A great ride in Northern Spain, across the Pyrenees (France/Spain/Andorra), Barcelona (for the F1 Grand Prix), South/Central Spain, Extremadura, the Spanish/Portuguese borderlands, and back to Northern Spain to finish up in and around the Picos de Europa.

I was pleased with my riding throughout the trip, with no big moments despite covering nearly 3500 miles, having navigated about a trillion corners. I chose some “roads that scare you”, such as the Col du Soulor, and Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees which kept me on my toes.

To return home unscathed and without drama feels like an achievement – there’s a saying goes something like this “You’re pleased to get on your motorcycle, and you’re pleased to get off it”. It’s a statement to which I can totally relate.

One thing you notice over on the continent, with the exception of the odd remote road such as (for example) the little travelled CM4157 through the Cabeneros National Park in Spain (which turned into a real puncture hazard), the roads in mainland Europe are in a much better condition than those in the UK, which at times are now actually quite dangerous for motorcycles, what with countless potholes, tramlines opening up, poorly bodged patchwork repairs, surfaces breaking up, and exposed drain covers sharp enough to slash tyres that could easily result in an instant deflation.

Our “authorities” absolutely need to get their act together on this, and it’s a failure of successive Governments. As the public sector seems obsessed with Heath and Safety, and taking the risk out of everything people do, how about sorting out the state of our roads, and reducing the risk there? We seem to be squandering a huge amount of money (on what exactly?), and we aren’t getting our value for money.

To leave this blog post on a high, I really enjoyed exploring Extremadura in Spain, a thinly populated region with wide open spaces, the stunning Dehasa scenery, and lots of wildlife. – JC