Marta & Rita's Iberian Tour

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You can’t imagine how happy I am right now while typing this on my computer. And not happy because I’m typing, don’t take me wrong, but because very soon I’m going on holidays with my bike and would like to share my trip with you along the road.<o></o>
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It’s been a long time since my last biking holidays… Almost a year and a half! Yes, have had some long biking weekends in the Alps in the meantime, but no ‘real’ biking holidays since my trip to Norway in July 2010 (http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=595543). Yes, too long ago…<o></o>
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But how rude I am! Haven’t properly introduced myself… For those who don’t know me (guess almost everybody here), this is my very quick bio: my name is Marta, I was born in Spain but I’m currently living in Switzerland. Love travelling and love motorcycles. And think the best you can do in life is travelling with your motorcycle. I do enjoy reading RR and I really admire those men and women who go on these amazing looong trips around the world. I would love to do that, but I don’t have the guts to quit my job and leave. My trips are much more humble (3 week maximum) but they are important to me. And would like to share this one with you all. It makes the whole experience much more enjoyable!
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So this is me:




But I’m only half of the team… The other half is Rita, my brand new BMW F650GS Twin (have her only since end of June!). Earlier this year I decided to trade Heidi, my R1200GS for a smaller motorcycle. It broke my heart… I loved Heidi, but she was too big for me. No excuses, easy as that, too big for me. So now have Rita and think it’s a pretty good fit for me!
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And this is Rita:


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And where are we going? Well, I have a rough idea of what I’d like to do:


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The kick off idea for this trip was to do a round tour in the Iberian Peninsula, but to be honest, don’t know if I’ll end up doing the full circle or not. I just want to ride, enjoy the road, enjoy the landscape, enjoy the food and try to relax. I can tell you I suffer a bit from ‘planning fatigue’ due to my job so I just want to take things as they come and decide everyday where I’ll go the next one.<o></o>
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Will you join us?<o></o>

Hola Marta, mucho gusto!!!
Congrats on Rita, she's sweet!

Looks like a great trip itinerary.
I look forward to hear and see how your ride develops.
Espana is definitely on the to do list. I want to tour there soon.

Have fun, ride safe.

cheers,
Dave

looking forward to it, +1 on the pics, sounds like a great ride



PS
might that have been your 650 parked outside a restaurant in Bruderholz/Basel last week

and you've got another one hooked




Thanks for posting.

Yes, a little bit!

Nope, last week Rita sleeping in parking Monday to Friday.
Only left parking on Saturday early morning for our 'pre-ride' to Spain (this is going to be my next posting, hopefully this evening if I have time! )

Hello!

If you need any help for your plans of Portugal, I can try to help as best as I can, I'm curently studying in Lisbon (though I'll only be in Lisbon after the 20th of January) and I have travelled up and down Portugal a couple of times

Hi Marta,

all the best during your travel. I'm a little jealous ;-)


Pamplonika

I'm all in and have a fun adventure

Hola Marta!,

I love spain, and your plans to the trip are awesome, I wish you the best!

Greets from Chile!

Juan

Hola Marta, en el sur me tienes, para lo que necesites.

Que disfrutes de tu viaje.

Thanks all for your good wishes and kind help offers, much appreciated!

Getting nervous, only 3 days to start the trip around Spain! (Monday 15th is the 'official' start )

But they are going to be 3 hectic days!!!

Tomorrow (Friday) is my last full day in Switzerland, meaning last day in office and meaning I have to leave home/plants/kitty ready for my absence. And also pack all the last minute stuff I want to take with me.

Saturday early morning will be flying to Barcelona. Yes, flying, not riding.
Rita is already in Spain, waiting patiently in my parents' garage - We rode to Spain last weekend and then I flew back to Switzerland to work this last week - short flight, just 1,5h, and idea behind the pre-ride was to ensure Rita would be home ready to go.
Mum&Dad will be picking me up at the airport and then we going home together. Home town in Spain is 100 Km North from Barcelona, about 1h from the French border.
Plan is having lunch with grandpa and grandma.
Also visit uncle&aunt in the afternoon.
Rest of the day I will spend working (have to close out some work stuff before leaving...).

Sunday I was planning to spend a quiet day at home with family (don't see them that often!) but I finally decided to go diving (second passion after motorbike riding). Water still warm from summer, so will borrow Dad's car, load my diving stuff, drive to the coast (about 1,5h, not more) and spend some time underwater enjoying the beauty of the Mediterranean rocky coast and all its inhabitants.
Surely will still have to work a bit in the evening (know myself, always that last minute things to do).

And finally... Monday morning will be leaving! Yaaaaaaaaaaay! Still don't know whether I will be heading east of west. Think would like to start westwards, but will decide Monday morning!

Getting really excited now that I've written all this!

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Rita must be cold in the garage and waiting to be warmed up may she bring you to the best places and

thank you for sharing lots of pictures. cheers and goodluck!

your fan from the other side of the planet rgon

Vaya Con Dios!


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Little break for breakfast - decided to build a bit more on the RR

Last Saturday Rita and I did our pre-ride from Switzerland to Spain.

We went from our home town in Switzerland (Basel) to Roses (north east of Spain, nice town by the sea). Roses is not my home town (pretty close though), but my parents were spending the weekend there and wanted to give them a surprise.

My initial plan was to leave Friday, sleep somewhere in the middle of France, and arrive home on Saturday. Being able this way to take some back roads for the trip and enjoy the ride.

But things started getting complicated at work Thursday evening, and finally had to work all Friday to do some fire fighting. Was really disappointed. Rita was disappointed too... That left only Saturday to do the 900Km ride, so no way we could take any back roads. Had to jump straight into the motorway (ugh!).

Left Basel on Saturday morning, around 8.30 AM (I'm not an early bird) and got to Roses at around 6.30 PM. 10hours for 900km. Average 90 km/h. Not that bad! Know can be done quicker, but don't like to squeeze Rita on the motorway and... my butt needs some rest from time to time (the low seat is pretty hard!!!!)


Route we did was the following (just to give you an idea):

• Basel
• Bern
• Lausanne
• Geneva
• Swiss-French Border
• Grenoble
• Valence
• Montelimar
• Nimes
• Montpellier
• Narbonne
• Perpignan
• French-Spanish Border
• Roses

And this is how it looks like on the map: STRAIGHT!




One of the easiest Switzerland-Spain rides I've ever done.
No rain. No cold. No heat. No wind (can be a pain in the south of France). No ice/snow. Very fluid traffic. Almost no roadworks.
Totally uneventful and pleasant ride.
Which is fine when you have to do lots of Km in one day, but doesn't help much when you want to write a RR
Now what do I tell you???

Well, got there Saturday evening and parents were very happy to see me.
We spend rest of Saturday and Sunday together (great lunch on Sunday!) and we went back to our home town (real one this time) Monday early morning (just on time for mum to go to work in the afternoon - dad is retired and doesn't have to worry about working ).

Spent Monday afternoon working from home (love this flexibility I'm allowed!) and Tuesday morning took the plane back to Switzerland. And have been working like crazy since then... Just realizing now that in less than 24h I'll be landing in Barcelona, almost ready to start my holidays!

great rita!!!

Hi Marta,

I live between E and F on your planned route, contact me if you need any help -advice?- around there. By the way, a nice place very near your waypoint E: http://www.hotelsemaforodebares.com/en/, the gardens around the hotel have free access, with an amazing view of the Ria do Barqueiro and the point where the Cantabric sea meets the Atlantic ocean. The hotel has a wonderful terrace but not sure it will be open in October.

Thumbs up for your ride!

Thanks Navel, will take good note of your offer!
Checked the hotel and looks beautiful, like quiet places like this one.

Thanks Dust!
It's very likely that I contact you, never been in Portugal before and any recommendations will be welcome.