What a great day. Sunshine and 22 degrees, but I was changing plugs too often for my liking.
I had to skip Llanes because the signs were too vague to find the old road. It was the best thing I could have done, as I finished up on the N311 riding through the top half of the Picos de Europa.
The scenery is quite dramatic and stunning. Anyone who likes motorbikes should come here for a ride.
It is a cross between Switzerland, Wales and Spain and bathed in sunshine made it an absolute great diversion, although this morning down some of the deeper gorges, it was freezing fog that cliung to the mountain sides.
I eventually emerged in Gijon and found it too busy to be bothered stopping even the though the bike wanted too.
I did stop briefly to get two tins of Sardines as I hadn´t eaten since the ferry.
The back road to Aviles was easy but again I wasn´t too keen on Aviles so continued on to Soto de Bargo.
The back road came to an abrupt end only 1 km away.
The guy in the cafe told me it was because the road had subsided down into the valley but I would be ok if I squeezed theough the barrier. Keep to the left and I thought he said then keep right at the cross roads.
It was pitch black and having negotiated the 2 yards of remaining road on the left side I headed off pretty quickly. My headlight unfortunately was pointing upwards and I decided in time to push it down to see where I was going. A good move because the cross roads was in fact a whole section of road that was 10 feet lower than it should have been. I stopped in time and found the only passable bit which was on the right of the road. Must learn more Spanish.
The strangest thing then occurred.
The bike stalled and I was off the bike trying to restart it when two wild boar emerged out of the darkness and passed by me only two meters away. It was really scary and I couldn't get back on the bike quick enough.
.I arrived in Soto de Bargo and could quite easily have missed it as it was so small. There was only one bar and that was pretty crowded as Real were playing and was on the TV. I was tired but managed to see out the evening if only for the free tapas that was being shoved under my nose every five minutes. Just across the road was the only accomodation suitable for me. A bus shelter whos back was facing the cold wind of that night. I slept well even though the bench was barely eighteen inches wide. The beauty of finding a shelter near the bar you drink in is that it is generally open the following morning for coffee.
I left after coffee and struggled the bike out of the village/town.
After only a couple of miles it stopped and I struggled to get it going again. It was running so bad I decided to drop down to a picturesque harbour called Cudillero. A bad mistake as it was nestled quite deep in the headland and if I couldn't get the bike running properly there was no way out except up a 1 in 7 hill to the top of the headland.
I reset the timing hoping that was the problem and though it didn't cure the problem it did give me a momentum to climb back to the main road. Then it ran out of fuel, but fortunately only 1 mile away from a service station.
I fuelled up and bought two more spark plugs which seemed to improve the running so off I went, looking for a beach to take a bath in.
I found one just a short distance away and was deserted, so in I
went naked for a good scrub.
The sand on these beaches is very fine and almost like a dust and it was quite strange walking on as your feet tend to sink in a couple of inches.
This beach was Riego Arriba near San Pedro..
The road leading down to it is in a deep valley underneath the motorway.
The motorway or autovia runs across the headlands and is supported on stilts as it spans the valleys
I had to skip Llanes because the signs were too vague to find the old road. It was the best thing I could have done, as I finished up on the N311 riding through the top half of the Picos de Europa.
The scenery is quite dramatic and stunning. Anyone who likes motorbikes should come here for a ride.
It is a cross between Switzerland, Wales and Spain and bathed in sunshine made it an absolute great diversion, although this morning down some of the deeper gorges, it was freezing fog that cliung to the mountain sides.
I eventually emerged in Gijon and found it too busy to be bothered stopping even the though the bike wanted too.
I did stop briefly to get two tins of Sardines as I hadn´t eaten since the ferry.
The back road to Aviles was easy but again I wasn´t too keen on Aviles so continued on to Soto de Bargo.
The back road came to an abrupt end only 1 km away.
The guy in the cafe told me it was because the road had subsided down into the valley but I would be ok if I squeezed theough the barrier. Keep to the left and I thought he said then keep right at the cross roads.
It was pitch black and having negotiated the 2 yards of remaining road on the left side I headed off pretty quickly. My headlight unfortunately was pointing upwards and I decided in time to push it down to see where I was going. A good move because the cross roads was in fact a whole section of road that was 10 feet lower than it should have been. I stopped in time and found the only passable bit which was on the right of the road. Must learn more Spanish.
The strangest thing then occurred.
The bike stalled and I was off the bike trying to restart it when two wild boar emerged out of the darkness and passed by me only two meters away. It was really scary and I couldn't get back on the bike quick enough.
.I arrived in Soto de Bargo and could quite easily have missed it as it was so small. There was only one bar and that was pretty crowded as Real were playing and was on the TV. I was tired but managed to see out the evening if only for the free tapas that was being shoved under my nose every five minutes. Just across the road was the only accomodation suitable for me. A bus shelter whos back was facing the cold wind of that night. I slept well even though the bench was barely eighteen inches wide. The beauty of finding a shelter near the bar you drink in is that it is generally open the following morning for coffee.
I left after coffee and struggled the bike out of the village/town.
After only a couple of miles it stopped and I struggled to get it going again. It was running so bad I decided to drop down to a picturesque harbour called Cudillero. A bad mistake as it was nestled quite deep in the headland and if I couldn't get the bike running properly there was no way out except up a 1 in 7 hill to the top of the headland.
I reset the timing hoping that was the problem and though it didn't cure the problem it did give me a momentum to climb back to the main road. Then it ran out of fuel, but fortunately only 1 mile away from a service station.
I fuelled up and bought two more spark plugs which seemed to improve the running so off I went, looking for a beach to take a bath in.
I found one just a short distance away and was deserted, so in I
went naked for a good scrub.
The sand on these beaches is very fine and almost like a dust and it was quite strange walking on as your feet tend to sink in a couple of inches.
This beach was Riego Arriba near San Pedro..
The road leading down to it is in a deep valley underneath the motorway.
The motorway or autovia runs across the headlands and is supported on stilts as it spans the valleys
The flyover at San Pedro
It really is a stunning piece of engineering but one can't help wondering if it had been better to tunnel and leave short stretches exposed in the ravines.
After changing I followed the old road that snakes it's way under these flyovers and approached the point where not only was the ride in danger but so too my life.
No exaggeration, I cheated death by 4 inches.
I was doing the back road to Robideo.
It runs through all the valleys of this rugged coastline.
It is for most of the time empty as the motorway skips across all the tops on enormously high flyovers.
I was heading down into a hairpin at the at the back edge of a ravine which is basically a bridge with a crash barrier edging it.
The sign said I had the right of way so I took a good line onto the bridge which was quite narrow.
Hoping to keep my momentum for the uphill bit after the bridge, I was already for sweeping round the right hander when I saw an enormous dump wagon thundering into the bridge. He took the corner with about 6 inches between his back wheel and the barrier on my side leaving me to break as hard as I could to avoid going under his back wheel.The front wheel of the bike hit the wet leaves at the side and skidded.
I eventually stopped with my front wheel under the barrier only 4 inches from a 100 foot drop. If I hadnt of stopped I would have gone over the barrier following the bike as that went under the barrier.
Give the wagon driver his due he eventually stopped on the other side and checked that I had survived. Thumbs up to him and a wave back and off we both went.
I wonder, if I had gone over the side, would he have reported it.
I think I would have just carried on, as I dont think I would have ever been found, for him to face the consequences.
Although that was a close call, the road was one of the best riding roads I have travelled on for a long time.
I followed this route until I eventually arrived in Ribadeo where i landed on a bar with an attached bedroom under the arches
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