Scotland to Portugal 2019

[bikenav]

First My question to you where have you been previously and where are you likely to go on a next trip? Concentrate then on an area en route that you have not been before or not likely to go again soon. How many days would be ideal, Which crossings, How much trail stuff?

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One from this year

[Bart1]

Re ferry costs to Spain, I would suggest to look at what it costs to ride down through France to include fuel, accommodation, wear on tyres/bike etc, ferry from UK to France as well. I've always found the difference to be relatively small and the ferry gives the benefit of arriving in Spain with a fresh bike, tyres, body and mind......IMHO

[herman]

Re ferry costs to Spain, I would suggest to look at what it costs to ride down through France to include fuel, accommodation, wear on tyres/bike etc, ferry from UK to France as well. I've always found the difference to be relatively small and the ferry gives the benefit of arriving in Spain with a fresh bike, tyres, body and mind......IMHO

You are absolutely right in every respect unless like me you dislike the abject boredom that sets in ten minutes after leaving port. I get motion sickness if I read on any form of transport including planes- go figure- I therefore prefer to overland as much as possible and its a good excuse to prolong a trip.

[Peirre]

I heartily recommend riding the N2 (Estrada national 2) thru Portugal South from Chaves (km 0) to Faro (Km 574), a very historic route and passes some amazing scenery, inc the geographic centre of Portugal. There’s a Portuguese language guide book that details the N2 with specific Km by Km info of sights, accommodation, hostalrys and much more. I have a copy at home http://www.fogecomigo.pt/site/index.php ... nacional-2
The Sierre de Estrela and Manteigas are also worthy of visiting, the highest point in Portugal (1700m) is in the Estrela and is also known as the Portuguese “Stelvio”. A side trip to down the Douro valley or towards Lisboa and setubal will set you up for the short ferry to the Troia peninsular and a ride down the N261/N120 Atlantic coast road to the Sagres peninsula and east towards the Algarve. I could go on and on about Portugal and have ridden all of the roads mentioned above.

[Bustafin]

Hi All
Thanks for your reply's i have managed to get a few more days off work so plan is to get ferry from cairnryan to larne early morning ride to cork and over night to Roscoff then a quick blast through France & Spain to follow the Touratech Adventure Country Track Portugal from north to south, spend a week with the family then head back using the N2 as suggested by Peirre ( Peirre do you know if book is available in English?) to Santander over night to cork and time permitting some of Ireland's west coast before returning home.
Anyone able to recommend travel Insurance for Myself and Bike including repatriation ?

Once again many thanks

[92kk k100lt 193214]

Hi All
Thanks for your reply's i have managed to get a few more days off work so plan is to get ferry from cairnryan to larne early morning ride to cork and over night to Roscoff then a quick blast through France & Spain to follow the Touratech Adventure Country Track Portugal from north to south, spend a week with the family then head back using the N2 as suggested by Peirre ( Peirre do you know if book is available in English?) to Santander over night to cork and time permitting some of Ireland's west coast before returning home.
Anyone able to recommend travel Insurance for Myself and Bike including repatriation ?

Once again many thanks

I live very near to the Cork ferry port but am away to France 1-22 June. Happy to meet up at this end. Are you taking the Saturday afternoon or the Monday night ferry to Roscoff? Either way happy to meet up depending on your dates. Its a good route down and you will meet 3 tolls on the motorway, each €1 for bikes. Your route is simple from Belfast...
M1 south then on to A1 then its M1 again to Dublin/M50 around Dublin/M7/M8/N28 and well signposted. There are long term road works near the start of the M7 but not much of an issue on Saturday.

Good stopping points are

M1 Balbriggan.
M50 none
M7 Junction 14.at about 40km, M8 turn off is at 95km
M8 Junction 3 at 10km Junction 8 Cashel at 60km [take your tea upstairs and some nice leather sofas] Junction 14 Fermoy at 110km

If it works out I will sort dinner and its easy to find.

As for travel insurance I am with Carole Nash and their cover is good.

I have travelled from Roscoff down coast and also motorway and to Spain and know some nice routes as the crow flies which don't cost much time.

[Peirre]

Peirre do you know if book is available in English?) .

Atm it not published in English, but there is a discussion about this but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting. However despite being in Portuguese it’s easy to use with lots of images and maps listing the places km by km north to south. Also IF you gave google translate app (with Portuguese downloaded for offline use) on your smartphone you can use the camera function to translate sections of text, the same way you can use it to translate restaurant menus, or supermarket labels.

Anyone able to recommend travel Insurance for Myself and Bike including repatriation ?

Repatriation isn’t always guaranteed as there’s too many variables. What you should be aware of is that policies generally have a clause which state that IF it can be repaired locally it must be done to avoid the cost of repatriating it, and you have to pay, so read the small print of the policy before you go so you know what is and isn’t included. Also if the cost of repatriating is higher than the value of the bike then they won’t do it. As for recommendations? This is a bit like asking what your favourite food is. You will get counter arguments about the same company, someone will say so and so, someone else will say it’s the worst service ever. For example breakdown cover I am a member of the adac and I’m aware that someone here was left high and dry by them.
For “personal” travel insurance I use navigator which covers me worldwide to ride motorcycles
www.navigatortravelinsurance.co.uk/moto ... insurance/

[stramasher]

As Peirre says, Serra de Estrella. It is not to to be missed. Absolutely stunning. Right up there with the best mountain roads in Europe. Stayed in Manteigas and did a few loops over 5 days.

Incredible roads and scenery and was empty at the beginning of July. Although met another Scots couple in one of the few eateries in the village! Were on an Africa Twin and enjoying going exploring the numerous tracks round about.

I'm torn whether to tell you to ride up to the highest point at Torre from the North (Manteigas glacier valley) or from Covilha. My advice do both.

Oh and then there is the price of food and bevvie.

A warning though, the very few cars (local) will cut the hell out of the sharp corners so hug the inside. They were really bad. Maybe not used to other traffic?

[Peirre]

I saw this post a while ago on one of the FB pages “amigos da Estrada Nacional 2”
It’s a topic from the Irish TV channel RTE about Portugal’s Route 66 https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/travel/201 ... -route-66/
A recent story on an American TV travel show mentioned the route and it’s received a commendation from Frommer's travel guides

[biker]

Hi,
have a look at Wikiloc and Dangerous Roads Spain, hope this helps you.
Regards,
Jim