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24HourForums.com > Supported Forums > Pussycat's Spain Train > Getting our Cruisers fom UK to Andalucia (South of Spain) |
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member  Angel of Mischief!
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4 years ago when we had decided to abandon Uk for a new life in Spain, there were many things to sort with regard to getting them to Spain. The Bikes It was a dream of a plan, (a 2 day bike ride down to the south of Spain) and one that I was having mixed feelings about. Sure, I was excited at the thought of being on the bike for 2 days instead of the few hours one could normally steal from a busy life. But I was also more than a little nervous. After all, Jefe had been a biker all his life, whereas, I had only had my cruiser less than a year and although I love her dearly, she's a bit of a big brute for lil ol me (5.2 small build)..... Attached Image (viewed 3 times):
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Leading up to the day of execution we had been accruing wet weather gear and sorting our leathers and trying to stuff as much as we could into the saddle bags of the cruisers. At the time I had a huge windshield on mine, which most of the time I appreciated, for it sheltered me from bugs more than anything. And believe me, as anyone who rides bikes will know, some of those HURT when they hit you, especially if you ride with your visor up! (Always wear shades if you do lift your visor, as one of those big bugs in your eye at high speeds is NOT a good thing!) We had realised that as we were making this trip during October, that we MIGHT get wet somewhere on the trip. (In retrospect, I should have really just resigned myself to rain instead of 'considering' it, as to date, we have never yet been in France when it has not rained! So..... we had found this neat little spray in a motoring shop that beaded the rain droplets to 'Help keep your windscreen clear'. (What we didn't realise til much later (AFTER I had sprayed this all over my windshield, was that this is something you only use on cars. WHY? What do cars have that bikes don't apart from a cover and a few more wheels? Windscreen wipers! This stuff is actually brilliant for cars, as it beads and the wipers take it off the screen much more effectively. If you DON't have wiper, it just sits there, all neatly beaded and compacted and doesn't blow off in the wind! (lesson 1 learned too late!)
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Still on the subject of the giant windshield I sported on my bike. Yep, it's great for avoiding the bugs, BUT, if a juggernought passes you going in either direction, the blast from the current of air it produces (you know how much it rocks a car when you are stationary? - well multiply that several million times and combine your passing speeds and believe me, it really takes some holding when the gust catches your screen! Anyway. The day before we were due to set off, one of our neighbours had kindly said we could park the cruisers in their garage overnight, so we wouldn't have wet bikes in the morning. We had just had a new alarm fitted to mine as an extra precaution, and thought we had everything sorted! Woke up early (We had to be at Southampton docks for 10am and were leaving 2 clear hours to get there). Goodbyes said (kids were staying with friends that week, as it was half term), we waddled down the path to get the bikes out and set off on our mammoth adventure...
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Jefe is always ready first. And this time was no exception. He sat done up, helmeted, gloved and waiting patiently for me to faff whilst his cruiser rumbled into life. OK, finally ready, I clambered aboard, and hit the ignition switch.....NADA Not a bleeding beep. Confused, I checked my side stand wasn't down or in gear or any of the other obvious things that prevent the motor connecting. Nope. I shot Jefe an anxious glance, and felt his sigh as he switched his machine off again and wandered over to my bike. (I was pretty sure at this stage that I must be doing something stupid, and that he would flick a switch somewhere and she would rumble into life. Again...NADA. THIS WAS SERIOUS! (She had NEVER been a problem to start before...what on earth was wrong? Turns out, that the new alarm system was shorting somewhere and had flattened (totally) my battery!
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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My heart sank. We didn't have time to charge the battery. Regardless, we shot up to the locked garage and dug out the charger and set it up with a long extension cable to at least run a little power into the dead battery. 20 mins later, we knew this was going to be inssufficient but at least had a tiny charge in there. Nothing for it, we were going to have to jump the bike from the landrover. THIS was tricky. I can't remember what exactly his words were, but from the tone of Jefe's voice as he barked at me, I knew that this could be a kill or cure situation, and was going to be a dangerous task. I held what he asked me to, and tried to make sure I didn't touch what he had said stay away from. For some reason, timing was very important due to something or other, and I had to snatch something away quickly. Anyway, it worked, and she rumbled sickly into life. We were now nearly 40 mins into our time allowance to get to the port and had not even set off yet. That was not worrying me so much as knowing that if for any reason I stalled the bike, we had no way of re-starting it once we were going. (We had tried to bump start her initially, but she is too big and heavy without a STEEP hill, and just skidded to a halt each time we had tried. Once again, Jefe mounted his steed, checked all swtiches etc, and he too was rumbling. We were finally ready to go (We had disconnected the damned alarm)!!
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Still shakey from the whole experience, I set off after Jefe and tried not to be nervous, as this cramps you dreadfully on the bike and gives you white knuckles. This was going to be enough of a white knuckle ride as it was! By the time we got to the motorway, we were doing a touch of speeding. Which didn't seem too much of a crime, as cars still overtook us. But, I did have to wince as we sped past a police car parked on the side of the motorway at 80mph. Thankfully, we had seen him in time to slow a little (cruisers aren't really designed for speed, but comfort), but he could still have booked us at over the limit. He didn't and I appreciated it as we raced on to get to the docks. When we finally arrived at the docks, we only had moments to spare, and managed to ascertain where we needed to be. The lass in the kisok, realised we were late and pointed us straight to the loading point. However, a jumped up little jobsworth decided to stop us. We hurriedly explained that we were late and needed to get to the ship, but he insisted that we switched of our engines. I said I couldn´t as I had a flat battery and would not be able to re-start (the ride down was with lights and we feared the battery would not yet be recovered enough to handle a full start. BUT, he instisted, and I was about to, when Jefe ran over and said DON'T SWITCH IT OFF!! The man glared at him and I could see Jefe was about to get mean. (Crikey, could this day get any worse?) YES....
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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He explained ( A LOT louder than I had), that the boat over there starting to crank chains was waiting for us, and that we needed to go, NOW! Thankfully, the lass on the kiosk, had phoned through to the loaders that we were on our way through the dock, and we could see them waving us to get over there. The jobsworth saw them too, and as a final dig, raised an eyeborw and asked if we had any dangerous items that we should not have? Jefe glared at him, and with clenched teeth, said NOT YET, but I could find something if you don't move your A** out of our way right NOW! I guess the man realised we had nothing to lose and that he really didn't ought to be messing with Jefe in the mood he was in, and stepped aside for us to belt over to the boat. Everything else had been loaded and chained down. The guys were great and rushed us to a spot and were about to throw great chains over the bikes, much to Jefe's horror. (His chrome!) They laughed, and made a neat job without damaging the bikes. Nothing for it now, we just had to leave the bikes til we got to France and hope mine would start then!
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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'I HATE BIG BOATS! I HATE BEING ON THE SEA! (I don't mind being in a rowing boat on a river (anywhere I could swim to the other side), but I really do HATE water generally. (I put arm bands on to clean my teeth!  ) So the boat ride was not really something I had been looking forward to. However in this instance it was definitely the lesser of two evils. We were moveing in the direction we needed to be going, and the bike was temporarily unimportant.It wasn't a smooth trip, but it was still not as bad as the morning had started, so by the time we arrived in France, I was a little more relaxed. Trouble is, you know how it is with ferries...First on Last off, and we were LAST ON, which meant FIRST OFF! Was the bike going to start? Or was I going to have an angry mob behind me if it wouldn't? I geared up and clambered on, and flicked the switch. I shot Jefe another one of those hopeless wench looks, and he yelled at me to take his bike, and he would ride mine. HIS bike is even bigger than mine (Mine is 1100cc and weighs a ton, but his is bigger and much fatter! This was going to be fun! Still, Jefe was in no mood to be argued with, so I clambered on to his already rumbling machine and sat shaking whilst he leapt on mine, thinking to myself, I have NEVER driven abroad, let alone on THIS MONSTER. Could the day get any worse?...YES!!!
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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I was more than a little embarrased to hear my bike roar into life a second after Jefe had got onto it. (Turns out this time, I WAS doing something dumb, and the bike was in gear, which was why it hadn't started!) I smarted at my folly but rode off the boat on Jefe's bike rather than wander back to mine and face the music! A little way out of the docks, we swapped bikes. (I wasn't going to admit that in actual fact, his was far easier to ride than my own regardless of its immense size and weight. For My forks are raked considerably so the front wheel is out in fron a way, and my front wheel is tall and very thin, whereas his front wheel is nearer the bike and fat and a lot more stable. Also my handlebars are high and point back, whilst his are a lot more horizontal. All in all his IS easier to handle, and even HE admits that! That said, I still insist mine is a better looking bike!
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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FRANCE! ... Hmm, Well that was another whole part of the tale, which I will write about later.......
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Has to be said. Jefe is very security conscious, and wanted to camp during the trip down so he could be next to his bike rather than leave it out of sight overnight. Fair enough. But I was not relishing the thought of riding long days then camping at night. However I was lucky in as much as we already had our bags filled with wet weather gear and a change of clothes, and camping equipment was not something I particularly wanted stacked on my bike anyway. So we didn't actually agree NOT to camp, but rather left the conversation. In retrospect, not having actually established this was a mistake on my part!..... We arrived in France as the day was ending and dusk falling. Keen to make as much pace as possible through France, but aware that we needed to find a suitable stopover was getting to be a dliemma. We spotted a B&B sign about 2 hours into France and tryied to find the place. (Saw it from a main road, but actually locating it was quite another story. Anyway, we eventually did and this turned out to be a great move. An old farmhouse, with friendly owners and 4 other belgian guests staying there. The owners kindly locked our bikes away in one of their barns for the night. So we were happy they were secure. We had decided that we needed to get an early night, as we had a lng days ride ahead of us. This was not to be. The owners & other guests herded us into their party and we sat socialising until well into the morning! A not so early start (about 10am) after a lovely breakfast and we were on our way again. We rode through a dismally wet France weatherwise, (expected really as it was late October), and decided that we would stop just after Bordeaux for the night. Were we going to be so lucky with accommodation...I don't think so. By the time Jefe decided we had covered enough miles, it was dark and he was not in the mood to go looking for a comfortable stopover. We ended up riding into a motorway service area that had a picnic park area at the back. Would we leave the bikes in the car park? No! We rode them through the park into the woods at the back, then curled up in the bike cover sheets in all our riding gear to sleep. It wasn't the cold (and I MEAN cold) that kept me awake, but the crashing through the trees of something over our heads. It was a rustle crash rustle crash plonk, and occuring all around us each time the wind got up. Eventually we realised we were nestled under chestnut trees and the chestnuts were falling (still encased in their huge prickly outer cases!) I tried to make sure I kept my face down, and hoped to goodness that I did not end up asleep with my mouth open. These things hurt! When we woke, we were incredibly disorientated. We couldn't see a thing! Not only was it drizzling with rain, but a horrendous fog had descended and vision was something we did not have! Nothing for it. We could not change the weather, and it looked like it was set in for the day, so onwards and over the border in Spain. Cold, Wet, Miserable and aching in places I didn't know I had!
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Sadly, the weather did not inprove as we entered Spain. We had to stop every hour or so during the whole trip to refuel the bikes. (Hardly surprising as the cruisers are only 300cc smaller than our car's engine, with a lot smaller fuel tank!). Each time we stopped, we would painfully remove ourselves from the bikes to drip over to the coffee stop. Putting now sopping wet gloves back on was horrible, though I have to admit, the wet weather suits we had bought for the trip were really paying off. (Even if we did look like a couple of teletubbies!) The stuff I had sprayed onto my windshield was a right pain, as it made vision so bad , especially when a truck passed and sprayed it with road guck too! A couple of hours on a horrendous storm appeared on the horizon. Clouds blacker than I had ever seen, and lightning flashing to booming thunder that I could hear plainly over the roar of my bike through my helmet. (Shudder). The rain had not let up at all the whole day, but this storm was looking pretty scarey as we rode over the mountains. Jefe must have felt my horror, as at the next fuel stop ( a motorway station on top a mountain), as he agreed to a second cup of coffee in the hope that the worst of the storm would pass over us. This was not to be. As the storm hovered over us with thunder and lightning reaking all round us with deafening effect. Eventually, he said we would have to move on and hop we could ride out of it. Yeah right. The next 50kms the storm stayed with us relentlessly! We eventually decided to call it a day late that evening and found a camp site. We managed to get the owner to understand that we needed to park the bikes under the shelters and wanted to stop over that night. He asked how many tents we had. We sheepishly replied that we had none, but would sleep under the lean-tos with the bikes. We paid the normal fee and trudged over to the bikes and parked them on the gravel under the lean-tos, and curled up between them to try to sleep. I flet like the Princess and the Pea! Even though leather trousers and jacket, and wet wether gear, I could still feel every piece of gravel digging into me. It was cold. Sooo cold, and using the mylon covers for the bikes to wrap over us didn't seem to be helping much at all! Next morning we wandered into the main section of the campsite. In the daylight it was plain to see there were showerrooms and CABINS! Little wooden cabins with beds! We could have used one of those!!!!!!! I was in no mood to take off all my wet gear to shower only to put it all on again. So passed on the shower! More miffed than you could imagine, we set off again for Madrid! Madrid was a halfway point through Spain for us, and as we neared the city I started to become nervous. Some of the route had undergone recent changes that were not going to be on our maps, and even on the motorway through Madrid, it was not easy to spot which signs we were supposed to be following. Jefe had said to me at the stop previous to entering the city, that I was not to hang back, but stay on his tail and not let any vehicle come between us. This terrified me more, but I was determined not to screw up. So tail him I did! Apparently TOO well! I was so close, that he could not see me at all in his mirrors! We made it through Madrid eventually, and set out the other side on the last leg of the journey about mid afternoon.
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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We rode, and rode and rode. Each time we passed a major city, the signs to the next one would say how many hundreds of kms to the next one. (sigh) The weather was still crummy, and this trip of a lifetime was now one that would be burned into my memory as a permanent feature of what was NOT a good experience! Darkness fell with the rain and fog as we passed Granada. This was the last city before we cot to the coast and destination. However, there are two route options once past Granada. The first, to stay on the Motorway right down to the coast at Motril, then ride an hour along the coast and back inland to where we had the house. The second option, (was NOT an option as far as I was concerned), was to fork off right and climb even higher up into the mountains (Turn off point was already 800mtrs above sea level), go over the top and down the other side on a road (if you could call it that) that was really more of a goat trail. (El Cabra). Sure it was wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass in may places, but it snakes treacherously through the mountains with sheer drops either side. On a good day, with light and not rain and fog, I would probably have opted for this (the shorter of the two routes - about another hour of hard riding as opposed to easy motorway). Jefe asked me which way I wanted to go, then for some strange reason, instead of staying on the motorway, he veered up into the mountains. I could do nothing but follow him. Trying to keep him in my lights. I was cross!  Attached Image (viewed 2 times):
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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It was the scariest ride ever, as going through the mountains meant not only trying to keep the road in sight to avoid any unintended rapid descents, but the fog blanketed all around us every few moments as we changed directions and altitudes through the mountains. The last 2kms, was down a track that was a single track, and very gravelly, with tight corners like the mountain pass, but a lot steeper! Eventually, we got to a few hundred metres of the house, and this, believe me, was where you needed a scrambler, not a cruiser! Summoning every last ounce of nerve and strength I had left, I navigated the last few obstacles, and wearily kicked my stand down, to find a kettle and freshen up. NOT A WORD was spoken! (He knew I was savage for being made to deal with the mountain route in such awful circumstances, and I sure as hell didn't feel like arguing, so said nothing and went to bed). Next morning I stayed in bed til the afternoon (still sulking) whilst Jefe cleaned the bikes in silence. Can't remember how the conversations struck up again, but being female, I wouldn't have been able to manage without talking for long!  And he did make a good job of cleaning my bike for me!Attached Image (viewed 2 times):
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Those pictures weren't taken during that trip (in fact neither of the last two photos were - we were not on a site seeing trip that time!) But have been taken since. Imagine them, in rain and fog in the dark, to get an image of the trip through the mountains. This pic is of the local gas station perched in the mountains!! (almost same shot as previous photo, but in clearer weather!) Attached Image (viewed 1 time):
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