Day 4 - Up and Down Again
Wednesday 13th July 2016
It is a very cold night up here at 1200 metres elevation. But so quiet when the wind drops in the evening. There is only a handful of fellow campers and our nearest neigbours are 100 metres away.
In the morning we leave Camping Riano and head down into the village for fuel. Sean has a visor malfunction as he is setting off and I have ridden several kilometres along the lakeside before I realise there is no-one in my mirrors.
I swing back around and findMick and Sean near the filling station. Sean's visor fixing screw had come loose on one side but by the time I get back to there it is already fixed and we can get on our way.
It's
another great road. We wind our way up to the top of a pass where there
is a side road signed as a photo opportunity, so we have to ride up.
This little side track takes us a couple of kilometres up to the crest of a hill where a wonderful view of the central Picos is revealed
.
There is an old guy there with his family. He tells me he has a Norton Commando 850 at home and that his son is a doctor working in Liverpool though he lives in Manchester. Pretty cool conversation since he speaks no English and I no Spanish.
Next we bimble over a small pass on a small winding country road. At the top is an ancient looking dam spanning the valley. It is very old and looks like it may crumble down the valley at any moment.
Lunch is at a small cafe bar down in the next valley. Great juicy burger and chips. So that's the calory intake for the day sorted.
Next we ride over a pass on an unmade road. Work is going on to improve it and many corners have been widened with stone retaining walls. But there is still a lot of work to be done.
Lorries loaded with
muck are hurtling up and down the narrow track, and we edge past
several diggers that take up most of the track. Parts
of the pass would register a 7 or an 8 on the Reavie Goat Track Scale.
Clive would have loved it - not! Sean is the only one to enjoy this on
his GS. Very potholed and gravelly hard work but beautiful views.
Rushing streams and waterfalls. Cloud at the top but no real rain. It's
finished on the other side and is a very good ride down.
So on to Ramales where the planned camp site doesn't appear to exist. We find a hotel in the Tomtom and ride 20 kilometres to find it.
It too does not exist. It's getting seriously late now. Oops. In desperation we head for the coast where there are always camp sites. Fortunately it is a fast road, to Laredo and we find camping by the sea estuary.
On a back road near the coast there is a huge pothole, skilfully camouflaged. We all hit it. It's a real wheel buster but we suffer no apparent damage.
Arriving at the campsite is a huge relief. It's busy, full of families and quite lively. It's quite dark as we put up the tents. There is just time for a beer or three in the camp bar before we flop exhausted into our sleeping bags.
It is a very cold night up here at 1200 metres elevation. But so quiet when the wind drops in the evening. There is only a handful of fellow campers and our nearest neigbours are 100 metres away.
 |
| Riano |
In the morning we leave Camping Riano and head down into the village for fuel. Sean has a visor malfunction as he is setting off and I have ridden several kilometres along the lakeside before I realise there is no-one in my mirrors.
I swing back around and findMick and Sean near the filling station. Sean's visor fixing screw had come loose on one side but by the time I get back to there it is already fixed and we can get on our way.
This little side track takes us a couple of kilometres up to the crest of a hill where a wonderful view of the central Picos is revealed
 |
| Picos central |
There is an old guy there with his family. He tells me he has a Norton Commando 850 at home and that his son is a doctor working in Liverpool though he lives in Manchester. Pretty cool conversation since he speaks no English and I no Spanish.
 |
| Viewpoint at 1680 metres |
Next we bimble over a small pass on a small winding country road. At the top is an ancient looking dam spanning the valley. It is very old and looks like it may crumble down the valley at any moment.
 |
| Dam |
Lunch is at a small cafe bar down in the next valley. Great juicy burger and chips. So that's the calory intake for the day sorted.
Next we ride over a pass on an unmade road. Work is going on to improve it and many corners have been widened with stone retaining walls. But there is still a lot of work to be done.
 |
| Low clouds on the tops |
 |
| Stopping for a rest on the goat track |
 |
| Rough road but very beautiful |
So on to Ramales where the planned camp site doesn't appear to exist. We find a hotel in the Tomtom and ride 20 kilometres to find it.
It too does not exist. It's getting seriously late now. Oops. In desperation we head for the coast where there are always camp sites. Fortunately it is a fast road, to Laredo and we find camping by the sea estuary.
On a back road near the coast there is a huge pothole, skilfully camouflaged. We all hit it. It's a real wheel buster but we suffer no apparent damage.
Arriving at the campsite is a huge relief. It's busy, full of families and quite lively. It's quite dark as we put up the tents. There is just time for a beer or three in the camp bar before we flop exhausted into our sleeping bags.
 | |||
| Another view of the dam |
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