Jousting with Windmills

Toledo turned out to be a fantastic place to stay and explore for a couple of days. The hotel was just to one side of the old city and with restaurants and souvenir shops and bars galore we had no problem in amusing ourselves. Like many of the old Medieval towns in Spain the buildings in Toledo are four stories high and very narrow. As a result the sun does not penetrate into these streets so easily and it stays a little cooler. 

On the edge of the old town

The Cathedral

The down side is when you walk into one of the squares at midday and it’s like a scene from the Chronicles of Riddick!! 

Tall buildings = Cool streets

The third day we fired up the bike and headed south to find the windmills around Consuegra. These are the ones that Don Quixote jousted with when he really went off his rocker!! Perched on the hillside just at the back of the town they are quite a sight to see. Even though we didn't set off that early we still beat most of the Spanish tourists and the coaches there. We were on the way back for a siesta by lunch time. 

Right Rocinante, on to battle!!

Great views from the hill top

Next was a run across the hot Spanish plains and north to Santiago de Compostela.

Andorra and into Spain

The ride on the Sunday was an easy 120km down to Carcassone. We stopped for a coffee in Cordes-sur-Ciel and arrived early in Carcassone. Check in time was also thankfully early and after parking the bike around the back of the hotel under lock and key we wandered of to have a look around one of the most “knights and castles” places that you can imagine.

Luckily the majority of the daytime tourists had left and we enjoyed a comfortable evening and dinner before returning to the hotel to find the bike had company of around another seven, or eight bikes from Germany.

Monday’s run into Andorra was another short day but the scenery got better and better as we climbed up into the Pyrenees Mountains. This was my first visit to this Principality and although great if you are looking for duty free alcohol, cigarettes, petrol (around 25 stations along the main road into town) or any other kind of electrical device from camera’s, computers to tazers!! I think other than a winter skiing vacation I won’t be coming back too soon.

Spectacular ride in

Tuesday was another short 120km day into Spain to the Parador in Cardona. During the 1970’s the Spanish government took over a lot of the old castles and grand houses in Spain and converted them into luxury hotels. The one we had chosen was a castle set on to of a hill. Thankfully like most places we parked the bike fairly close to the entrance and enjoyed a huge room and dinner that evening.

The Parador (old castle) set on top of the hill

Very medieval !!

All the Paradors serve a variety of the local dishes of the area. I had the stuffed Guinea Fowl. Very nice.

As we have come down through Spain the temperature has slowly risen to the high thirty’s, as expected. What was a surprise were the roads, especially from Teruel to Cuenca. I think I can safely say that this road would rank with the best motorcycle riding roads in the world. Good road with lots of bends and great scenery. 

Albarracin town start of a great ride through the sierras

By the time we got to Toledo we were baking in the mid afternoon sun and desperate to get to our Hotel. Once again we scored not only with it being in the heart of the old city but when asked where was the best place to park the bike the reply came “just park it outside the door. Perfect!!

Paris to the Tarn district

I left Claire and Fontenay on the next Sunday morning after a week of odd jobs and larger ones with me lending a hand to Polo to pull down the ceiling in the living room and putting up a new one. Traffic around the outside of Paris was light and remained so for the rest of the day. It gave me a chance to get back into the travelling frame of mind. Just before lunch I thought I felt something rough in the driveline but it seemed to disappear and I forgot about it. I made good time and arrived in Guere by two o’clock. Unfortunately the check in didn’t open until five!! The downside of Sunday afternoon in France is that there is nothing open, so I headed for McDonnalds (always open!) to waste as much time as I could. The poor weather that I had encountered in the afternoon was still hanging around the next morning as I chatted to the Belgium quartet on Harleys that had also stayed there. Luckily it dissipated as I got through the massif central mountains and continued south west down into the Tarn region. I got to Pear Tree Cottage at around three in the afternoon to join my Mum and my Sister for the next two weeks to relax and enjoy some of the wonderful sights there are in that region.







During the thirteenth century the kings of France and England built “new” fortified towns or “Bastides” in the Tarn region laid out to a plan of streets to a grid pattern with a central market place. These medieval towns were built on hills and surrounded with defendable walls. All this means that they were sturdy and still survive today and as such are a delightful window into what it must have been like to live in those times. Towns such as Cordes-sur-Ciel and Najac have occupied most of our time as the weather has steadily got better with the European summer suggesting that it may have finally arrived??









On one of the first days I decided to do a little maintenance on the bike and after adjusting and lubricating the chain noticed that there was a fair amount of play in the brake side of the rear wheel. It only took a moment to decide that it would not make sense to risk continuing on to Spain with it like that, especially considering that all the hotels are booked and we are going to be on a fairly tight schedule. So with that in mind I sought out the local Yamaha dealer “Warmup Moto” in Albi and over the weekend they managed to procure a full set of bearings and have the work done by the Tuesday afternoon. Great service with a smile and at the 200 euros I had expected.



Next step is that Claire will join me on Friday and on Sunday we will start to head for Carcassone and then the Pyrenees and a couple of nights in the principality of Andorra.

I can’t believe that I still book economy class on an airline and expect it to get better!! But needs must and thanks to Mark Campbell in Melbourne I was duly deposited at the airport at the unearthly hour of 23.00 for a 01.30 departure. 24 hours later I was at Birmingham Airport freezing my jewels off. It seems that the British weather is the other thing I expect to get better!!

So the last two weeks has been a rush of trying to get the bike ready, fitting all the bits and pieces for not only this years trip but the big adventure to Siberia next year. The pannier frames and spotlights, the steering damper bar end weights and hardwire for the GPS. Thanks to Mike Dorrington who not only looks after the Tenere in the UK but also MOT’s it and then lets me use his workshop to do all these bits and pieces

in the workshop

New steering damper

LED Spotlights. Bright!!

The first weekend was spent up at Donington at a campground right next door to the race circuit. Not only that but also right next door and on the flight path of East Midlands Airport where the flight finish at around midnight and start again at four in the morning. If you don’t like sleep then that’s the place to camp!!. I was attending the UK Horizons Unlimited meeting and where I’ve been to the Australian one about four times now this was around four times the size with talks and shows going on all the time, too many to see them all. I left early on the Saturday afternoon as the sleeping bag I had taken just wasn’t up to the English summer (another good reason for not being able to sleep) but that one was my own fault. AN enjoyable time as they always are but it does start to loose the intimate feeling when the numbers are over 800 people.

Freezing nights!

Lots of people there

Last week was rushing around trying to get things ready for the wedding in September. Both Claire and I have given notice at the relevant register offices and the rings have been bought. We also managed to get her some good buys on bike clothing so she is better prepared for whatever the weather throws at us around Europe. Monday was a run down to the channel tunnel and thirty easy minutes later we were in Calais looking for a hotel. Yesterday was the run home to Fontenay en Parisis along the back roads meandering behind a surprising amount of large truck’s through the Somme region for the first time. I fully intend to go back when we have been around Spain to get some pictures and to try to find Claire’s Great Uncles grave.

Loaded for two

2012 Tenere Tragics Mountain to Mountain Run

Wow what an interesting week that was! A late start on the Saturday put us behind the eight ball and then we punched out 600km up to the overnight stop at Cootamundra, which to all the cricket fans out there is the birthplace of Don Bradman, for all those non cricket fans google it. That left us only around 230km to go the next day and a relaxed arrival and meet with the others on the run. It also gave us chance to have a ride around the Mount Panorama race circuit which unlike any other racing venue I know is actually public roads and traffic in both directions! I’ve watched the Bathurst race since I came to Australia (It was one of the first things I saw here on TV) but nothing prepares you for how steep and twisty it is coming off the mountain or how much conrod straight undulates. A good start to the week.

Mount Panorama Race circuit

Everyone arriving and meeting each other

Clubby trying to calm everyone down at the welcome dinner

After the welcome dinner and a few beers Monday morning saw the departure for the first days ride from Bathhurst to Oberon which if you take the direct route is only around 50km. We were to take the long route and most of it off road for the 353km!! This also included the most technical section of the weeks ride.

We started off well and although I was the only bike that week (as far as I know) with duel sport tyres on instead of the recommended full off roads knobblies we did OK. 

Be careful those causeways can be slippery!

Just before the lunch stop it all went pear shaped. A big group of riders had stopped to change the instruction sheets in their  tank bags and watch one off the old 750 Teneres virtually strip his front forks apart.

Running repairs

As I took off I thought that Mike would catch me as he is much better on the dirt than me. Instead he stopped to help one of the older ’83 machines that was having trouble starting and followed them along the track. I waited at the next major turn for him along with some of the mates of the riders he was with. They ended up taking a wrong turn and by the time the guy in the front (on a new 1200) realised he was going down a steep rocky path that was then too steep for him to get back up!! Needless to say After two hours I was told to go on as the sweep riders tried firstly to find them and secondly the back up 4wd had to back down to a point where he could tow the 1200 out!! I then rode the rest (and to my mind most difficult section of the whole ride) on my own. By the end of the day I was knackered and one of the two woman on the ride had fallen, hurting her knee (luckily nothing broken) but was out of the run.

Day two was the longest day at 424 km From Oberon to Tumut, although getting lost on a couple of occasions did add to that! The other lady Maryanne who had been riding with the couple who had gone out, joined us as I reckoned she couldn't be going any slower than me!!

The morning went well and things only really went askew when we got directionally challenged around Canberra. The afternoon saw the second victim of the run retire after crashing on one of the fast sandy sections late in the day. I rode past just as he was being put into the ambulance with a broken collar bone, cracked shoulder and some broken ribs. He was the youngest rider with us so should “bounce" back easily enough. A sobering reminder to us all of our fragility.

Day three was from Tumut down to Batemans Bay on the coast. 

Things started to come together for me confidence wise, although I was still the slowest in the field. The day started with a wonderful twisty road transit to the dirt. They then wound through the hills on some nice forested dirt roads and also some wide open fast sandy trails, although at one point you could have been mistaken for thinking you were on a different continent with some of the place names!

A photo opportunity 

Are we in the right place??

In the afternoon we had the first mechanical incident with Maryanne having a puncture in her front tyre. We had made a good start to getting the front wheel out when lots of other riders started to stop to offer their help including the organiser of the event “clubby” from Trail Zone Magazine. It appears that his use of tyre levers is not seen that often and as there were plenty of people keen to work 

Apparently Clubby doesn't do this too often

I just stood back and took the photo’s. 30 minutes later we were off and running again, toward the finish of the day but not until we had completed another transit section over the hills down to the coast along some more fantastic sweeping bends. Days end and after the fiasco of the previous evenings dinner where the motel ran out of food tonight was pizza and red wine shared with the seagulls in the waterfront park, reminiscing about the days events and contemplating what tomorrow would bring.

Bringing the sheep home with dad.

Day four was 386km from Batemans Bay to Jindabyne. 

Nearly all of the first 70km consisted of narrow winding gravel roads to get us in the mood until the first break at the Araluen Valley Hotel, where the local publican was waiting to greet all of us and provide anything we needed in the way of refreshment. 

Morning Coffee

It was so nice that by the time we had finished our coffee the sweep riders were pulling in!! Time to get going.  The rest of the afternoon went quite well until we went through a junction were there was a signpost saying road closed??

Road Closed??

 Any sane law abiding citizen would have turned left at that point (and indeed some did) but Mike just kept going until we found the point where the bridge (and road) had been washed away. 

The reason why!!

Mez going through with a bow wave!

Unfortunately I didn’t have the foresight to switch the helmet cam on so I have no film of me crossing this. Mike, Maryanne and myself all went through with no problems.

I was glad to get through in one

Others were not so fortunate as there was a rather large “hole” in the water crossing that caused some to let their bikes have a small rest on its side half way through!!

As we rode into the hotel in Jindabyne it had been a long and eventful day giving everyone something to talk about over a couple of cold beers that night.

The last day was to be a loop out from Jindabyne to follow some fantastic roads through the Snowy Mountains for 366km. 

We had to go to the gas station first thing to get some more oil for the old Teneres and Mez found that she had her second front wheel puncture of the trip!! This meant that we were going to be late setting off, but also the sweeps were late in starting as they helped Mez to fix it! The weather that had been so kind to us changed a little as it was a cold start and a few showers throughout the morning, but not enough to make the going impossible. The scenery that day was spectacular and by the afternoon the sun had reappeared to warm us up.

McKillops bridge in the Snowy Mountains

After all the official photo’s had been taken we had the celebratory dinner with some prizes awarded for some things serious and some frivolous. I think everyone had a good time.

All together for a group photo

The five oldest '83 Teneres on the run

On reflection.

8 Days, 3200 km on 29 year old machines with no breakdowns.

650km on the old Tenere is too far, at least until I can get some better foam in the seat.

My dirt riding skills are not as good as I either thought or would like them to be. I also think that at 53 years of age the possibility of reaching the desired skill level is not likely to happen. I think that the recklessness of youth and knowledge of how much it hurts when you fall off prevents the all out commitment it takes. I think that is something that is learned at a younger age. I consider myself to be an adventure rider who while riding if I come across a dirt road will ride along it, make it through in one piece and hopefully without dropping it. I don’t think that I purposely go looking to ride off road.

Would I do it again? If the situation was right and the cost not too expensive, yes. But having done it it’s not some thing that I desperately crave.

The event was superbly organised and run by Clubby and Tania from Trailzone Magazine, and for that I thank them.

Thanks to Mez (Maryanne) for some of the photo's in this report. She has already beaten me to posting the video which is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQsDCC-rlo&sns=em enjoy.

What’s next?? I intend to go to Europe again next May. I would like to attend the Horizons Unlimited meeting in the UK, and maybe even take the 660 Tenere down to Spain and even further to possibly Morocco again that depends on a lot of things that have to come together at the right time, we’ll see but I’ll keep you informed.