The Grifflets

After another restful day we decided to take a ride to Lake Lagano, a shared Italian Swiss stretch of water. Set off was 10:30. It was already 19c and getting hotter. A lesson we learned last year was that the turnoff to Lagano is in a short gap between tunnels and SatNav’s only work with line of sight to the satellite. When the SatNav says 17 km turn right, set the odometer because once in a tunnel the SatNav has no idea where you are and makes an uneducated guess, based on your speed when you entered. Seriously the gap with the exit was 150 metres, the SatNav was out by a kilometre and if I hadn’t set the trip we’d have missed it. Out of the tunnel and climbing a miniature spaghetti junction of switchbacks ... read more

The plan, Leave the hotel in Eastbourne bright and early, head for the tunnel, grabbing breakfast on the way. 10:20 train to France and reach the accommodation by 16:30 / 17:00. That was the plan. It all started well. Everyone up and ready on time, check. Out the door and on the bikes, check. Off and making good time, check. Stop for petrol and arrive at the tunnel with 50 minutes to spare, check. Trains delayed by 60 minutes.... Ah. Into the departure lounge for coffee and wait. And wait. And wait. After about an hour we were called to go down, then we stood in our lanes, in the rain, for another hour before finally boarding the train. One on the train we found out that there was a signalling problem, and sat through about ... read more

It feels like we have done no preparation for this trip. Much of the kit is still packed and ready to throw back onto the bike. We aren't doing a big tour this time so no routes to plan. We just needed to agree and book a destination and set the dates. Oh and this time, we are going with friends, Ken and Briony. One significant piece of prep was to change the springs on the bike. Last trip was done with a leaking front fork. Although this didn't seriously affect the handling, the loss of oil meant the bike tended to wallow and dive under breaking. I decided I'd have a crack and fixing this myself... ok with a lot of help from Ken. As the forks were coming off I also thought it a ... read more

We tried to plan this trip to get the most out of the riding and the destinations. For example, day one to Luxembourg, we wanted to avoid the pay motorways, they are dull to ride. We wanted to stay in Luxembourg and we wanted to see a castle. That was the criteria, and that is what we did. Day two, we wanted to ride through the Black Forest, and so it went on. After Andorra we had pretty much ticked every box on this trip and so today and tomorrow are about getting across Spain to Bilbao and the ferry home. When I was planning the route, all I really did was work out where approximately half way was to book the hotel. I also tried to keep the route as close to the Pyrenees as ... read more

Just about everything that was wrong with yesterday was right with today. Sitting outside eating breakfast with the other guests brought a level of sanity to this insane trip. The chat was congenial and the sun quickly lifted the temperature to 22c. This was the most expensive stop on the trip but I have to say, the nicest. I could even forgive the cat that left its dirty poor prints on the bike seat. The morning weather carried on into afternoon in the same way. Pretty much clear blue sky from Arles to the Pyrenees. The roads were by and large quiet, although windy. We had a couple of service stops as we followed the Mediterranean coast line towards Spain, and the ever looming mountains which will be our playground for the next few days. Yes, ... read more