White Rose ToursSpain & Portugal 2015
It seems ages ago now, but last week saw us return from our final European Tour to Spain and Portugal.
I am often asked where my favourite place to tour is, and I honestly cannot say, every tour is different and every country has different things to offer. It may be the scenery, it may be the roads, and it may just be the group of riders. However, sometimes everything comes together as with this year’s Spain and Portugal tour making it one of the best tours we have ever done.
Yes a rather sweeping statement and no tour is perfect, but it had all the right ingredients to make it a tour to remember. Having done this tour for several years in a row and been very happy with it, we decided this year to change things around a bit, trying some new hotels and routes. These worked out really well, with some exceptional roads that had everybody grinning and a little exhausted (well I was!)
I was not to know it would turn out that way as we got off to a bad start, with two last minute cancellations one due to pressure of work and the other for health reasons. A further rider fell by the wayside when he got to check-in and realised he had forgotten his passport….. and started the trek back to Yorkshire to retrieve it.
We had a fascinating hour watching a motorhome attempt to get on board before setting off an hour late(and without the motorhome) but in lovely sunshine and calm seas.
Once in Santander there followed the normal chaotic motorcycle grand prix out of the bowels of the ship, eventually surfacing and blinking at this yellow thing in the sky. Having collected the ducklings together, we made our way southwards to our first nights stop near Valladolid.
I will not bore you with all the details, but take a look at the gallery pictures. Every day had sunshine, perfect riding temperatures, great hotels and even better roads the perfect recipe for an excellent tour.
I am pleased to say our wayward passport rider caught us up in time to enjoy the star mountains, before we returned back into Spain to the Picos de Europa Mountains which were at their stunning best.
We cannot wait to do this tour again – and so will be repeating it in June 2016.
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Comments (4)
Ian Sissons:
09 Oct 2015 at 09:53 PM
This was a great bike holiday. The roads where second to none and I have never ridden so many corner's well at least I got to use every bit of my back tyre. There was some great people on tour it was a pleasure riding with them. The hotels where very good and we where lucky with the weather.
Thanks David great holiday
Karen:
12 Oct 2015 at 06:50 PM
Absolutely brilliant holiday, couldn't have asked for better riding weather and the roads were my favourites (riding as a pillion that it), fantastic long sweeping roads that went on for miles and miles.... excellent. The scenery was beautiful and I loved seeing the bunches of grapes hanging from the vines. Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, thanks Dave :)
Nigel & Sue Watson:
12 Oct 2015 at 06:53 PM
We last toured Europe 20 years ago and "Oh boy" have we missed it! This was our first tour of Spain & Portugal and every day was a sheer delight. Crystal blue sky, amazing scenery, with empty roads meandering through wonderfully varied countryside, finishing each day at a stunning Parador or Pousada. We shared all of this with a great bunch of like-minded bikers; motorcycling doesn't get much better than this. Thanks Dave for a holiday of a lifetime. Can't wait to tour with you again. Cheers, Sue and Nigel
Ruth and Dave simmons:
13 Oct 2015 at 01:24 PM
Wow, this tour exceeded our expectations in many ways. Having not ridden abroad for 13years we found each day was a new experience regarding riding ability and stunning scenery , along with fantastic weather. We had great company and banter amongst our fellow riders, spending lovely evening meals as well as travelling time with them. Each of the hotels were exceptional , even the final one in Picos (we fell in love with this region) which was only a 3 * .The staff at all of the hotels were very helpful and friendly. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip.
Cheers Dave.
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