The first of a series of videos detailing my motorcycle tour to Spain, to see World Superbikes at Motorland Aragon, and the La Merce festival in Barcelona. Unfortunately, the tour didn’t get off to the best of starts…
In April 2022 I toured in Spain to the the deth to watch the Moto GP and then continued further south to Gibralter along the way I stud in some beautiful towns that local people had recommended places such as Salamanca seevilla CES and sovia I decided to do a similar thing this
Year but this time I was going to watch World Super bikes at motorland Aragon then head to Barcelona to experience the La Mercy Festival I was booked on the Britany feries Plymouth to santande service departing on Wednesday the 20th of September at 12:15 p.m. to arrive in
Spain at 10:00 a.m. the following day the plan was then to head Southeast and find a nice place to stay for the night before heading heading to motorland aragan on Friday for the fre practice sessions however fate was set to conspire against me the really heavy
Rain started as soon as I hit the M5 Motorway atrocious conditions for driving let alone riding then just after Junction 22 the traffic ground to a halt I wound my way to the head of the queue to find the motorway was closed three vehicles had collided including a van carrying radioactive
Material Emergency Services were already on the scene but recovery was going to take some time there was no turning back I was stuck 2 hours passed before traffic was finally released but I already knew there was no chance of catching my fet the only thing I could do was to
Press on to the port and see what my options were customer services dealt with the situation very professionally they suggested I could take a ferry to St Marlo in France and ride into Spain the bad news the St Marlo Ferry operates from Portsmouth not Plymouth 4 hours away by Road I had
Enough time to catch the ferry but wasn’t sure the journey would be survivable given the atrocious weather however I am not want to go down without a fight so agreed to go through with it the journey to Portsmouth is probably the worst that I have enjoyed on a
Motorcycle but thankfully I pulled into the port at around 6:00 p.m. still alive albe thoroughly soaked shivering and miserable thankfully that was enough drama for one Day I caught a bit of the evening entertainment before hitting the sack early unfortunately it was a rough Crossing so I didn’t sleep Well the fer arrived on time in St Marlo at 8:15 a.m. Let oh morning you see mer she be cool Unfortunately I’d Not Seen the Last of the bad weather my bike gear was still damp from the previous day and wasn’t going to get a chance to dry out Come The journey into Spain took around 13 hours but finally I made it to my night stop in hesa no more extreme riding for me on this trip
12 Comments
Worst nightmare going for ferry or a plane, ffs, that made hard work of that job,. What a load of bollocks closing motorway when at least 1 lane was free, ive done Nimes to Le havre in one hit (8 hrs) and in torrential rain for the 1st part of it and the usual pitstops for fuel, i hope you got reimbersed for shorter crossing ?, you had the right bike for the job in hand tho,. I did my mission on a yzf 750r with a mate on an sp1 (100 mile pitstops) happy days passing the trucks at 150 mph on the autoroute, then doing it again and again after the endless fuel stops, the truck drivers egging us on when doing the "fly bys" its good riding abroad beats the uk any day ,.Brexit done us no favours at passport control tho,.I wish the morons who voted out had to suffer the inconvinience of the controls,. looking forward to the next episode, cheers ,.
Sorry for the bad luck, but thanks for taking me along on your wet ride. Take care as always and keep the rubber side down. Cheers
I enjoyed coming along the start of a great adventure. Not a great experience getting soaked, but your heading for warmer climes. Looking forward to part 2. Thanks for taking us along.
Man I’ve seen 3 motogp races but never out of the states. So Manet cool tracks over there I want to see
It reminded me of a lovely soaking ride back from Spa in October 2019.
The joys of motorcycling eh Derek 😂
I hope that accident was the worst of your delays for your trip.
That journey down to Plymouth then on to Portsmouth sounded horrendous mate. This is why I like cars… Great video Derek!
A very good test for your riding suit. Would be interested to know what brand and whether it was waterproof. Nice to know the ferry company were helpful.
I did a tour on my old FJ1200 with the FJ club to Spain and Portugal in October 2018. I rode down from Scotland and stayed overnight in WSM. I met the rest of the riders at Exeter services and we rode to the ferry at Plymouth. We came off the ferry at Santander and rode to Salamanca for an overnight stop.
Planning to do the same journey in June on my Gsxr but also going to Mallorca , can’t wait !!!!!
I’ve just found this, great stuff and an easy watch. It looked like the trip from getting to Plymouth and then on to Pompey. Missing the Plymouth ferry is so stressful seeing that it only runs a couple of times a week but looking at the weather, you may have dodged a bullet, the sea in the Bay of Biscay can be horrible when the weather is bad and a shorter crossing may have been the better option. 👍
Respect though, riding to Plymouth with the stress of knowing you’ve missed it, in that weather, then having to ride another 4 hours, followed by a 13 hour ride in damp gear, not the best start but shows you’re a true biker and dedicated to the cause! 👍🍻
Watched this series the wrong way around , enjoying it very much so far what a great experience 👏👏