We dined out on this for a few nights, you need to drink enough beer to make a meal out of it though We did the Picos this summer, travelled further to the West than some might, highly recommended. Stayed at the same place for a few days at two locations which worked well, allowed us to explore the roads in each area in more depth and without luggage. Make an effort with the language and sample the local food. Enjoy your trip
The Ducati Card Assist guide reckons they will repatriate the bike if it breaks down, but only if it can't be fixed in 36 hours or is deemed irreparable. For the sake of £43 for the week, I'm tempted to have a backup plan with the AA or RAC.
We're planning on staying in Potas for a few days, to use it as a central point and, as you say, enable us to ride without luggage for a few days. Your tour looks fantastic! How long did you go for?
Trust me the Qudos link I posted will do the same thing and get the bike home. (And much cheaper than AA or RAC options). Sometimes your own insurance company will repatriate with the European green card cover... (I don't take a chance)
Stay "just around the corner" in Las Arenas de Cabrales". Hotel Picos de Europa. Then you can do the gorge road from there to Potes every morning before breakfast. San Miguel beer, €1.90 a bottle, the biggest G&Ts I have ever had...
We were a party of 12 bikes when we went to the region. Our hotel was near a small fishing village called Cudillero. Google 'Hotel Casona de La Paca' and imagine a large group of bikers rocking up there. The hotel owners were fantastic. News of our arrival spread through the village and all the bars and eateries were vying for our custom. Great food, particularly seafood and copious amounts of beer. The hotel was booked via Boutique hotels & luxury hotels with Rusticae Make sure you are well covered for health and recovery. Whilst we were in the middle of nowhere in the mountains one of our group binned his R1 and broke his collarbone. He had to fly home and his bike was repatriated by a recovery firm. His medical and recovery insurance picked up all the bills. As said, if you make an effort trying to speak Spanish it is really appreciated.
I have done those routes out of Santander. Great roads and the best thing about them is that they lead you to Portugal in half a day, which is even better.
Well, we have just confirmed a trip end October in to November. Fingers crossed for weather, but a fair bit south of you. Berga in lower Pyrenees (just). Cant wait. Spain is a breath of fresh air for empty roads and infrequent Police! May have to sample Spains finest N260 again, oh the hardship :smilingimp::tearsofjoy:
Just a word of caution about insurance and getting your bike back to uk. Maybe something to check out with whoever you take out your policy with.. Last year while in the pyrenees one of our guys came off his bike and did his collarbone in...Bike ( 1190 Adventure) was scratched but otherwise fine..Mate smashed his collarbone (low speed unfortunate off)There was a bit of kerfuffle with his insurance as his bike was rideable and on the whole undamaged although he couldn't physically ride it...basically on a country road a van came round the corner on the wrong side and he locked up the front trying to avoid a collision and fell off..to cut a long winded story short his insurance refused to repatriate his bike as it was rideable and there was a bit of ping pong between the medical insurance company and the bike insurance company as to who would repatriate his bike...in the end his bike insurance (carole nash) repatriated his bike back home but it took a lot of phone calls and one trying to play the other off as to who would take the hit....on top of that the guy was strapped up and in a lot of pain as he was given minimal medical treatment and told to go back to uk to get it sorted properly...medical ins sorted his flights home etc but it was a right pain to get the bike recovered.... Its something i wouldn't have thought previously about had i not witnessed it first hand
Check with both your medical and you bike insurance that in the event of having an accident where the bike is rideable but you physically can't ride it to see which company would be responsible to get it home for you. We were camping in a spot that had no phone signal and very iffy wifi so all our communication had to be done via Skype and email. That just added to the frustration. Much easier to get clarification before you go.
That's why I get a specific bike recovery package like the Qudos one, it covers repatriation if you are unable to ride the bike. One of the guys on our trip to Andorra had to have his appendix out, travel insurance flew him home and the bike was repatriated.
As I drive/ride cars/bikes in Europe and have a choice of vehicles, I was hoping these guys did a personal policy but sadly they only do one for the UK. Just going to have to take my chances with an AA policy. Andy
We were on the ground, i.e. excluding time in the UK and on the ferry, in Spain for a week. The tracker map that I posted has the hotels we stayed at marked. We based ourselves at Hotel La Branina in Villablino for three nights and Hostal La Cuna del Sella in Oseja de Sajambre for two nights. Everywhere else we were just there for only one night.
Thanks to everyone who responded for their helpful advice. I've been here in Potes for 3 days now and am absolutely loving it! Weather is great, roads are unbelievable, people are friendly and food/beer is spot on and cheap. I can't get enough of the roads. Very little traffic, great surface (in the main) and lots of challenging corners and terrain. It's a special place for sure. We're averaging around 230 miles per day, and in this terrain that's a good day's work. One more day here before we head back for Santander ferry on Monday. We're doing the Burgos to Santander route on Monday, which I'm told is fantastic- hopefully that's true. Again, thanks for your advice guys - much appreciated.
