V Strom On Top Of The Rock

Across the straits of Gibraltar, you can just see the North Africa coast in the distance

This is the top of what is British Territory. I had to produce my passport to gain entry to the  Rock.

Barbary Apes, not far from the top feeding on food scraps from the British Military installations on The Rock.

V Strom on top of the The Rock. This is the view into the very busy port of Gibraltar. The military have their own port, that had one warship tied up. The British also have a very short landing strip for military aircraft.

The view of Gibraltar across the road from our camping ground. The rock is 1380 ft high. Formed from limestone, it stands guard over the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. 

l  received a few black looks but managed to get within 30 metres of the top on the Strom. They are an adventure bike after all.

The Algarve

Those of you who know this province will know it is the district that the rich & famous come to play. Well we don't really qualify for the rich & are only a little bit famous. Tonight we are staying in a Lagos resort / camping ground that is truly over the top for our motorcycle cruising style. You can order a golf buggy thing to take you to the restraurant from your site. Getting out of Lisbon this morning was always going to be a challenge. Traffic  meant we only moved 10 kms from our camp in 1 hour, but once we were on the huge suspension bridge that spans Lisbon harbour we were away. We had some of the best riding to date along the coast on the secondary roads with great scenery & plenty of twisties. The waters along the coast are crystal clear  & would be great for divers. All the small villages have seen a building boon here in the last 10 years to service Europeans from colder climates.
Our NZ number plates & NZ stickers draw plenty of comments where ever we go. One guy wound down his window at the traffic lights in Lisbon & yelled out  All Blacks.!!

Lisbon History

This statue of the Archangel Gabriel was carried by Vasco De Gama on two of his voyages of discovery

This Royal Barge is over 300 years old & was last used in an official capacity to transport Queen Elizabeth II  on her official visit to Lisbon 

No visit to Lisbon  is complete without a visit to the iconic statue commissioned in the 80,s to honour the sailors of this great seafaring nation.

A view of the building that  houses the Naval Maritime Museum of Lisbon. This was a must do for me with a life long interest of matters nautical. Portugal led the world in the 16 th century with nautical feats & voyages of discovery financed by the king or queen of the time.

Tomorrow we are heading down the coast on our way to Gibraltar, with a night half way. This morning I made contact with the other bikes in our group of 7. Hopefully we will all meet up in Gibraltar.

Slumming It In Lisbon

Gordon selected this camping ground not me. It has a restaurant, bar, supermarket , just to name a few of the facilities. What he did get right is the sun is shining. Today we rode over 500 kms from Santander to here via the mountain area of Guarda . There are numerous small villages with the usual apartment blocks, tucked in against a hill, with the ubiquitous cathedral on the highest point in the village. We could be in trouble leaving Portugal as I took the wrong lane at the border, for locals only..We have now had 4 languages to contend with since leaving the UK so you can imagine the head is spinning a bit. We are going to stay 2 nights in Lisbon to give us a chance to visit the maritime museum etc, while here. The traffic here is crazy & no one obeys the speed restrictions, so we will definitely be going in to the city by public transport. Our plan. Is to hug the coast from here down to Gibraltar.
The beer is cheap & Gordon has just bought a glass of port for 1 Euro I suppose I should keep him company.

Blame The Navigator

At the last minute this morning I suggested to Gordon we go through the mountains past a couple of ski fields to Salamanca in central Spain instead of hugging the coast to A Coruna. What a great idea that was , just as much rain, but with alpine temperatures plus a howling gail.

 Our bikes are covered in salt , from the salted roads  & it was hard to stay upright with the wind. No problem to kiwi bikers of course. The roads through the mountains are awesome. 4 lanes all the way with huge viaducts & numerous tunnels, all obviously built in the last 10 years. No wonder this  country has a debt problem. Guys today we passed at least 50 Valley pivots yeah!! & they were not rusty.. Tomorrow we will head out to Lisbon, Portugal, & please some good warm weather.

SPAIN WITHOUT RAIN

It has been a couple of eventful days.

We have left the rain back in France & today crossed the border into Spain. Not that you would realise you were riding into another country. I gave two policemen a wave, but they didn't seem too interested. The country side has changed dramatically from the flat arable land of France to the rock cliff's of coastal Spain. Certainly  made the riding more interesting, and hopefully the road toll's of France will end. The fountain in the photo is in the centre of Bilbao where we stopped for a break & Tapa's. Tonight we are in a nearly deserted camping ground in Santander. The  large lighthouse is right next to our camp site. Tomorrow we plan to move on to a small fishing village close to Al Coruna, that has been recommended.  Our ride will hug the coast line, so hopefully some sun to go with the scenery.
By the way I have not taken up diving, this shark was in the aquarium at La Rochelle.There are lots of signs along the roads in France & this part of Spain warning about roaming wild deer, don't really want to see any at close range on the bike. Yesterday in the south of France finally saw some centre pivots, sorry guys they were all Otechs & badly rusted, probably high iron content.

Rain Rain Rain

We are currently staying in a little village on the south coast of France, 28 kms north of La Rochelle. We managed to get our tents up before the rain started, but it is raining constantly now. The campground owner is very obliging & between my limited French & her limited English we have managed OK.
It has been over 50 years since I took French at college & believe it or not it is pretty rusty. Of course our NZ accent makes it difficult for the French to understand our English, let alone my poor French. The young French are OK because English is a compulsory language at school. Kids if you have the opportunity to learn French or Spanish & you travel later in life, you will appreciate the effort.
Hi to the pupils at Kirwee school I know some of you are following this blog & our trip. As you may know in Europe you drive on the right hand side of the road & the steering wheel is on the left hand side of the car. The confusing rule is at round abouts you give way to the left, but at uncontrolled intersections without stop or give way signs you give way to the right as we do in NZ.
The rest of our group of seven motorcycles crossed over from Dover to Calais in France today, on the Chunnel. It only takes 30 minutes to cross the English Channel & you are in France. We rode our bikes on to the train & sat beside them. There is no sense of speed, inside the carriage. Most of the country we have ridden through is gently undulating, with the predominant crops being, barley & canola. There have been virtually no fences or cattle, but a lot of piggeries. Easy to pick on a motorbike. Inland, around Paris a number of farmers were irrigating with hard hose guns. I have not seen any centre pivots at all.
Internet is not always available, so posts may be infrequent. When the rest of our group arrives & the rain stops we will ride on down to Spain