Transalp travels south to Andorra for some RB2 fun.

[dibbs]

Brilliant RR, Thanks (thumbs)

[Simon_100]

Fab report Glenn. More about the angry farmer issue later when I get back after a very busy day exploring in Aragon - nowhere near the Pyrenees!

Simon

[92kk k100lt 193214]

Fabulous posts and a few things too when you sit down and think about it.

1: Going solo is great because you can ride to suit your own wishes.
2: Camping is great, no looking for hotels.
3: This time of year you really need the rain gear to avoid wind chill and getting cold. Staying warm is really important.
4: Petrol....stop when you see it rather than wait.
5: You sorted the bike fine as in did it at your own pace. Nothing wrong with fitting some parts along the way and have often done that.
6: Non toll roads are fantastic but lack pace.
7: Bet you want to do it again!!

[Crossrutted]

Thanks for a great report (thumbs)

[Glenn_G]

Cheers all, it took awhile to go thru the pictures and write the report up but it was fun remembering the things that happened along the way.

NP Simon, pm me when you can and I'll see if I can help.

Cheers k100lt, also being solo anything that did happen good or bad seemed more intense and ultimately more rewarding ...

Yeh can't wait till next year and do another trip out there.

[Tramp]

Thanks for taking the time to finish the tale....inspires me to buy another transalp maybe....

[Paul-S]

Good stuff Glenn

As Tramp said, thanks for taking the time to do this

[Simon_100]

Cheers all, it took awhile to go thru the pictures and write the report up but it was fun remembering the things that happened along the way.

NP Simon, pm me when you can and I'll see if I can help.

Cheers k100lt, also being solo anything that did happen good or bad seemed more intense and ultimately more rewarding ...

Yeh can't wait till next year and do another trip out there.

Great report and lots of lessons for others to take heed of.

The reason that I was keen to know about the 'angry farmers' is that i always keep my ear to the ground about local issues here that may affect the access to trails. Obviously this is partly because I organise trail riding events here - and now back-up support for rider traversing the RB routes* - but also in general as a lot of folk look at my blog or mail me for the latest news, such as it is.

I mis-read your reference to the farmer and thought there were several of them mentioned in the RB guide. But in fact there is increasing pressure on access to the trials - annoyingly not from bikers' activities but we are likely to be 'targets' if things get any worse!

The 'culprits' in motoring terms are quads romping noisily around small sections of terrains and large parties of 4x4's traversing the RB's.

But in fact the main problem is all of those mushroom pickers that you observed; on a good weekend - or bad depending on your point of view - up to 80,000 vehicles leave Barcelona city alone in search of their famous fungi! That figure doesn't include the greater conurbation of cities in the region, nor the locals, so you can easily double this amount.

Not only that, the various mushroom species are better or more available at distinct locations around the country - I'm talking principally about Catalonia - and depending on the weather the week before, so that all of these fanatics concentrate their activities based in this intelligence - there's even a TV show dedicated to the subject with it's own web page that puts this information on-line!

Not only does this surge of motor cars - almost all of whom are the ultimate Sunday drivers IMHO -romping up into the forest cause a traffic problem, but despite efforts to educate the public a lot of caçadors (hunters) are verging on being 'professional poachers' - these fungi fetch high prices - and destroy the subsoil by grubbing through the leaf litter with rakes rather than searching properly, using your eyes and a penknife to break the stem.

The outcome is that more and more private owners are closing trails that go over their land - that can be a majority in some areas - that otherwise they would have allowed (this is also to stop people seeking mushrooms and truffles that the owners want to profit from for themselves. But moreover the environment department has instigated a scheme of licensed 'hunting' by defining 'cotas' or zones that can then be monitored. You may have seen signs for these, being the observant guy that you are (thumbs)

So far that doesn't impact access to trails as such. But ... the zoning and permit scheme has been piloted for a year or so but with no 'teeth'. The plan was that from this year's season these permits would have to be paid for and the forest rangers would be patrolling intensively to fine miscreants who hadn't bought their permit. However this was shelved as there is an important local election coming up and the politicians didn't want to be seen to impose an unpopular measure - well that's what they're saying in the bars!

So what for us bikers? Well, I check with the various authorities each year to keep abreast of any new restrictions that may affect my events and every year these same officials are tearing their hair out more about infringements, especially lareg groups of 4x4's - I've been shown photos of about fifteen blinged out monsters grinding through natural park regions where the limit is four (in Catalonia it's seven for bikes, in Aragon five).

The issue that upsets the officials is that they want people to access the mountains and forest - and the revenue from tourism of course - but also have to protect it; so they feel caught between two posts. The rules and restrictions are there; noise, speed, numbers, etc. but so far are hardly ever enforced, especially for foreign visitors. But with more patrols on the ground and more pressure to enforce regulations - possibly from mad farmers! - it worries me that things will get bad and that we bikers will be easy targets.

OK, I'm bit of a pessimist and I wouldn't want anyone to be put off coming here having read this, quite the reverse as the more responsible bikers around the better, sort of 'ambassadors' for our cause. So I think the only thing to do is preach the message - Enjoy, but easy on the gas! (thumbs)

Phew, glad to get that of my chest!

Regs

Simon
* this includes porting riders' gear s that they can ride the trails 'lite' and carrying spares, heavier tools, etc. to enable on-trail repairs.