Spain and Portugal Trip

[Fish]

So I arrived back from a trip to Spain and Portugal. Left on the Friday night boat from Portsmouth to Santander arriving 8am Sunday morning. The plan being that we do not use any motorways for the holiday. I was on my XSR900 and my friend on his GSXS1000.

 

First stop was in Braganca, which although a long days riding, was well worth it. We started along the coastline from Santander, turned onto the N621 down to Riano for a coffee/lunch stop. 

 

Once lunch was over we continued to Braganca, stopping at the hornless goat. Wow it can get a bit windy up there.  

 

Then down to the N525 and N218 and staying in a hotel for the first night. Exe São Lázaro, which although did not do food, they offered to order us a takeaway so cant complain. The fog shots from the morning was different.

[Fish]

Day two was heading into Porto on the N103 towards Chaves and onto Braga, and just WOW what a road. Dry with plenty of grip which got better as the heat got into the tarmac. 

 

Then down to Porto, which as I'd never been there before I wanted a day to explore a little. 

[Fish]

Day four was to head down to a little seaside sport called Palheiros da Tocha. This was another overnight stop, which would be idea for a very quiet, walking/beach holiday. 

 

Mostly on the N109, which was a bit more straight ploddy type road.

[Fish]

Day five to ten was based out of Magoito Beach as a base for the World SuperBikes at Estoril around 30 mins away. We set the satnavs to also stop at Nazare which Garmin choose to ignore, so we headed into and around Peniche which looked like a tourist haven.

 

We continued down the N247 hugging the coastline where possible. 

 

We also took the Monday (day 11) off as a rest day, deciding to explore on our feet.

 

 

[Fish]

Day twelve and the weather turned, so we moved the plans from heading down to Faro and head to Mourão. This was another quiet little village, but the accomodation looked decent enough for a night.

 

The gloves being a little wet needed a tree to dry out on.

[Fish]

Day thirteen was heading to Salamanca. We rode up throu Badajoz, up the N523 and N630 which other than the middle section was another fairly straight run. 

 

When we hit Salamanca we decided to stop a day and do some sight seeing. This was a wise choice as there would be more than enough to spend a long weekend there. 

[AstronautNinja]

Awesome

[Fish]

The final night was spent in Burgos, arriving mid afternoon, gave us time to have a proper look around. 

 

We couldn't find anything on AirBNB which looked acceptable, so we stayed in Hotel Silken Gran Teatro, which had underground secure parking.

[Fish]

The final morning was a ride up the N623 to Santander. We set off at 8:30 to be early enough for lunchtime boat ride home back to Portsmouth.

 

The 623 was a little twitchy in places, which we put down to worn rear tyres and cold/damp tarmac and a rough surface.

 

The bike is filthy, now parked until I can get time to spend making it spotless again. It also needs either a new rear (S22/S23) or replacing both front and rear with Road 6's, but plenty of time to decide as it's now parked until the warmer months.

[Fish]

Other than the two hotels, we stayed in AirBNB's, which all apart from the stay at Palheiros da Tocha all had secure parking. Tocha had a look of a secluded and it was. When we arrived the curtain twitchers had us feeling more secure and relaxed about our choice.

[Simon Davey]

Wow, looks like you had a fantastic time! 

Awesome pictures, big thanks for sharing. 

[AstronautNinja]

19 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

Wow, looks like you had a fantastic time! 

Awesome pictures, big thanks for sharing. 

Yes great to see

[Nick the wanderer]

I like Portugal, always found it an easy going place, I could retire there no problem. 

[husoi]

7 minutes ago, Nick the wanderer said:

I like Portugal, always found it an easy going place, I could retire there no problem. 

It's lovely yes, mostly the southern west coast.

Not appealing is the new tax system

[Nick the wanderer]

The last time we were there we found ourselves going further and further north past Porto north, could spend a bit of time up there exploring.

Always taxes to pay wherever you go it seems.

[husoi]

I meant income tax on pension or abroad income.

There was a 10 years period where foreigners could apply for a flat 10% income tax.

That's now scrapped.

 

Tourist tax is spreading like wildfire all over the world.

A new legal theft...

[Steve_M]

It looks like you had a great time.  

[rob m]

Great pics and report. I love Spain, wanted to go again this year but didn't happen so maybe next year. It still have a booking with Brittany Ferries I haven't used...