We did the same as last year and rode to a campsite near Brive. Run by a friendly Dutch couple. Nice place with a great restaurant. Well worth a look. https://www.lamagaudie.com/welcome/
On route we popped in to see a forum member and I stupidly tried to follow the SatNav instead of Phil’s instructions. We missed his place so he came to rescue us wearing the latest rural french riding gear!
Our first bit of off-roading on the trip.
Every year that we’ve done the trip we’ve always stopped over with friends Sue & Trevor in the Ariege. Last year Trevor decided that he was coming with us in his trusty LandRover, as he has a drive over the mountains every now and again anyway. This works out fine, especially as it’s a bit like having our own sherpa/chuck wagon! We throw our camping stuff and food/beer in the back and he carries civilised essentials such as picnic table etc!
When we left Trevor’s it was in torrential rain, so the nice twisty route to the Spanish border was ridden very sedately, but true to form when we got to Spain it stopped raining. The trail starts off as a nice easy track which keeps climbing.
First view point, and what a lovely sight for you readers;)
At the view point Massif de Maladetta we went off on the 7km detour to another view point. It’s a dead end, but well worth the trip, sun came out eventually too:). Annoyingly I set my GoPro on too low resolution so most of the pics are grabs from Andrews videos.
Trevor between a rock and a long drop.
The view from our campsite just down the road from Vilamos.
A nice sunny start to the day in Vilamos.
The shit was about to hit my fan!!
Time for a bit of donkey action!
On the road to Montgarri.
One likes to have a civilised lunch. Note the clouds on the French side!
Much later in the day at Creu de L’Eixol.
We went to some busy places.
Camping at Noguera Pallaresa, Sort. Campsite owner was very amicable, even gave us a free beer each! Showers need a bit of a refurb, but a nice enough place.
Waiting for Trevor to catch up before riding to the Pic de l’Orri
Highest point of the trip (altitude wise) 2440 m. The sky isn’t dodgy Photoshop work if you’re wondering.There was a guy half-way up the aerial mast doing some maintenance. Better views than my day job!
Met two German AT riders. They had enough equipment to cross the Sahara!
One of the many picturesque villages in the mountains.
Sherpa Trev at work in his utility vehicle. Not exactly wild camping, but I’ve been to more salubriuos campsites!
Tour of Tor didn’t take long.
Up the Smugglers!
Top of Smugglers route looking back at Spain.
The Landy made it for the 2nd year running with no problems. Who needs aToyota?
Instead of riding the main road through Andorra, we chose the CS-240, think it’s also known as the Coll d’Ordinio. A much more pleasant ride, some lovely twisties.
We left Andorra and entered France in the cloud. After about 30 mins torrential rain started again and we rode for about 1 1/2hours in atrocious weather back to Trevor’s in Rimont. Thankfully he fired up the wood-burner and his kitchen was full of our steaming bike gear for the night!
In the morning we left Rimont in the sunshine and headed north. As we approached Cahors the sky turned black and the journey up to Brive was a shocker again. We turned up at the same campsite again absolutely drenched. Fortunately our hosts had one cabin free for the night. We got a special deal as we said we’d use our own bedding. There was a small heater which our clothes were placed in front of for the night.
We had a different kind of cabin fever after the torrential riding!
The next day we rode to Loches. It was almost dry the whole way, so a much nicer days ride. Last day was a dry, sunny ride up to Caen. Had to avoid Le Mans due to the racing. Saw some interesting vehicles on the roads around there.
My 22 year old Africa Twin never missed a beat the whole trip, felt great on and off road. Andrew’s V-strom developed a niggly electrical fault up at the bars which intermittently effected the starter and lights, but as ever, we had a great ride and will return to the Pyrenees next year - it’s very addictive!
