Spanish Trip 2005
THREE CROSS RATS There's a 25 mile stretch of wonderfully smooth tarmac in Northern Spain that will remain forever England, well, there are 11 guys and gals from Dorset that wish it could! 25 stunning miles of swoops, straights, sweeps, more swoops and whoops of sheer joy that snakes its way between Pamplona and Jaca, skirting a massive reservoir. After doing it once, we were in love. After the second time, we were desperately trying to figure out ways of wrapping it up and taking it back to England. This was but one of the highlights of a truly remarkable trip that began on Saturday evening, September 24. Nine gleaming Triumphs gathered in Ringwood, marking the start of leg one, the 50 mile dash to meet both the 8.30pm Portsmouth to St Malo ferry and also new member Dave Parr, who had yet to experience the joys of a Three Cross RAT extravaganza. Anchors aweigh, and after a hearty meal and quite a few rounds with the barman, we were ready to hit our hammocks and rest before Sunday's French leg, the 350 miles to Bordeaux, where we were to meet up with Three Cross's very own Scots legend, John Boyle. RAT leader, Nigel Baker led us faultlessly through France, and a couple of rainstorms, proving that even he couldn't organise the weather! But hey, you can't have it all! La Rochelle provided the lunch and RATS provided the laughs, of which there were many, including the sight of Dave Ford trying to thread his Sprint ST plus panniers through some inconsiderately placed French bollards. 'Careful' said the RATS. 'Bollards!' said Dave! Bordeaux beckoned and by the end of the afternoon, eleven happy RATS were gathered together at one of France's finest institutions, the Formula One - ready to toast the successful start of another European adventure and raring to get started on Monday's dash into Spain. With the weather getting warmer, we were really in holiday mode and the run down into Spain was fantastic, with only one navigational nasty, resulting in Maurice Parker and Paul Lillywhite getting separated from the pack. After some hasty map reading by Maurice, some unbelievably bad road surfaces and impossibly tight bends (Paul's Rocket 3 almost resorting to 3-point turns) the 'lost boys' were reunited with the main pack and set off for journey's end, the town of Jaca, deep in the Pyrenees. Eleven weary RATS were ready for rejuvenation that night and ready too for the evening's entertainment, locating the Guinness bar, using Graham Leake's amazing ability to sniff out draught Guinness (wherever he may be in the World) and Derek and Val Usher's amazing ability to memorise the back alleys of Jaca to get us back to bed (or were they using the GPS?). We spent the next six wonderful days exploring the sights, sounds and history of some of Northern Spain and boy, did we have fun, 'doing' the aforementioned 'reservoir road'; other fabulous feasts of blacktop, watching in awe as eagles soared on mountain thermals, Spanish sunshine, armed police roadblocks (scary), unpredictable winds (not mine!), majestic monasteries, exquisite mountain valleys, and loads of other stuff like Fleur Boyle's birthday, ten-pin bowling, Scalextric championships, good food, the odd drink or three, great company, a laugh a minute and of course, Nick Sansome's broken leg! This last incident was a freak accident that involved a runaway taxi and was not bike related in the slightest. It's a long story and so I won't attempt to explain here. Thankfully, he's on the mend. Alas, the holiday was over all too soon and an early start on Monday October 2 saw us on one final blast down the 'reservoir road', on the way to Santander and the ferry home. We couldn't have wished for a more incident-packed and enjoyable trip. Even poor Nick, who travelled home with his leg in plaster was still smiling. Our thanks must go to John Boyle, Graham Leake and Nigel Baker for making it happen and everyone who went, for making it fun. Here's to the next Three Cross RAT European Foray. They're always a treat and shouldn't be missed! |
