Re: Transalp travels south to Andorra for some RB2 fun.
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 5:44 pm
Cheers for info Simon, agree website updates are/were useful in planning to avoid pitfalls along the way eg new 'private roads', angry farmers :unsure: etc. Will check out better maps sometime as I'll probably be back there next year doing rb5.
Thursday off along cracking winding b400 road east initially blocked by road works, however their road working machines moved west and then allowed me through. Picked up the route at #197, then east via #203 and through Saint Julia de Cerdanyola. Enjoying the scenery and riding abit too much as didn't concentrate and took a little while to find #215, ending up off track here :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 5233996722
It was neither of those choices, but in fact backtrack and straight through the park, also found #222 appears to be on the wrong southerly track, back tracked to adjacent southerly track and picked up #226. Got to see a few foragers and cows this morning:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 6533531698
Green landscapes :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 1045406562
Rocky creeks :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 3446752434
Again tricky navigating when the topo map disappears (off Pyranees topo and into Spanish topo I didn't have) and you're left with only a line to follow :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 6394781650
Followed the route east to Ripoll and filled up with fuel, also to help navigate I had to buy another Espana Noreste Michelin 574 map as mine flew out of my tank bag earlier in the day somewhere. Then missed a minor road turn off and ended up going through a couple of tunnels on a major road south C-17, struggled to determine where I was even with my new map. I knew I needed to go east and took a gamble on a slip road ahead Terradelles? and thankfully it went back over the C-17 and I was east and able to go north (parallel almost with C-17) via winding road and pick up the route again at #269. Continued on and mindful of the need to detour around the angry farmer coming up soon, then saw three matching Honda XR4/600's? coming from the opposite/east direction, last one appeared to have a UK plate. I was to later see three fresh sets of tyre tracks further east a few times so I guess they either did the rb2 in reverse or maybe doing the rb5 west - hope you guys had as much fun as I did . I loaded up the detour route to avoid the angry farmer (along with the second half of the route - 60csx couldn't handle all the waypoints in one route/file due to it's 250 limit but it's not really a problem once you know). It took me a little while to find the trail going behind the houses from #287 to #292 but got there, and was thankful to see the stone with the iron cross on the corner to know the detour route I was following was correct :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 9382604370
Lots of winding roads to Vidra and some slow moving obstacles to avoid ;
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 1604508434
filled up and started looking for campsites on gps and found La Fagenda but meant going south/backwards so carried on north into Olot and found Les Tries Camping site, site facilities maybe a bit tired, but what a power shower - great for massaging aching neck/back muscles. Popped to the bar to pay for the camping and bought another bottle of vino tinto :cheer: :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 0514598818
to enjoy whilst cooking up some tea, vodka rice anyone (leaky hipflask soaked my last boil in the bag rice :whistle: ) :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 8068976034
Distance so far 1273 miles
Thursday off along cracking winding b400 road east initially blocked by road works, however their road working machines moved west and then allowed me through. Picked up the route at #197, then east via #203 and through Saint Julia de Cerdanyola. Enjoying the scenery and riding abit too much as didn't concentrate and took a little while to find #215, ending up off track here :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 5233996722
It was neither of those choices, but in fact backtrack and straight through the park, also found #222 appears to be on the wrong southerly track, back tracked to adjacent southerly track and picked up #226. Got to see a few foragers and cows this morning:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 6533531698
Green landscapes :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 1045406562
Rocky creeks :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 3446752434
Again tricky navigating when the topo map disappears (off Pyranees topo and into Spanish topo I didn't have) and you're left with only a line to follow :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 6394781650
Followed the route east to Ripoll and filled up with fuel, also to help navigate I had to buy another Espana Noreste Michelin 574 map as mine flew out of my tank bag earlier in the day somewhere. Then missed a minor road turn off and ended up going through a couple of tunnels on a major road south C-17, struggled to determine where I was even with my new map. I knew I needed to go east and took a gamble on a slip road ahead Terradelles? and thankfully it went back over the C-17 and I was east and able to go north (parallel almost with C-17) via winding road and pick up the route again at #269. Continued on and mindful of the need to detour around the angry farmer coming up soon, then saw three matching Honda XR4/600's? coming from the opposite/east direction, last one appeared to have a UK plate. I was to later see three fresh sets of tyre tracks further east a few times so I guess they either did the rb2 in reverse or maybe doing the rb5 west - hope you guys had as much fun as I did . I loaded up the detour route to avoid the angry farmer (along with the second half of the route - 60csx couldn't handle all the waypoints in one route/file due to it's 250 limit but it's not really a problem once you know). It took me a little while to find the trail going behind the houses from #287 to #292 but got there, and was thankful to see the stone with the iron cross on the corner to know the detour route I was following was correct :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 9382604370
Lots of winding roads to Vidra and some slow moving obstacles to avoid ;
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 1604508434
filled up and started looking for campsites on gps and found La Fagenda but meant going south/backwards so carried on north into Olot and found Les Tries Camping site, site facilities maybe a bit tired, but what a power shower - great for massaging aching neck/back muscles. Popped to the bar to pay for the camping and bought another bottle of vino tinto :cheer: :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 0514598818
to enjoy whilst cooking up some tea, vodka rice anyone (leaky hipflask soaked my last boil in the bag rice :whistle: ) :
https://picasaweb.google.com/1114373175 ... 8068976034
Distance so far 1273 miles