tour reports » Essex to Javea (Xabia?)

Had a fabulous ride down to Javea in Valencia early Sept, getting home on Sunday night. Went down with a pal on his 1200RT, we took the Portsmouth - Bilbao ferry on Thurs 1st arriving in Bilbao Sat 3rd at 8am.

The crossing was smooth as silk, the bay of Biscay not living up to its reputation, so many hours sat on deck soaking up the rays.

We had a bit over 600 miles to cover in 2 days & the plan was to avoid motorways as much as possible, but we did take the AP68 to Logroño to get a head start on the days ride to our overnight in Cuenca.

From Logroño we took the N111 to Soria & then the N234 to lunch stop at Calatayud. What a section of road! South of Logroño we were into a twisty canyon section with Griffon Vultures overhead, it opened up further south so we could make decent progress, but oh my... If you're used to the crowded poorly surfaced roads of the South East & East then Spain (away from the coast) is a revelation. Well surfaced, grippy, quiet (I mean 15 cars an hour quiet) roads that are an absolute joy to ride on.

After Calatayud we took a fabulous twisty minor road to Molina de Aragón followed by another fantastic minor road through a pine forest & then on to Cuenca after 345 miles & 10 hours (inc. stops) on the road.

IMG-20220916-WA0013.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220916-WA0010.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220916-WA0008.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220916-WA0014.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220916-WA0009.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220916-WA0007.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Day 2 was a chilly start at 8am & we left Cuenca with the temp at 9.5c in beautiful sunshine, I was glad I'd packed my textile jacket as well as the mesh! We headed south towards Albacete, for the first 2 hours I'm not sure we passed more than 10 cars, it was nearly deserted on a Sunday morning.

We headed toward Requena & then down the the Canyon side toward Ayora. I spent an hour on the RT for this section, found it steered very well on the slow Twisties, just shuffle your backside around the seat & it fell into the turns very nicely, it's an older air-cooled 1200 so found it less smooth than my later LC & a bit more vibey. I also missed the grunt of the newer engine, so was happy to swap back!

We then headed for Almansa, Alcoi, then over the hills on the fabulous CV700 to Pego & then into journey's end at Javea.

After 5 days with our wives at the villa our return route was fairly close to the outbound leg, with the odd change.

Day one was a full on day of almost 400miles to our overnight in Soria only leaving us 180ish the following day to get to Bilbao by 1.30 for a 3pm sailing.

The return sailing was just as smooth, the Brittany Ferries boat only came into service early 2022 & is rather nice, a few pics of the return leg below.

As for the bike? I could not have picked a better machine to do the trip on, it's comfortable for all day riding, but has the power & handling to make it fun in the mountain roads & heated grips for the early morning starts! For me, it was the perfect partner.

IMG-20220913-WA0020.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220913-WA0019.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220913-WA0018.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220913-WA0023.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

IMG-20220913-WA0009.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

We did get chance to take the lesser roads between Logroño & Vitoria-Gastiez, the penultimate pic is taken at the top of a fabulous mountain ascent that took us up to around 1100m before heading down the other side through woodland.

Enjoy your trip, it was my first, but definitely not my last to the "real" Spain.