Logrono it's a city!

After the racing we had about 350 miles to get to Santander. Edwards was nervous that we would get there in time, after all the ferry was leaving at 3.15 pm the next day.

To stop his worrying we agreed to ride part of the way after the racing and settled in a little village called Logrono. Well it turns out that Logrono is no little village it is actually rather a large city with a lot going on.








We stopped at the F&G chain of hotels, yep I have never heard of them either but apparently they are quite big. Edwards got told off for the parking of his bike and was forced to live it much to his annoyance. Edwards ask the girl behind the reception desk for a razor as he was starting to look a little, err, how shall I put this? Trampie. He was supplied with a very professional looking white box which contained a very cheap pound land cheese grater and tube of white 20 grit grinding paste.

What came out of the bathroom looked like nothing short of gravel rash. Fortunately being 90 years old he can pull the look off.

We headed into the city and found a fantastic bar that served us a 3 course meal for only 12€.

The barman noticed us looking at bike racing on my phone and proceeded to change all the tv's in the room over to the live MotoGP from Argentina. Top bloke.

The hotel was quite posh but they had obviously not spent a lot on lift maintenance for a while. There were two of those glass elevators. The one on the left was like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. It stopped between floors for about 30 sec's and then plummeted to the basement. Edwards and Williams looked at each other to see who would break first but were saved the masculine humiliation when it started to behave and took us to the correct floor.

In the morning we were greeted with rain and it stayed virtually the whole way to Santander.

On arrival Edwards dos it again and started chatting to an old bloke on a push bike. I would guess he was in his early 60's and he had just cycled 1000 miles around Spain. Turns out he was the local Gp in Barry ( you know, the place where Gavin and Stacy was filmed) .






The ferry was quite late being loaded. There was quite a que of bikes for the ferry, most of them had traveled many times by ferry and knew the drill for strapping a bike down for a long ferry crossing. Basically you put the bike on the side stand and then use a ratchet strap to compress the suspension while making sure that the bike is In gear so that it cannot move when the ferry rocks and rolls. Unfortunately williams was parked next to the only guy who thought he knew better and insisted l, even after being challenged to put his bike on the centre stand. Expecting to find it fallen on Williams bike when we arrive in Portsmouth tomorrow.















Entertainment on the ferry was very varied. Guitar and solo singing act, very good, ventriloquist, crap, juggler, brilliant, male solo singer so so.



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Stitched by booking.com

We set the alarm early yesterday because we wanted to make sure we got good seats at the circuit, Edwards being a poorly sausage did not want to get up.
We were greeted by the news that the hotel we had booked weeks ago had canceled on us with less than 12 hours notice, some cock and bull story about problems with the electricity supply. Booking.com found us an alternative about 50 miles further on. Which would have meant nearly a 2 hour ride to the circuit the next day. No thanks, this spoiled out previously faultless opinion of booking.com

We found somewhere ourself but it was a hostel with bunk beds. At least they had hot running water which was absent from the previous morning due to the water being heated by solar. Williams being a big kid insisted on the top bunk. The grace with which he mounted the 4ft bed was graceful in the extreme.

Edwards was nervous because the ABS seems to be malfunctioning on the ever reliable k1200s. He spent virtually all of Saturday constructing a finely written Masterpiece of complaint to BMW. I think he is hoping for a new bike to replace his 12 year old one, everyone loves an optimist.

We loaded the bikes and rode to the circuit. On the Friday we had parked up and then gone into the paddocks. Yesterday we decided we would spend the day down the bottom end of the circuit. There are no seats down there but you do get the advantage of having a large screen to watch the whole race.

We rode to our Hostel which is a strange place, a cross between a holiday camp and the titty twister bar in Dusk till dawn.






It consisted of 10 or so non connected buildings. Most of them seemed to be for habitation but there was a hall where breakfast and dinner would be served and then there was a bar area in something that resembled a town hall and we were treated (I use the word in the loosest possible sense) to the local coffin Dodgers serenading each other. We applauded warmly (when they finished and buggered off) leaving Edwards and Williams to enjoy a came of cards, some Tapas and a few beers. The waiter joked in pigeon English "you British really enjoy your beer!" Cheeky git, we enjoy all alcohol!

In the morning Edwards was feeling a little better and insisted I checked his bike on the loose gravel to confirm his suspicions that the brakes were not working correct. Most ABS systems work by cycling the brakes many times each second, Edwards seem to work by harsh braking and diving on forks then completely releasing and allowing you to free when for several yards, followed by a sudden sharp braking again. Very disconcerting. Time to get shut we think and buy a Honda C90.










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Location:Circuito de Alcañiz,Alcañiz,Spain

This is Bob

This is Bob, Bob is only 1 and is still a puppy and has some growing to do. Bob is over 6ft when standing on his back legs. Bob likes hugs and kisses and don't like to take no for an answer.


















Today we went to Motoland Aragon to watch free practice for world super bikes. We bumped into my old mate Tom Sykes. Tom does not realize he is my old mate but he is (not that I am stalking him or anything).

Edwards is a poorly sausage, he has man flu. He doesn't moan though, no moaning is for girls, Edwards goes for the full on winge. "Ohh my head, ohh my nose " what ever, just man up Edwards. On a plus point we did discover that Spain does not have the same draconian drug laws as the uk and their paracetamol dose over the counter would be enough to knock out a race horse.







Sykes and Rea win the award for the most impressive team truck





This is lowes spare engine (it's a man thing ok!)






This is Lowes scooter, I touched this, is that wrong!

We had pre-booked a b&b called Nuestrada Posada (God bless booking.com) we could not find it initially until we realized it really was down that dirt track road.

What a lovely place, run by a Belgian couple what are mad as a box of frogs but lovely with it.

There was wine waiting for us when we arrived and then a home cooked meal. Oh yeas, and Bob! The biggest softest dog you could. He is a komoder, a Hungarian sheep dog basically. Our hosts want to Budapest to pick him up. Their B&B is booked up all through summer and we can see why. They grow everything theirselves. They baked us a home made Pizza in their own Pizza oven situated outside the property





The view below is the sunset out of our B&B. Fantastic.


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Location:Lledó,Spain

Motoland Aragon

Well we made it, more of a feat than you might think considering Edwards temperamental K1200s BMW. After the initial cutting out problem it is now suffering from breaking problems which is a big disconcerting considering some of the roads we have been riding.

Anyway back to Motoland. We walked into the paddocks and nearly tripped over WSB champion Tom Sykes who was mounting a slightly Ropey looking scooter.










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Location:Circuito de Alcañiz,Alcañiz,Spain