SORRY NO PICTURE, BUT I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND A WIRELESS PLACE TO DOWNLOAD TO. IT IS A LONG STORY TO GET UP TO DATE SO ENJOY THE RIDE, I HAVE BEEN. I WILL TRY TO UPDATE MORE OFTEN.
6/26/05
As I was packing up a couple who lived in London offered me a place to stay for two days before I catch the train to France. I think I caught them off guard when I didnt hesitate or do the usual are you sure it wouldnt be any problems routine. So FYI for anyone who might offer me a place to stay expect me to accept.
Well after saying bye to everyone at the rally I packed up all my stuff and headed north west towards Liverpool to stay with some friends I met in Ireland.
The didnt really give me directions just an address and a name of a town, but never being one to sweat the little details I headed off. Hhhmmmm I wonder if they did that on purpose, that Yank will never find our house just give him the address.
It was a beautiful day so there was lots of cars and motorcycles out, I came across this one town and every motorcycle on this little island know as England must have been here., there was probably over 1000 bikes parked on the streets. I think this country is full of allot of fair weather motorcyclists. Since it rains so much here I am sure everyone was excited to get out and enjoy some sun. I met a couple guys at a gas station and they warned me to watch for cops and the ticket cameras, I dont know why they think I would be concerned about getting a speeding ticket. What are they going to do mail me the ticket to California.
Well today I was quite impressed with my sense of direction/tracking ability/luck because once I got to the general area I asked some people at a gas station and got some really bad/wrong directions but as I wondered around for a half hour I found the village, now I just had to find the street. Well as luck would have it the third street I came to was the right one. So needless to say Ian and Julie were quite impressed that I made it. Julie was quite proud she had passed her motorcycle test and was now licensed to ride on the road, she even had a nice 125cc bike that she was learning on.
So after a wonderful dinner and a couple hours of motorcycle talk I was off to bed.
Todays Specs
Weather: Sunny 80F
Distance: 65 miles, campsite to Warrington
6/27/05
In the morning when I had rolled out of bed Ian and Julie had already gone to work. After loading everything back up on my mini motor home I was off to London. Thanks again Julie and Ian for letting my stay the night.
I made it to London by noon, now I just had to find the Butlers house, I had a general GPS coordinate that would get me close. Well once again luck was on my side because I happened to come to stop and get my bearings when I looked over my right shoulder and the street I needed was 50ft behind me.
Since it was still early in the afternoon and they would not be home for a couple hours I parked the bike and headed off on foot to explore London. Their loft was in a great location, it only took me 20 minutes of walking to make it to the London Bridge and the Thames River (note: I was informed it is pronounced Tames, man the English have messed up the American language).
After walking around for several hours I headed back to Tonis and Kens. Toni is a great cook, she prepared us great Chinese dinner, they only laughed at me a couple times for not lifting my bowl to eat the rice with my chopsticks.
Now all men should take notes from Ken, he has a great collection of BMW motorcycles and has somehow convinced his wife that half of them are for her. Now here is the catch she doesnt have a license yet. So the only thing I can call it is pure genius, Talk about a serious Jedi mind trick, No honey this bike is for you.
Well I took some notes on how he did it, you know just in case I ever find some foolish girl that would put up with me.
So after a glass of wine and good evening of talking about our travels it was off to bed.
Todays Specs
Weather: Sunny 80F
Distance: 160 miles, Warrington to London
6/28/05
Ken told me I could take one of their bicycles to ride around and see London. So I spent all day doing the typical tourist sites, not too exciting but I can check it off my list. I saw London Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, and everything in-between.
I came across the Saudi Embassy and I had never seen such an impressive collection of cars so I decided I would try to take a picture, well the police officer assigned to stand in front of the embassy informed that it wasnt such a good idea and I should move on. Taking his advice off I went. I realized I was quite good at riding a mountain bike through traffic, I guess sitting on top of a motorcycle for the last two months I have become much better at judging distances between cars and knowing my clearances. It is either that or I just figure that it wont hurt as bad if I run into something on a bicycle, the whole consequences theory again.
So after riding around for almost 5 hours and seeing, I think, most of London I headed back to rest a while before dinner.
Well I will say the last two days I have been quite spoiled with good food and great accommodations. Tonight I had another great meal with a couple different salads, pork, sausage, fresh fruit, and baklava. Man those noodles and sandwiches are not going to taste as good after this.
There was a brilliant thunderstorm tonight, it was quite relaxing knowing I didnt have sleep outside in it, though I will say the tent is now up to it.
Todays Specs
Weather: Sunny 70F during the day and Thunderstorm in the evening.
Distance: 15 miles by pedal bike (I may be sore tomorrow), London
6/29/05
I headed off (with a deep sigh) from my luxury accommodations, thanks again to Toni and Ken. It was a 90 minute ride to the Euro tunnel thanks in part to the brilliance that is GPS.
I arrived about 3 hours early but the lady informed me since it was a slow day that could put me on straight away. The train ride was quite uneventful, basically I rode onto the train, parked my bike sat there for 30 minutes then rode off in France.
I rode around a little bit and it was quite a nice sunny day, I even had to shed some layers of clothing when out of nowhere a quite amazing rainstorm came in. The rest of the day was spent with these patches of rainstorms and then sunny, quite weird weather all in all. I found a nice little campground and decided to set up camp early and rest since I was quite tired.
I decided to read the adventure motorcycle guide book I had bought last week. The writer of the book is kinda a tool, I met the guy at the meeting and he seemed quite full of himself. Dirk (the guy who had rode the scooter from Alaska to Argentina) had once sent him a picture and he responded back he was only taking pictures of people on real bikes. I dont know about you but anybody who would ride a scooter the whole length of the planet qualifies as a real biker to me, or maybe just crazy.
Todays Specs
Weather: Sunny 70F during the day and quickly turned into thunderstorms
Distance: 80 miles to the tunnel then 100 miles in France.
6/30/05
This morning I woke up and after packing up camp I headed off, the weather didnt start off too bad but it turned to quite ugly so I decided I would head to Paris which wasnt too far away and ride out this rain thing for awhile. So after making it to Paris and sitting in some of the most ugly traffic ever my bike started to heat up, so as I was sitting at lights I would turn the engine off to keep the temp down, oh the advantages of water cooled bikes. But then I started to have front brake problems, my trouble light kept coming on. Well after I let the bike completely cool down the problem went away, I hope it is connected to the high temp. Also my girl is drinking allot of oil like a quart every couple thousand miles. But after reading up on the internet allot of people say this is normal until 20,000 miles, well she definitely isnt a Honda but then again my Honda would be in a 1000 pieces if I fell over half as much as do on my big German girl.
Paris is filled with motorcycles and scooters, hundreds of them everywhere. My impression of the moto culture so far quite good because everyone quickly gives the motorcycle wave when passing them, very friendly. But I saw something new, when people pass you going the same direction they would stick their leg out almost like kicking you. At first I thought maybe I was doing something wrong but I later found out that this is a different version of the motorcycle wave, who knew. But as I later find out the French are really only friendly if they think you are French or at least speak French so I guess if I had a sign on the bike that said I cant speak French they would not wave.
So after driving around and passing all the tourist sites I found and information center at the base of the Eiffel Tower. The people their quickly lined me up with a hostel, so after a couple of the usual tourist pics off I went.
I was quite happy with the hostel as it had a nice courtyard and lots of people coming and going, not too bad a place. As I was checking in I asked the lady at the desk if I could park my motorcycle in the courtyard and she said no problem, thinking it was the typical Paris scooter and not expecting a 800lb motor home. The look on her face when my big german girl pulled up to the gate was quite amusing. Well as I sized up the gate the bike was a little too large, damn I should have went for the 650 instead of the l150. But not being one who gives up easily I figured I should at least try, well after 20 minutes of trying to stuff 800lbs of motorcycle through a 400lb doorway I resided to the fact that my girl was going to have to sleep on the sidewalk chained to a lamppost.
So once I got settled in and meeting some interesting people at the hostel, an Australian tourist, two brazilan girls, a orchestra conductor from Jersey I headed out to see Paris nightlife. Now this is where I was a little bummed out. I thought Paris would be like Spain where people drink and eat till 6:00 am and have a good time. NO. Paris literally shuts down at 2:00 am and they dont have that many bars/clubs. Everyone told me to go the Latin Corner, hhhmmm go to Paris to go to a Latin district, you see what I mean kinda disappointing. So after a not to exciting evening I headed back to the Hostel and called it a night.
Todays Specs
Weather: Crappy
Distance: 50 miles campsite to Paris
7/1/05
After waking up and showering in one of the dirtier showers I have used in a while, I think the hostel saves money by not cleaning the showers, I was trying to figure out if I was going to leave Paris today and head towards Spain. After checking my email and having some bread the Brazilian girls I had met the day before asked me if I wanted to go the Louvre and some other sites. Being of the mindset that it is improper to turn down beautiful Brazilian women I accepted their offer and this would mean that I would have to stay another night in Paris. I figured I had better check with the desk to see if I could stay another night I was quickly told no they were fully booked and I had to have all of my stuff out of the room by 11:00 am. Well anyone who has seen what it looks like when I open my panniers knows that it is a pain in the ass to pack up. I was feeling lucky and thinking someone would cancel and well I really didnt want to pack up my stuff so I just nodded to the lady at the front desk and headed off to see the tourist stuff of Paris.
Yes I am sure you are all impressed that I went to see the Louvre and take in all the art history, yes I saw the Mona Lisa and several other famous art thingies. But really I just did it for the chicks, Brazilian girl asked me Josh you like art me Of Course But I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, I got to see the Crown Jewels, 140 carat diamond it resembled a rap stars necklace, some serious Bling Bling. It is funny how the rap guys think they invented Bling when 1000s of years ago these guys had more diamonds on them than Elvis. Also saw the famous Aphrodites statue and lots of roman statues of chiseled guys with their penis hanging out, talk about a weird culture.
Well after seeing all the tourist stuff and getting the been there done that button we went back to the hostel. The girl at the desk informed me I was very lucky and they had one room available but it was a different room than the night before. I mentioned my stuff might be in the other room and I would need a key to get my stuff. With a dirty look she asked me why I hadnt taken my stuff out of the room at 11:00 like the rules tell me. I pleaded ignorance with a smile and shrugged shoulders not wanting to tell her how really the world kinda revolves around me, heheheehehe.
Once I got settled into the new room I changed and headed out with the Brazilian girls for a night on the town. After heading to a couple different neighborhoods and not finding anything too exciting we ended up heading back to the Latin Quarter.
Todays Specs
Weather: Cloudy/Rainy
Distance: 0 miles Paris
7/2/05
This morning I woke up about 8:00 and couldnt fall back asleep so I figured I would take my girl for a spin around Paris. I wasnt really too impressed with Paris, there are allot beautiful buildings but the majority of the city isnt to remarkable. I did enjoy the smell of fresh pastries coming out of the patisseries as they were getting ready for the morning crowds.
After cruising around Paris for an hour or so I figured I better decide what I was going to do, stay in Paris one more night or head out. I decided to play it by ear, the lady at the front desk told me they were booked up, I probably have convinced her but after sleeping in a really smelly room last night I decided I might check with the hotel about a block away. They had a room on the 3rd floor for 50 euros, which was more than I wanted to spend, but I figured I would splurge. So after hauling all my luggage up 3 flights of narrow creeky stairs I went to meet up with my Brazilian tourist companions to see the Notre Dame.
Notre Dame was quite impressive, I was quite surprised they werent charging admission but in the good catholic mentality you purchase, for a small 2 euro donation, a prayer candle or go to confession. I figured the priest didnt have all day to hear me in confession so I skipped that part.
After walking most of Paris I was a little tired so decided a nap would be a good idea for heading out and giving one last chance to redeem itself and produce a decent night life.
After waking up from nap I decided it would be nice to go to a café and enjoy the Paris atmosphere. I found a great little bistro/café a couple blocks away where I could sit and update the journal and enjoy the early evening. By this point I decided that I am not a huge fan of Paris, the food isnt that great, extremely expensive, the people as a whole are rude, besides a few of the major attractions it isnt that pretty of a city, and the nightlife hasnt been anything great. The waiter at the bistro almost made me rethink my opinion of the Parisians well until he told me he had only lived here for about 5 years and that he was from a small Island off the coast of Madagascar called Mauritius. He was quite an interesting fellow who gave me some advice to find some good nightlife.
So upon his recommendation we headed out to the Bastille district. There was a row of bars and nightclubs with bouncers out front of each trying to get you come into their club and for a 20 euro admission they would give you a free drink (what a deal, not). Well after going into the club that seemed the busiest once again I was let down and after an hour I decided to call it a night.
Todays Specs
Weather: 80F humid and sunny
Distance: 0 miles Paris
7/3/05
Today I had to get on the bike and head towards Spain in order to meet up with Geoff and Ian tomorrow. Not much exciting today as I rode about 400 freeway miles. Today was the hottest day I have had to date , my little thermometer was reading about 100F, so was making several stops for water and Popsicles.
The toll roads in France, like everything else, is ridiculously expensive. So as I got to the first toll area I went to the line where you would pay with your credit card I did a quick look around, hhmmm, no cops and well nobody really monitoring, so I just cruised through it. I think it may take pictures but I am pretty sure they wont know where to send the ticket so off I went. That was about the most excitement I had today though I did manage to take a 2 hour nap at a rest area.
Well one would like to think that after 8 hours on the road in such hot weather it would only be right if a lake or river would appear to go for a swim, well as fate would have it I came across a small little lake. Not hesitating I took the exit and decided a swim would do me well. As I parked the bike on some slightly unstable ground I hopped of and was peeling my riding gear off when my girl decided she wanted to go to lay down for a minute. As I looked at the fat pig of a bike laying their on her side and the nice cool water I had a decision to make, I almost left her so I could for a swim when out of nowhere a nice Frenchman came running over to help me pick her up, it was a tough decision for a sec. Well after the bike was all sorted I went for a swim and enjoyed the water for about 30 minutes figuring it might be a good idea to find a campsite. I came across Arachon which is a little beach tourist town on the ocean. I found an overpriced tourist campground and figured I would go ahead and set up camp.
Today I did learn a lesson, as I went to unpack my food to cook dinner I found my tub of butter had opened up and melted all over everything in my food sack. Tomorrow zip-lock baggies for anything meltable (not sure that is a word, owell). So after cleaning up my now well lubricated food bag I had a good dinner of canned raviolis and was off to bed.
Todays Specs
Weather: 100 F hot damn hot
Distance: 400 miles Paris Arachon
7/4/05
This morning as I was packing up my stuff and getting ready to get on the road the owner of the campground came over and introduced himself. It turns out he is a fellow motorcycle enthusiast so we ended up chatting a while. It turns out the campground must make quite a bit of money because as he showed me his motorcycle there was a car with a cover over. From the stance of the car there was mistaking that it was a Ferrari, he had a big smile and gave a nod when I asked if it was a Testarossa.
The plan for today was get into Spain to meet Geoff and Ian. It was a fairly uneventful ride to the campsite outside of Bilboa
On the ride today as I was turning deep intellectual thoughts around in my little brain, well Ok I was just talking to myself, I figured out what my weakness is. You know when you go into a job interview and they ask what your strengths and weaknesses are, I can usually say well I really dont have any weaknesses besides asian girls, or is that more of a fetish (hhmm future thought on that) Josh would you get back to your deep thoughts please, sorry, so as I was saying my weakness is balance. I have decided that I am not very good at balancing my life, this is going to be a shocker but I am extremely impulsive, I hope you were all sitting down, Josh of course they are sitting down have you ever seen someone stand while using a computer, fair enough, so as I was saying before I interrupted myself, Balance I dont think I have ever really been able to balance work/personal relations/travel. I think this is one of the factors why I found myself lying on my couch in my nice which I bought with my great job and wondering what else is there. So now the trick will be figuring out to balance life when I get to society and once again become a contributing member. I think I would need a job where I could have a couple months off a year. Hhhmm I hope that rich asian supermodel will support me and I wont have to worry about it. One would hope after traveling the world and just generally fucking off that I would be rewarded with a rich girlfriend to continue this ridiculous lifestyle.
Anyways
..
When I got to the campsite the lady informed two other blokes just got in. I decided that I cant leave the important decisions up to Geoff and Ian, for example this campsite seem to be about 70% female backpackers on the way to Pampalona but Geoff and Ian decided to set up their tents on the other side away from all the girls eliminating the best pick up tool and conversation starters (the motorcycles) So I was reduced to using my charm and as you can imagine I slept alone.
Happy 4th of July to all you fellow Seppos ( a term for yanks that I have been called allot, it means Septictank Yank, I am not sure it is really a term of endearment but it is always said with a smile)
Todays Specs
Weather: 70 rainy/cloudy
Distance: 120 miles Arachon to Sepella
7/5/05
After lounging about and spending an extra 30 minutes flirting with a really cute reception girl at the campground, Spanish women are beautiful, we were finally on the road about noon. Ian was quite concerned about a leaky part on his KTM, so we were off to the dealership in Bilboa to find the part. There was no shortage of KTM jokes breaking down coming from the BMW owner.
After getting Ian sorted out we headed off to Pamplona. It was quite a nice ride and it was good to ride in a group. To get to Pamplona we had to go over a small mountain pass, about 2000 ft and saw some great scenery with small towns. We stopped for lunch at a little café and as usual the motorcycles drew a crowd of people. It turned out the owner of the restaurant was very big motorcycle enthusiast but didnt speak a word of English. It is quite amazing how you can communicate when you have a common interest. We probably communicated for 30 minutes in two different languages but understood each other through body language and pointing and allot of gestures and some basic words. It was quite fun.
When we pulled up to the campsite there was a long queue (English for line) of backpackers registering in. I kinda felt like a rockstar pulling up with all these people looking at me, by the time I had my helmet off there were 4 people asking us questions. I had to make fun of one ignorant drunk ausie who from the line was aksing all these dumb questions. One point he asked where we were from and I replied that Geoff was South African and that I was from San Francisco to which he replied oh you are both Americans, this is where I was quite funny, getting a little irritated at this idiot I replied, Well I am no geography major but I think South Africa is a little ways from the States. It worked quite well as everyone in line had a good laugh and he asked no further questions.
Well after getting all sorted in our 25euro a night campground, bloody expensive but with tour bus loads of ausie and kiwi girls so I am not complaining too much., anyways I digress after getting sorted it was quite a fun evening of wine and story telling. After spending so much time to myself I am really getting good at telling stories and talking to people. It was quite a fun evening.
Todays Specs
Weather: 75 cloudy/sunny
Distance: 120 miles Sepella to Pamplona
7/6/05
Waking up and I immediately began looking for the cat that crawled in my tent and shit in my mouth, damn cheap wine ugh bloody hangover. After a cheese/salami/orange juice breakfast we started walking towards the bus station to head into town to catch the opening ceremonies of San Fermin. Well it turned out the bus doesnt run that often and well it took us 30 minutes to even find the bus station so after waiting another 30 or 40 minutes we decided to buck up and take a cab in. We missed the opening ceremonies but the party had definitely begun. Quickly buying white pants, shirt and a scarf I was ready to join in on the festivities. It was quite a great party with a sea of white and red scarfs everywhere you looked. Pamplona is a great city full of bars and nightlife. None of the bars care if you bring your own alcohol so bought some wine at store and just walked the 800 meter route of the bull run stopping at the bars as we went. After several hours of partying and having a good time we figured a nap might be a good idea cause it cold be a long night and I had to be at the starting point at 6:00 am for a jog. After taking a nap we were ready to start partying again. I was quite impressed with the amount of Spanish people that were out, I was a little afraid that it would only be Seppos like me, dont get me wrong there were allot of tourists, mainly aussies and kiwis. The party had continued straight through the day and had gained momentum to what can only be described as mayhem. The streets were crowded with people drinking it sounded like a general roar with people singing and the sound of breaking glass every time someone finished a bottle of wine and chucked it on the ground. Peoples white outfits (mine included) were all becoming red with wine. At about 4:00 am Geoff and Ian decided to call it a night, I figured I had better power through in order to be at the square by 6:00. Oh it is a rough life, I think I may pick up a new liver on the black market in the one of the 3rd world countries I visit, because the one I have may be shot after this trip.
Todays Specs
Weather: 70 cloudy
Distance: 0 miles Pamplona
7/7/05
Well sometime after 4:00am I decided a little nap was in order, so finding a soft spot of grass I layed down and took a little siesta, Uhmmm Josh isnt that called passing out, well in my version it is a siesta. I woke up at 6:00 am shivering like a leaf, my white which had become quite red from the wine was not to thick so I was quite cold. I headed for the nearest store or bar to warm up, I quickly realized that the party hadnt stopped, it had slowed down a little but people were still going full speed ahead.
After warming up I made my way to the square to mull around till 8:00. The square was packed with people ready to run everybody going over philosophies and trying to get as much info from the experienced runners. I was still quite calm and with so many people milling about there had to be at least one or two people that I could outrun. At about 4 minutes to 8:00 my heart started beating a little faster and the anticipation started to grow. When the bell started to toll my heart quickly jumped and I wondered why am I out here but then the cannon fired which meant the bulls were released and I really did have too much time to think. Once the cannon fired the crowd turned into a sea of action with everybody yelling in as many languages. I started off fairly slow because one experienced runner if you sprint the whole way you wont even see a bull. So as I was jogging along I came to the sharp right turn and still no sign of the bulls. I decided to keep moving on as I was about a quarter of the way down the straight run I heard this thunderous roar. It was unlike any sound I had ever heard at the same moment their was what could only be described as a surge of energy in the crowd, borderline panic. I knew the bulls were close. I moved towards the side of the street seeing a doorway with a guy standing in it. I ran for the doorway with the thunder getting closer. As I replaced the body in the doorway with my own I saw a flash of 8000lbs of bulls. Off I shot out of the door chasing the bulls but was quickly outdistanced. I kept a fast pace when I heard a familiar thunder but this time not as loud. The shouts of Rouge Bull could be heard and again a surge of energy shot through the crowd. There wasnt much time to think as the bull galloped by not really interested in the people just seeming to want to get back with the pack. I made it to the ring before they closed the gates it was complete mayhem as all the runners were now running around the ring as the bulls were herded to their stalls. For the next hour a series of smaller bulls were let into the ring to trample tourists. It was quite exciting to watch all people pretending to be matadors.
After such an exciting morning with only a short nap I was wearing down. After a short confusing bus ride, which ended up going only half the way to the campsite then hopping a taxi with a few german guys, I decided some serious sleep was in order.
After going with Geoff and Ian to dinner we decided to check out the discotheque next door to the restaurant. When we went in it was quite a neat disco but for some reason all the girls were wearing almost nothing and were quite rough looking. We were quickly propositioned by several imported girls from South America. Deciding that one drink couldnt hurt before heading back to the campsite we all ordered a whiskey on the rocks. After being propositioned by several more ladies and some amusing conversation we decided to head back to the campground and call it an evening.
Todays Specs
Weather: 75 Sunny
Distance: 0 miles Pamplona
7/8/05
I was awoken by one of the individuals staying next to us who had just came home and was quite upset that his camera and wallet had been stolen off of him. For the next three hours he danced around the campsite listening to deep house music that the Europeans like so much and drank a full bottle of Jack Daniels and a full bottle of Smirnoff. I was quite impressed because he was still coherent and not evening stumbling and he did this running type of dance for three hours with out even looking winded. It was one of the most humorous things I think I have ever seen. Unfortunately it is hard to describe, I guess it is one of those you had to have been there things.
Well after packing up and saying goodbye to friendly dancing neighbor, who was still completely coherent and still drinking we headed off.
The last three days had finally caught up to us because in 8 hours of riding we only made it 80 miles. Now a 100 years ago averaging 10mph would be quite a pace. We made lots of frequent stops to enjoy the scenery and share our thoughts. It was quite a nice day.
We headed northeast out of Pamplona on N135, which turned into one of the greatest roads I have ever ridden. As N135 heads through the Pyrenees both on the Spanish and French side it is a twisty road with amazing scenery and great tarmac. I highly recommend this road to any motorcycle enthusiast and we barely saw any traffic on the road.
Now just when you want to generalize and say all French are rude you come across a person that makes you think there is hope for this country.
The last couple days I have been toying with the idea of changing to knobby tires for the ride through Pyrenees. So as we got in Pau, where we were going to camp, I came across a motorcycle shop and figured I would ask them if they had any that fit my bike. Of course they didnt but he thought the BMW dealer across town would have them but they were closing in 30 minutes, after drawing me a quick map off I set and my two traveling companions decided to head to the campground and we would meet up later. Well it turned out his map was crap and I was properly lost. I saw a fellow on a sport bike at a grocery store so I asked him if he knew where the BMW dealer was. He spoke perfect English, unlike most French who speak English but pretend they dont, he quickly decided the most efficient way to get there was to just show me. We made it to the dealer with 5 minutes to spare and with my new friend translating for me I was in luck with a new set of Metzler MCEKAROO tires. As I loaded up my tires (the bike looking like a gypsy caravan with tires hanign off)and said goodbye to my new friend who insisted if I have any problems in France I call him and he would help me out as best he could. So as I wanted to write off France completely I am forced to once again give it another chance.
Once I made it back to the campground Geoff had prepared a pasta dinner with vegetables and chorizo. Not to bad of a day all in all.
Todays Specs
Weather: 70 cloudy
Distance: 80 miles Pamplona to Pau (France)
