Pyrenees Extreme
15 Jun 2019
One more time in motorcycle heaven!
Day 1
Arrival in Castelldefels
Rudi from New Jersey did the guided city tour through Barcelona. All major highlights in one day, a lot of walking, but a lot of fun!
The rest of the group arrived during the day. People from all over the world: Australia, USA, Brasil, Austria and Germany.
Day 2 Castelldefels - Avellanes - 370 km
What a great first day! The group was doing really well in the challenging and twisty roads. Perfect weather and perfect motorcycle roads! Our destination for tonight was a monastery in the foothills of the Pyrenees with excellent good.
Day 3 - Avellanes - Pamplona - 380 km
A great day along the Pyrenees. Challenging road up to an observatory, but the view was worth the effort. Then some fun pass roads and a saturday night in lively Pamplona.
Day 4 - Rest day in Pamplona
Rest day! What rest day? Today the whole group rode out to San Sebastian - a 310km round trip. Another fantastic day with a lunch stop by the beach. On the way back a couple of trips into France before returning to Pamplona
Day 5 - Pamplona - Luz le Saveur - 310 km
A bit of rain, some fog and freezing temperatures could not reduce the fun we had today. A scenic lunch in a beautiful National Park and crossing the border to France. The famous Tour de France passes are waiting...
Day 6 Luz Le Saveur - Tarrascon sur Arriege
A tale of two rides. A bad weather forecast means we split into two groups. The intrepid group heads up and over Col de Tourmalet where they find snow and - 1 degrees. But they make it over and continue onwards. Group two heads back down the valley to Lourdes and keeps in warmer temperatures eventually making a trip to the Chateau de Montsegur. We pray for sunshine tomorrow.....
Day 7 Tarrascon - Macanet
Our prayers are answered and the sun is shining - but it is still cold only 5 degrees! We start off towards Col de Pailheres where there is still snow on top. Today is curves, curves and more curves! After lunch it finally starts to warm up and we begin our descent from the high Pyrenees. By the time we reach Macanet everyone is exhausted but there are big smiles all round from the best riding day so far. Tomorrow the last riding day awaits.....
Day 8 - Macanet - Castelldefels
A perfect last riding day led us back to the hotel where we started. The most twisty road of the trip was incredible, folowing a narrow canyon.
After 7 intense riding days everybody was a Kittel Bit exhausted, but very happy.
See you in the future on the next Extreme Tour!