CURVES, CAVES AND CASTLES

I had spent a lot of time pre-planning the trip, madly poring over maps, both paper and online, and checking out routes and destinations. I determined that Northern Spain was the place to be. It’s mountainous, less populated and touristy than other regions. Another important factor was to avoid cities and stick to the rural roads. The route started to take shape and would lead us over the mountains to the Bay of Biscay.

We arrived in Madrid a couple of days early to recover from the long flight from Oz and adjust our body clocks to the different time zone. After the obligatory sightseeing, we were anxious to throw a leg over and begin our riding adventure. It was only a short taxi ride to pick up the bike from Espana en Moto. We changed into our riding gear at the shop, the topbox and panniers easily swallowing all our stuff.

I chose practical over glamour and hired a Honda Deauville 700, a competent mid-sized tourer, just about perfect for our planned trip. Though well maintained and with 80,000km on the clock, it was feeling a bit worn, particularly in the clutch department.

We set off onto the A1, heading north for our first night’s stop. “Heading north on the A1” (aka M-30, 1A, E-5) does not accurately describe the actual experience, however. Despite the GPS and good directions from Adrian at Espana en Moto on how to get