The 'Official' HISS Trip report

[Simon_100]

OK, like last year this starts a little early as just getting to the HISS can be an adventure in itself - it has been for me and I'm here to begin with, so to speak.

Absolutely atrocious, record breaking snow and rain storms last week have brought down masses of boulders, rock falls, etc. even on to of the normal, and the Baqueria-Beret ski resort only closed yesterday, still with 40cms of snow on many of the pistes - the longest and snowyest season since it opened up 40 years ago.

So, I'm here testing some of the trails as far as possible before setting off next week sometime for Phil's to collect my new front tyre that I had sent there for my ill-fated trip to the Phiss

But the main point of this topic at this stage is to put people together who may otherwise be riding doen solo - if that's want they want to do, of course.

To start the ball rolling, there's Freddy sailing into Santander on Saturday evening and looking for a good route along the Pyrenees.

Then there will be me and Phil, and I suppose some of the French Connection, riding over one of my 'secret' trails right over the top - snow permitting of course. I think this may mean camping some where between Phil's and the Pyrenees - depends on the weather and getting a very early start otherwise.

EDIT: So far there are the arrival plans:

ARRIVING SATURDAY, MAY 18th: Big Zed (riding up from Southern Spain), Oilcan (riding from Le harvre but may stop at the Moto GP practise at Le Mans!) - Me, I'm not going to Phil's after all - see above!

ARRIVING SUNDAY, MAY 19th: Daveupright & Motobreaks (driving by van from Central France), Woodbucher (coming by van with Phil's kit and my tyre - not confirmed regarding date as yet!)

ARRIVING MONDAY, MAY 29th: Freddie (riding along the Pyrenees from Santander), Fairyplumb (meeting Freddie at Jaca on the Sunday night - lucky Freddie!), Phil-in-France (hopefully in one piece after his ABR rally the week before)

More - over to you guys.

Meanwhile:

Aprehiss7_2013-05-06.jpg (91.49 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

Aprehiss10_2013-05-06.jpg (71.3 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

aprehiss14.jpg (59.3 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

I'll try to get an up to date list of names here too - as usual the biggest nightmare of all, keeping track of people

Regs

Simon

[Simon_100]

OK,

As far as I can tell as of now here are the Heroes of the Day:

Daglanman, Oilcan, Motobreaks, Thumpinfrance, Daveuprite, Wood Butcher, Big Zed, Freddie, Mr X, Fairyplumb, Barcelona Pat, Phil in France.

Not as many as last year but maybe that's not such a bad thing - at least it will mean that Mrs S and I will get more chance to do some trail riding!

Meanwhile. the guidebook is looking good!

Paginaprincipal.jpg (188.45 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

Pre-production:

01Taster.jpg (44.14 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

If you're not there . . . .

Regs

Simon

[oilcan]

Hi Simon

leaving Le Havre friday morning looks like I,ll get down to Angouleme area for Friday night then push for the campsite Saturday pm, if I,m crossing paths with anyone on the way down maybe we could meet up ?? But it might change to Sunday if I can get a freebie view of MOTO GP :woohoo: practice at Le Mans on the way through

Chris

[Simon_100]

Hi Simon

leaving Le Havre friday morning looks like I,ll get down to Angouleme area for Friday night then push for the campsite Saturday pm, if I,m crossing paths with anyone on the way down maybe we could meet up ?? But it might change to Sunday if I can get a freebie view of MOTO GP :woohoo: practice at Le Mans on the way through

Chris

Hi Chris,

Le Harvre to Angoulême should be fine, a bit straight and boring but it gets the big distance out of the way: een on a bike it's worth taking the Autotoute A10 from Tours to Poitiers as the nationale that runs alongside is built-up and full of truck traffic. But from Angoulêms onwards through Perigaux the countryside and riding is divine

Phil and me will be fooling around further east and probably crossing the Pyrenees on the Sunday. A meet with us might on the way be too complicated but Andy 'Daglanman' may be on your way?

Mrs S will be working on the Saturday until early-mid evening, but I'll leave Jordi, the camp site owner, a list of all of us - that's why I asked for everyone's names - and roughly when to expect us all, so if you arrive first and on your lonesome he'll show you the pitch.

For those who were here last year we'll be on the same plots as before, with the covered 'kitchen' area close by and not too far from the bar

Cheers

Simon

PS after that amazing finish at Jerez yesterday I wouldn't blame you for wanting to see a piece of the action at Le Mans - we watch it at our local bar and the atmosphere was electrifying

[Big Zed]

Good afternoon Simon.
I,m sat in Gibraltar having just had my first full english breakfast for three weeks!
Left a while ago and dropped into morocco, lots of fun!

I think I will be at the site sometime on sat 16th. A days rest and a change of tyres on the sunday. Looking forward to it.

See you soon.

[Simon_100]

Good afternoon Simon.
I,m sat in Gibraltar having just had my first full english breakfast for three weeks!
Left a while ago and dropped into morocco, lots of fun!

I think I will be at the site sometime on sat 16th. A days rest and a change of tyres on the sunday. Looking forward to it.

See you soon.

Hi John,

I'll be at Phil's althoiugh Polly will be here from early evening, so if you need any stuff I've got all you'll need to change your tyres here- and I could do with a tutorial! - I'll be riding up to Phil's late next week to collect my new tyre for the X-Country that I had delivered there in time for my ill-fated attendance at the Phiss!

I'll aim to get here by Sunday at least - possibly the Saturday but that's partly down to Phil as we're hoping to ride dow together.

Meanwhile, earlier today, I've been and gone and 'discovered' another lovely trail :laugh:

aprehiss15.jpg (51.7 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

The High Anxiety Mountain puts its hat on ready for some stormy weather tonight - a lot of snow fell there last weekend but it's melting fast - leaving loads of debris and rockfalls in its wake no doubt!

aprehiss16.jpg (75.86 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

There has been very severe weather last week and I'm checking out some examples of the hazards - rock falls over trails next to precipitous drop-offs being just one.

aprehiss17.jpg (61.97 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

This is the lovely valley that I rode up this morning - it's so close to the camp site that I'd completely overlooked it, although I know it well from walking my dogs there. One of the best HISS trails takes off from the village halfway up and goes almost vertically up he mountainside on the right - but I'll send folks up and down the valley on this new route as a 'warm' up

Regs

Simon

[Simon_100]

I think I will be at the site sometime on sat 16th. A days rest and a change of tyres on the sunday. Looking forward to it.

Er, do you mean Saturday the 18th?

Regs

[Paul-S]

Looks a lot different from when me and Stan were there last week

On one section the mud was so slippy the rear E10 was spinning up at 2000 rpm and the front had a complete mind of it's own

Roads and small pistes were great

Will get a ride report going in a few weeks

We had to turn back after Col de Jou due to the snow - wet snow sticking to the visor and losing visibility within metres, whereas where and when we were riding the day before the snow was dry so would not stick to the visor

[Simon_100]

Looks a lot different from when me and Stan were there last week

On one section the mud was so slippy the rear E10 was spinning up at 2000 rpm and the front had a complete mind of it's own

Roads and small pistes were great

Will get a ride report going in a few weeks

We had to turn back after Col de Jou due to the snow - wet snow sticking to the visor and losing visibility within metres, whereas where and when we were riding the day before the snow was dry so would not stick to the visor

Really looking forward to your report Paul. We were thinking of you that Sunday, here is the 'view' of the Med when we crossed the top of the Coll de Lilla, just about 20 kms from the 'Sunny Mediterranean Sea'

001snowmed.jpg

Same snow, same problem with it sticking to the windscreen!

Ths is how it should have been - but for the fact that for some reason everyone video's it from the Med back inland :dry:



Needless to say the weather is brilliant now!

Regs

Simon

PS - you've got to hand it to these Spanish bikers; they're so cool, timing their speed exactly to fit the music

[daveuprite]

Hi there HISS heads!

Just thought I'd introduce ourselves to those who we don't already know before the meet in Spain the week after next.

I'm Dave (daveuprite) and I'll be driving down in the van with Chris (motobreaks). We live in Haute Vienne, about 40 minutes north of Limoges. We'll be riding a DRZ400E and a TTR250, with a DR350 as a back-up bike.

Chris runs the biker B&B 'Motobreaks' in Bussiere Poitevine, which is about a 6 hour-ride from the channel, so perfect for a stop over if anyone needs to spend a night in France on the way south:
[url=http://]http://www.motobreaks.com/[/url]

We already know Daglanman, Mr X and PhilinFrance (so we'll be bringing plenty of booze), but looking forward to meeting everyone else. Hopefully the blue 'van of dreams' will be pulling into the campsite on Sunday evening.

Happy mudplugging. Dave and Chris