I thought I'd make a quick report about our recent trip. The EMM (European Multistrada Meeting) had been planned for three years but with all the disruption from Covid it was finally able to take place this June. The venue was Chaves in Northern Portugal, just a few Km’s from the Spanish border. Four of us from the UK travelled together to the venue whilst taking a few days to enjoy the Picos and Galicia area of Spain. Steve123 and Keffs on their Multistradas’ and Nick on his MV (which got a lot of comments). It was an early start for me as I headed off on winding cross country route to meet up with the others in Tiverton and a ride across Dartmoor to the Ferry at Portsmouth. Boarding was fairly straightforward, we just had to produce our vaccination records. This was the first time I’d taken the ferry from the UK to Northern Spain and I was pleasantly surprised how smooth and easy it was. We arrived in Santander a short while before schedule and disembarked. The ferry was packed with bikes and the long queue to get through passport control and out of the port in 40 degree heat was brutal.
A lunch stop in St Vincent de la Barquera was enlivened by a random meeting with some guys from Essex that I’d been to Cumbria with a couple of years before. Luckily they left before any trouble kicked off. The weather was still very hot, but it was a bit cooler by the coast. We made our way to Cangas de Onis as we’d been unable to find enough hotel rooms in Potes. The Hotel Imperion was a good location next to the Roman bridge with underground parking for the bikes. https://tinyurl.com/3d2cvzay A few beers were drained, purely to stave off dehydration but a hunt for a restaurant serving anything Vegan for Nick was challenging, most of the ones on his Google search seem to have gone out of business. Steve K had an interesting dispenser for his cider, obviously modelled on him.
The next day we did the classic Picos loop (approx. 150 miles) with a trip up to visit the bear statue, the deer and lunch at an excellent Mexican restaurant in Potes (which did cater for Vegans). The weather first thing was ideal in the mid 20’s but after lunch as we left Potes it was up to 40 degrees again. It’s really odd when you are riding along and think ‘ah it’s a bit cooler now’ but then a quick look at the temperature gauge makes you realise it’s still 38 degrees! We somehow cocked up and missed a junction to allow us to visit the lakes at El Casin, but given the temperatures we were just glad to get back to the hotel for a cold shower.
The next day the temperature had dropped to about 25 degrees, thank goodness, and we set off west towards Meira. The first part of the route was just steady roads but it improved greatly as we got to the AS-252 (7-8 on the map), a really lovely road, traffic free and nice flowing corners. The route dropped back down into the valley and then we turned onto the AS-230, another great road. We had a good stop for lunch, where far more food was served than we expected. At most stops, after a quick wee break the was the ritual ‘prodding of the Sat Nav’s’ by the two Steve’s, I’m still not clear why this has to happen but usually it was done without recourse to an argument. The B&B in Meira (Lar De Donas) was excellent, very smart rooms, we were able to park the bikes in a small courtyard at the rear. They had an honesty bar and fridge well stocked with beers and although there wasn’t restaurant it was just a short walk into town. They also served a very good breakfast. https://tinyurl.com/3swyckyd
We had two nights here and weather had changed a bit with some rain in the forecast we decided on a shorter ride out to the coast at Navia. Once again some excellent roads in the area although being Sunday there were more cyclists around. The stop at the viewpoint above town was pretty windy and there was a lot of cow shit to avoid. We found a great local restaurant in the town and we were able to sit inside and watch the Moto GP whilst it poured with rain for about an hour. The first part of the route back was damp with some slippery overbanding and white lines but the weather cleared and we had a good day out.
Monday morning and we set off for the EMM at Chaves. The route avoided the motorways but there were less choices of route. Steve had still managed to find some good secondary roads to keep us all interested, the OU-636. We crossed into Spain and arrived in the town of Chaves. The hotel chosen for the event, Forte de São Francisco, is an old converted fort on the top of the hill overlooking the town. Some of the early arrivals had been out on scouting trips but everyone made it for early evening beers and a group meal at the hotel. The EMM is now in it’s 15th year, this event has been postponed for two years due to Covid so it was great it could finally happen albeit with less bikes than normal. We had 18 bikes this year, mainly all Multistradas but a few interlopers. The furthest flung attendees were from Norway and Slovakia. Sadly many of the Spanish contingent couldn’t make it this year as well as few of the British lads.
Day 1 of the EMM bought the usual chaos as the route was changed at the last minute and Steve was kept busy loading the new route up to all the Sat Nav’s during breakfast. Experience has shown that it’s best not to try and all ride in one giant group, but pick a few people that ride at a similar pace. The route was excellent and took us across some fast flowing roads before we finally got to the Douro valley and lunch stop. One the way I’d stopped to help one of the guys, Booney, who had dropped behind with a problem and we rode together as the rest of our group had gone on ahead. We arrived at a massive dam and stopped on the bridge, as I went to get off the bike to take some pictures I suddenly became very dizzy, the whole floor was swimming in my vision. We sat for a while and I gradually felt a bit better and we slowly rode on to the lunch stop at the bottom of the Douro valley in Pinhão. When I arrived I once again felt dizzy and sick. One of the local guys got me some sea sickness tablets and I drank a lot of water and sat quietly for a while. Gradually I felt better but decided to just ride straight back to the hotel on the most direct route. Weirdly when I was riding and looking straight ahead I felt OK, but I took it slowly and stayed off the wine that night. I think it was Labyrinthitis, an inflammation of the inner ear, I'd had it a few years before and maybe wearing earplugs so much and riding on such twisting roads with changes in altitude didn't help.
The next day I felt OK and so we headed out on day two of the event. Once again an excellent route although initially starting by trying to ride through the middle of a market wasn’t ideal and required a few U turns. The roads in Portugal were generally very good but you do get sections in villages where they make the road from stone blocks which are slippery (I’d hate to ride on them in the rain). In one village this type of road got narrower and narrower until we could almost touch the stone barns on either side, it wasn’t helped that the road was swimming in cow muck. This has now entered EMM folklore as “Cow Shit Alley”. Luckily this was followed by one of the best roads of the trip, the EN-304, a super fast road which climbed up the hillsides with fabulous views. We made our way down to the Duoro valley once again and road alongside the river before heading back towards Chaves. We were about 30 mins from the hotel when I suddenly suffered another dizziness spell, this time it was whilst riding and I had to pull over. Sitting still helped a bit but eventually I had to just ride back at a slow pace, looking straight ahead wasn’t too bad but if I glanced down at the Sat Nav or Speedo it made my vision swim. The worst part was when I came up to a junction and tried to look left and right quickly and almost dropped the bike. Back at the hotel I took another sea sickness pill and lay quietly. I also did some exercises that a friend recommended which seemed to help.
The final dinner was down in the town, a really cool restaurant with a quirky owner who gave us renditions of Portuguese protest songs during the evening. There was an interesting way of selecting the wine, you basically helped yourself from the cellar. The bottles had coloured labels, which matched up with the price you paid, it was a great way to try different wines. One of the more inebriated members couldn’t grasp that a fatter bottle still only contains the same amount of wine as a thinner bottle and it didn’t mean he was getting more wine! The food was excellent, but you learn to pace yourself as they just keep bringing more and more dishes, and a lot of meat!
The next morning people started heading back home, a couple of guys had to head for Santander for that evening’s ferry, which was achievable as long as you stuck to the main roads and some motorway. The two Steve’s and some of the others headed south and also visited Porto and the coast. I decided to have a day off the bike and Petter from Norway also joined me for a lazy day. We chilled by the pool and an a walk into town where we saw the leaning tower of Harley. So much luggage!
The next morning we headed off early and initially did a few miles on the motorway before we peeled off onto the back roads. There were some great sections, mile after mile of flowing roads with almost no traffic, a joy after crowded British roads. Petter was popping little wheelies over the crests on his V4, looked very cool. Stopped for lunch and were given an enormous sandwich full of roast pork, luckily we only ordered the medium one. We headed for the Picos again and stopped for the night just after Riaño. We pulled up in the town to fill up and we turned left back down the hill just as a police van came along. I’d crossed a solid line as I pulled out of the petrol station. It’s a pretty dumb road marking as loads of people must turn left out of here, (we’d all done it the week before). We were threatened with a €200 fine but I was pretty sure his heart wasn’t in it and he just wanted to show how big and important he was and after a bit of chest puffing he let us off.
Petter left early the next morning as he wanted to get some miles done on his way back across France to Norway. As I left the hotel it was a lovely morning, misty but with the sun burning it off but when I got up to the top of the pass the cloud descended and the rain started, which was a massive change from the clear roads and 40 degree temperatures of the week before. It was a pretty wet and miserable ride down to Potes but after I turned right off the N-621 onto some secondary roads and the rain cleared for a bit. It was a nice cross country route which lasted until I got to the A8 to head to Bilbao. After about 5kms the heavens opened and it was horrible all the way along the coast. I was wearing my Rukka gear and stayed dry but I hadn’t put in the down liner and I didn’t want to stop and get soaked trying to put it as they don’t have service areas on the motorway there. I was pretty cold when I got to the ferry port even with the heated grip on full. I had a nasty slide on the corner going down the hill to the port, diesel I guess, and really thought I was going down but I got some grip just in time. When I arrived at the port I was about 2 hrs early but they started loading us straight away, which I was grateful for.
As I was travelling on my own I booked a club lounge access and it was a pretty good deal as you got snacks and drink for the whole trip. My interior cabin had a fabulous view out of the window! We docked in Portsmouth on time and in just over an hour I was back home.
Total trip milage 1,801, longest day 229 miles, shortest 118, Average 163 miles. (One of the guys, Paul, had an emergency just before the EMM started and had to leave to ride home. He managed 1900 kms in 26hrs, pretty much all Motorway, and had to be woken up on the ferry.) Thanks to @steveb123 for great routes and teaching me how to display a track and a route on my Garmin. If anyone would like the gpx files please let me know. Great trip and if anyone is interested in the event next year I’ll post the link, early rumour is Livigno is a possible location.
Looks like a fabulous trip, thanks for the report. Previously had an MV Turismo, great solo tourer, took that to the Picos and quite a few other European destinations
That nice member of the Guarda Civil is always there. He’s got nothing better to do. He waits for naughty bikers, especially British ones. He likes the fact that we have never seen those ‘turn right to turn left’ junctions that they have in Spain and so just turn left across the white line. KER-CHING!
Great write up. What programme/software do you use for the map planning then downloading to the satnav??
