Friday, June 17th – Barcelona to Ax-les-Thermes

We arrived at Hispania to find our bikes waiting in a line outside, looking ready to roll.  The staff was very friendly and efficient and started the process of getting all the paperwork taken care of after providing us some nice cold bottles of water.  Each of the bikes came with sidecases, a topcase (2 of which were large, one was low-profile), a tankbag and a disc lock.  We were each provided with 2 large waterproof Ortleib(?) bags to act as inner bags for the sidecases.  Not the most stylish thing to carry into the hotel at night but got the job done. 

Having done several Alps trips before I was happy to rent a small nimble bike for the trip.  We each ended up with BMW F700GS’s, Dave’s set up with low ride height and a low seat.  I had tried for the BMW S1000XR just to try something very different but they were already rented.  Not sure it would have been worth the extra $300 rental fee anyway.



Cool street-side gas pumps (photo by Dave)



The 3 F700GS’s are ours



Dave’s bike had a red frame so it was the fastest

The staff went over the condition of the bikes with us using a very detailed form.  There were dozens of items they checked, and noted condition of (new, minor mark, average mark, major issue).  My bike had over 10,000 kms and had accumulated some minor scuffs and scrapes along the way, each of which was noted and signed off on.  We were told to always park the bikes in a locked garage, and use the disc lock if outside in a secure lot.  DO NOT PARK OVERNIGHT IN THE STREET.  Was told the weather for the Pyrenees would be “interesting” for the week.

While Dave and Peter were still transferring and arranging their belongings (I’m more efficient at that ☺) I got fitted for my rental gear.  Shoei Multitec flip-up helmet, pants jackets and gloves from Stadler, and brand-new Daytona boots.  Overall I would be very happy with the gear, with the exception of the jacket not having any venting.  This wouldn’t be an issue in the early part of the trip, but the last few days we would be broiling.

Of course we waited until the last minute to try and get our new Sena 20s headsets configured so all 3 of us can talk at once.  After much button pressing and app config, Dave and Peter were in a conference but I was out of luck.  Not wanting to wait any longer to get started we figured we’d tackle that later.  Peter would stay out front (as he would have to the whole trip since he was the only one with a GPS and any idea where we were going) and Dave at the back they wouldn’t lose me.

Forms signed, bags packed, (2) headsets linked and a route punched in we rolled away from Hispania Tours – after they got the obligatory ‘group of guys on their bikes” photo – and into Barcelona traffic.  Which wasn’t really bad – Hispania is very close to an on-ramp to a highway so we didn’t have to deal with too many roundabouts and taxicabs before we were making good time.

One highway let to another, and it was a pleasant enough ride that close to a major city – not much traffic at all.  After some time we came to a short tunnel, and a toll plaza on the other side.  Peter didn’t have much trouble with it, but Dave and I struggled to get the machine to take any payment and open the damn gate (“Vehicle not recognized, vehicle not recognized”).  Once through I joined Peter at the side of the road to find out we had taken a wrong turn WAY back and were pretty far off-route.  While he calculated an alternate route Dave and I enjoyed the view of Montserrat, the first mountain we’ve seen on the trip.



Didn’t take too long to get lost



Montserrat was beautiful



“When possible make a u-turn”



Peter did a great job keeping us on route (or getting us back on route)



Enjoying the view while waiting for a new route (photo by Dave)

I have to apologize in advance for my future attempts at figuring out where we road.  As I said earlier, I did none of the planning so during the trip I had no idea what we were doing or what was coming next.  I’m using the SPOT tracks from Dave to match up roads as best I can.

Looks like we took C-17 north to Ripoll and after a while found a nice roadside café to grab lunch.  The lady running it spoke no English whatsoever but was very patient and helpful.  She would explain something in Spanish, and when it was obvious we had no idea what she was talking about she would try different Spanish.  It was very amusing.  We pointed and nodded enough that she went inside to start bringing us out food.





Lunch stop

After lunch we jumped on N-260 going west, which turned out to be the first fantastic road of the trip.  The road hugged the mountainside and was constantly twisting and turning with expansive views to the west.  Very little traffic.

It did start to rain a little at this point, and the road was pretty wet in areas.  The fact that I really hadn’t ridden much for a couple years was becoming apparent because I had no confidence on this road.  Every time the road surface looked crappy in a corner my speed dropped and I was very nervous, not really enjoying it the way I know I should.  The more this went on the more I was thinking “OK, maybe I’m done with this.  I should be liking this but I’m hating it.”  It was still a great road, and I was happy to be there, but I really wasn’t enjoying the actual riding.





N260, the first great road of the trip



My F700GS, in very exciting battleship gray livery

N260 took us to N20, then N320 and N22 which let to a little detour through the country of Andorra, apparently home of tax-free shopping for Spaniards.  We rolled passed an utterly bored-looking border guard and through the packed shopping village of El Pas de la Casa and onto CG-2, a great twisting mountain road that led over a mountain where the temps were in single digits (albeit celsius digits), then we turned around and headed the same way back to Spain.  Dave and I plugged in our heated jackets to the BMW powerlet adapter, but mine didn’t seem to work at all.  Dave says his did for a while, then stopped.  Research later revealed the jackets draw too much power for the Powerlet adapter to BMW shuts it down.  Thanks BMW!







I’m not exactly sure where this was.  Could be getting close to Andorra

As soon as we crossed into France we started seeing signs for Gravillons.  Great.  

N20 north took us into France and to our stop for the night, the town of Ax-les-Thermes.  Peter went in and got the details for parking, then we followed him down some very narrow paths (and I’m pretty sure a sidewalk at one point) to the hotel’s secure garage.

A successful first day, which we celebrated over dinner at the nearby Le Grand Café.  Affligem on tap, no complaints from me.



View from my room



Dinner spot



Tasty Affligem





Walking around town after dinner



Route for the day