My first Bike Trip to Spain

A google map of northern Spain, showing red pins for places visited
Pictures shot, tents pitched: my random ramble through Northern Spain

In August 2009 I decided to try and recapture the magic of my first motorcycle trip abroad by aiming for another unexplored country – Spain.

I had no knowledge at all of Spanish and everybody I spoke to recommended the region, so I was keen to finally meet those mythical Picos mountains, to sample the vast, dry plains, to get hopelessly trashed on Rioja and sangria. Taking the Portsmouth – Santander ferry, a tent, and 10 days I set off on a voyage that seems easy now but nevertheless filled me with excitement and trepidation at the time. I found a truly marvellous country, filled to bursting point with stunning views and peopled by warm, friendly folk.

The trip was also to be a demo run to see what it would be like to travel and keep a blog at the same time, and I soon learnt that this was a good deal harder than it sounds. The original output of this experiment was sadly lost, until I recently came across a cached version deep in Google’s darkest vaults and decided to resurrect it. The pictures aren’t particularly great and the writing less so, but if you’re feeling brave why not click through to the first post or the trip archive?