VIELHA !

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Hello from Vielha,
Well I got here !

Start in Spain, cross over to France and back over the mountains into Spain. it was a journey of about 300 Kms today with a bit of everything.Mountain roads,motorway,sunshine, rain and finally sunshine again.

I left Hotel Aragon and Jaime this morning shortly after eight and headed up past Jaca towards the French border. It was about 17 degrees in Jaca but only about 10 degrees at the Somport pass. I had been advised to forget the tunnel and take the road over the pass. Incredible is only one of the words that I could use. Almost no traffic ,clear air and sunshine made it into a journey to remember. Descending into France the situation started to change and I entered low cloud and light rain which made a stop imperative to put on waterproofs. I pulled into an abandoned garage and under the protection of its roof pulled on my Flouro Wet gear.I was still able to use the GPS because I had waterproof sleeve for my phone and it worked a treat.
Once I was all kitted up I headed off again. The traffic on this side of the border was terrible and the roadworks and general state of the road did not impress me a lot.
This all changed when I got to the motorway near Pau and turned left to drive for about 70 KM. It went in a flash with a speed limit of 130 but actual cruising speed of about 150. As soon as I turned off the motorway and headed up towards Spain again the weather improved and the sun came out again. I did have to make a stop for petrol on the motorway and had to pay 1,73 a litter ! Ojo!

I arrived into Vielha at about 12.50 and noticed directly the amount of Goldwings driving around. The main parking place in VIelha was being used for inscriptions and there were bikes from all over Europe. Norway , uk , Ireland and Germany were directly recognizable. I got my free T- Shirt and the info folder and filled out the required form and then was free to look for my Hotel

I checked in and found my room and changed out of my Touring gear and into something lighter and headed out to get a meal.Lunch was a simple affair of Carpaccio and a Pizza but was enough to do me as breakfast and lunch.
Directly after lunch I got out my Irish flag and the Canarian flag that I had brought with me and fitted them to the bike. Now flying the flag I headed off to the campsite. On the road to the site two bikes came up beside me and would you believe it , they were Irish.After exchanging greetings they told me to follow them and we pulled in to the area of the campsite where they were camping. I unpacked my tent and with the help of the two of them we had it up in no time. I must here admit that my tent is probably the smallest on the site. I will check this and see. The Irish lads had both trailers with them and the tent they were using was like a mansion to me. A cup of tea was on offer and I was delighted to join them for a chat and a cup.

They headed off to reprogram their GPS units which were giving problems and I wandered off to have a look at the tents and bikes already there. Some of the setups are just incredible. One couple who are traveling with their daughter have two Goldwings ,one of them is a trike and has a side car and the other ( his wifes ) is towing a caravan ! On the back of the Trike is a small minibike for his daughter !!!
Another set up with trailer and lights and special paint job is reported to have cost about 75.000 Euros.The parade of nations and the light parade should be very spectacular. Photos will follow.

I am now back at the hotel and the bike is in the garage and there it will remain tonight. I will not go back to the campsite tonight but will go into Vielha and get a few beers and some food. The campsite is about 5 KMs from the town which means drinking and driving is out.I will play it by ear and might stay tomorrow night in the tent or on saturday although rain is forecast for sunday and on sunday I have to leave for Cadiz.

Ok enough for today……I am off to get a beer.

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Photos

Jaime - El Jefe.
Gracias por todo Jaime.