UPP 2401 - ACT Pyrerees Unpaved
Today is arrival day. We warmly welcome our guests from Australia, Germany and the United States. After the welcome briefing with a presentation of the tour, including the itinerary and special features, the motorcycles are handed over to our guests. Afterwards we have dinner together with a wonderful view, where we get to know each other. Everyone is already looking forward to the following day, when we finally get going with scenery and curves, and of course - ON & OFF-ROAD.
Finally we are ready to go, first day of riding. Today we first ride around the big city of Barcelona in beautiful weather before reaching the Montseny National Park (Signal Mountain). Here we leave the asphalt roads for the first time and head onto unpaved terrain. As today's surface conditions are perfect, the many hairpin bends are also associated with steep climbs, ideal preparation for the days ahead, which will demand even more of us. In the evening, after a stop at the lake in Banyoles, we reach the beach in Roses.
Today's section takes us on the trail of the smugglers, Andorra is not yet a member of the EU and so there are still customs controls at the border crossing. However, our tour takes us over the smugglers' pass, so we bypass the entry control. But first we take the dirt road to France, but unfortunately we have another puncture, this time two. As we can't get the tire completely sealed, we decide to change it and then tackle the remaining stretch to Andorra. We reach our destination hotel a little later than planned, with enough time to remove the dust we've collected over the day in the shower before dinner.
Today we go over the highest elevation of all our tour and if we have clear view we can see the highest mountain of the pyrenees sitting at the north of our route.
We probably won't be riding on dusty tracks today, because it was raining last night. There's no water from above at the moment, so the conditions are still great. As we approach 2000 meters altitude we enter clouds, visibility 10-15 meters. Due to the rain, roads have been completely closed because of the danger of falling rocks. We are allowed to cross a small bridge after instruction from a representative of the nature conservation authorities, but we don't know whether it still exists or has already been destroyed by the masses of water. After lunch we drive back to the hotel in the pouring rain, everyone is happy as we had no incidents.
We are leaving the high Pyrenees and approach te most greener hilly lower Pyrenees. And we enter the Basque region which has its own very unique language which is not related to any other language. We faced a few drops of rain but not much, it just broght some mystic athmosphere - so we had another great day with a lot of fun :-) Check it out here: https://youtu.be/IOAQo9Q8Cs4
Today is our last day of riding. A big challenge still lies ahead of us. "Dead Horse Beach", named by our tour guide Andreas Fetzer. We first have to pass the official end point of the ACT Pyrenees and then head down to the cliffs. Apart from a few EBT tour guides, no motorcyclists known to us have reached this place so far (at least we haven't spotted any yet). Then to the end point and along the coastal road to the beach. Here our Australian guests have the opportunity to take their first dip in the Atlantic Ocean. After arriving at the hotel, we head to the final dinner, where the first plans are already being made for another special ACT tour in 2025.