the ferry we set off at 8am to complete our 500 mile slog into Spain. We skipped the not inconsiderable queue to passport control much to the annoyance of and English old girl in an Audi….should have bought a bike love.

First stop Williams tried to order in French again. It is amazing we got a couple of Coffees, even more amazing when you consider that he asked to 2 pastries.


I returning to the bike we discovered that you really should not modify your bike just before you embark on a 2500 mile trip. The tool bad we fitted to Williams bike had started to rub against the bike tyre making a bit of a mess. Out with the spanners !

Next stop we had the nicest flan from a roadside services and got talking to a fellow BMW rider who was on his way to Portugal to tackle another ACT route (small world)

Oh Em Gee it’s hot, 28° while filtering through Bordeaux. Why anyone would own a car in Bordeaux is beyond us, the traffic is absolutely hateful. We joined a convoy of Bikes filtering at speed through some of the worst traffic jams we’ve ever seen In unbelievable heat. What a contrast to the two previous times we have written to the Pyrenees and it has absolutely pissed down.




The final 30Km were the best of the day, hairpin after harpin through the mountains an waterfalls. We finally arrived at Hostal Ezurkka which turned out to be a bit of a find. The owner locked out bikes away in his garage and then blocked them in with his car.



Yea consisted of Calamari for starter followed by Rib-eye and a bottle of red a a few beers to wash it down. Quality.

At one of the services on the way down Richard got talking to a lovely old guy From the north of England. He was driving a Skoda superb with a trailer and something hidden underneath the cover. Turns out it was two Vincent repide  motorcycles from 1938. He purchased them for £85  1968 And they are now worth £400,000 each, now that’s the way to buy motorcycles. Richard got his number and he is now his best friend despite 100 year age gap, so shallow.