Estpania 2017 Tour - a trip to Spain, Andorra and Portugal, part 1

The next moto trip on warm countries took place from October 16 to November 5. 4 people, 4 motorcycles. This is the first vacation for the whole year, for each of us, besides, there was always rainy and snowy at home. So it was the perfect time to leave for warm climate and thus close the motor season.
The result of our mototravel:
4924 km, 21 days, 14 cities, 3 states and 3 unique places.

Our route: Ruby, Andorra la Vella (Andorra), Loarre Castle (Spain), Zaragoza, Pamplona, Bilbao, Potes (Picos de Europa), Salamanca, Porto (Portugal), Cabo da Roca, Lisbon, Al Bandeira Beach, Faro, Seville (Spain), Malaga, Murcia, Valencia, Barcelona and again Ruby.
The foreward: loading of motorcycles
So, we are in Spain, get our motorcycles and go.

Andorra. Day 2
The first and unforgettable impression you get being on the way to Andorra. Approximately 50 kilometers of stunning winding roads, with beautiful views of the mountains, is just a paradise for a rider.
This is not surprising, because the capital of Andorra is located at the height of 1,029 meters above sea level and is the highest among all European capitals.
Today we've visited the Rock del Quer observation deck, which is 1977 meters above sea level. Emotions are so overwhelming that you want to cry and laugh at the same time. In such places you involuntarily start to think about your life.
Also we wanted to visit the motorcycle museum, but as it turned out, it was closed.
In general, the day was a success! Everyone was charged with positive emotions and ready to go further.

Tomorrow we are going towards Zaragoza.

Andorra - Zaragoza

Fate decided to test our strength!
When we left from Andorra, we could not even imagine what difficulties we would have to face.
Just before the departure, we all put the raincoats on and drove in the direction of Zaragoza. There was a little rain and sometimes we even wanted to take them off, because it was +26 degrees of heat outside.
After a while, the weather began to change rapidly and the temperature has cooled below to 14 degrees. The strongest shower began ⛈ and the visibility has become very pour.
The plan was to get to the Loarre Castle and we decided to get it whatever it takes.
Then everything was even better.
At the very top, almost getting to the castle, the Paul's clutch cable broke. It took us 2 or 3 hours to solve this problem.
Finally, we got to Zaragoza, but it was just a hell of a day, which gave us an invaluable experience!

Nothing special happened in Zaragoza, we just dried off and made a little repair of the Paul's clutch cable in the local workshop.

Tomorrow we are on our way to Bilbao - the Basque Country!
Zaragoza - Bilbao
Leaving from Zaragoza to Bilbao, the only goal to change the clutch cable on the Paul's motorcycle. As it turned out, we were very lucky, because one of the biggest representatives of Suzuki in Spain is in Bilbao.
Bilbao met us with big traffic jams and very long expectations at traffic lights. Sometimes it felt like while waiting for a green traffic light you can leave a motorcycle and go to have a cup of coffee.

Plan for tomorrow was to reach the Picos de Europa National Park. They say that it is just a magical place.
Bilbao - Picos de Europa (National Park)
There was a little rain in the morning. Despite this, we brought ourselves and began to move torwards the Picos de Europa National Park.
This day was the most exciting for me. The fact is that in making the trip route through the northern part of Spain, this place seemed to be the most beautiful and interesting. And it was simply impossible to pass it by.
The road from Bilbao was very good, high-speed but too windy. And all because a large piece of road to lie along the Bay of Biscay. The Bay of Biscay is part of the Atlantic Ocean, located to the north of the Iberian Peninsula. But this did not bring us down and soon we were on a small winding road that led us to our hotel in Potes.
We got into a mountain gorge, the so-called Picos de Europa mountain range. It feels like you suddenly fell into a fairy tale. At that moment, I did not want to ride at all, but I just wanted to sail slowly along the current.
After a while we reached our hotel, but for a long time I could not forget such an unprecedented beauty.
It turned out that the highest point you can reach on a motorcycle is 1600 meters, and then you can get a height of 2500, but only by a funicular. It was already late and we unfortunately did not get there.

For tomorrow, a magic circle across the whole mountain range of the park is planned. The length of the circle is 200 km. It sounds promising…

Picos de Europa

Picos de Europa is an oasis in the middle of the desert. Simply a divine place from the point of beauty and fascinating in sensation.
On the 7th day of our trip through northern Spain we woke up at about 8 a.m. because of a terrible cold. I had to sleep under two blankets. During the night, the temperature has cooled below to 5 degrees. Quite a big jump, taking into account, that usually it is about +22. To get a little warm, we drank hot tea and hit the road.
The hotel administrator told us a very good route, the length of which is 200 km. It seems not so much, but the map roads seemed to be very twisty and interesting.
We realized that the road presented great danger almost already. The road constantly led us up, to a height of 1500 meters above sea level, and then a big jump to a height of 300 meters. There are no restrictions for animals in the Park. A couple of times we had to stop completely, to wait until the cows crossed the road. And they had such a pacified look, that sometimes it seemed we were in their way, not the contrary. Also, the blinding sun often limited our visibility.
Quite by chance we met one amazing motor-traveler from Argentina. Just think, he has been traveling for 6 years around the world on a Yamaha YBR125 of 2009. The run is about 123 000 km. By the way, he was in Estonia. The conversation with him was very emotional. It was evident that this is the happiest person in the world, who has nothing, and at the same time has everything.