Featured Touring Spain 2022

So - developments... Sadly @andypandy is (unwillingly) not going to be able to join us, so it'll be just @Wessa and yours truly.

 

Yes very sad that Andy cannot join us, but we can always sort something for next year. Late June is already in my diary Andy

 

Hope all is well @andypandy

 

I took the motorbike on the ferry to Santander, Spain, in July this year. It was my first time doing this route and we (the motorcyclists along with the bigger vehicles) were put on the lowest deck. We arrived at 13:15 and eventually got out of the port at 15:18. We were held in the ferry for around 1hr30mins. It was baking down there, and people had stripped down to their under clothes. The story was that they couldn't/wouldn't let us off because the queue was too big at passport control. We then had about a 30 min wait in the queue for the passport control. I don't know if this is normal now, but the one thing I'd advise is to make sure you have some water/drink with you when going down to the bike. We were lucky a driver came round with some cans of fanta for the bikers, she was a life saver.
Hope you have a good trip.

 

That sounds like a tedious experience. Fortunately Steve will be sailing to St. Malo, working his way down from there. I will be riding down from the Netherlands, taking two days. So hopefully none of that.

 

Ah, my mistake. Have fun.

 

No mistake mate, you weren't to know. Thanks for the good wishes!

 

Yep no mistake @Wattie . As @Vulpes says I will be crossing into France and riding down to Spain arriving on the third day.

 

Had a similar experience on the Bilbao-Portsmouth ferry. Won't be doing it again!

 

Fortunately I only have motorways (and quite a few of them "peage" ) to contend with...

 

Same feelings for me, which is a shame I was really looking forward to doing the trip a few more times in the future. I rode back up through France and think I'll do the France -> Spain ride next time.

 

I decided to take a bit more time riding up through France from Spain to avoid the boring motorways, but if you've got to get somewhere fast they are invaluable.

 

Yep - I just want to get to Spain as quickly as possible. Motorways are just a neccesary evil for the first two days.

 

I’m hoping to stay off the motorways on my trip through France. I will see how that goes to start with, if it becomes an issue I will use them though.

 

You've got plenty of time, Steve. Shouldn't be a problem.

 

Agreed, I’m looking forward to riding through rural France.

 

Sorry to hear that Andy can't make the trip. There's always next year mate.

To Steve and Vulpes have an enjoyable and safe trip guys.

 

Thanks! It's a real pity Andy shan't be joining us.

 

That's a shame Andy can't manage, hope he's OK. I'm sure both of you will have a great time, remember plenty of pics.

 

Cheers, Dougie. Yep, It is a pity. Steve and i will have to make do the two of us... we'll be fine I reckon. - I'll put up a dedicated thread with loads of pics!