From the Picos to the Pyrenees – motorcycling in Northern Spain is a biker’s dream
Motorcycling in Northern Spain is a biker’s dream, but planning the trip and just getting there can be quite a challenge! DAVID HOOPER reports on a fabulous trip which took him and his friends from the Picos to the Pyrenees!
PLANNING a motorcycle trip to ride the Picos de Europa Mountains in Spain proved to be more of a challenge than expected as we didn’t know the area, or where the good roads were, but the hours of research, planning and pouring over maps really paid dividends.
There were four of us on the trip in late April, me, Jim, Wayne and Steve, and we all agreed it was the best trip any of us have ever done. The roads were brilliant, wide, fast flowing, sweeping bends, stunning scenery and plenty of more challenging narrow mountain roads, but for us, the outstanding part about the trip was the almost complete lack of traffic, for much of the time it was only us, we wouldn’t see another car for hours, and it was very unspoilt. That was also a major issue at times, as it meant it was hard to find coffee stops and we didn’t manage to find anywhere selling Picos de Europa stickers for our top boxes!
We chose Brittany Ferries to get us to Spain and you can read more about that here.
Riding a bike through the Picos Mountains in Spain is a thrilling adventure that combines breathtaking scenery with challenging roads, making it a must for any motorcycling enthusiast. Nestled between Asturias, Cantabria, and Castilla y León, the Picos de Europa National Park offers a tapestry of rugged peaks, lush valleys, and quaint villages.
Picking a favourite route from the trip is impossible, there honestly wasn’t a bad one, but one of the highlights of riding in the Picos is the iconic N-621. Starting from the town of Unquera, this road winds its way through the Desfiladero de la Hermida, a stunning gorge flanked by towering cliffs. The road’s twists and turns provide an exhilarating ride, while the dramatic scenery offers plenty of opportunities to stop and take in the views.
Another must-ride is the AS-114, which takes you through the heart of the national park. This route offers a perfect blend of tight hairpins and sweeping curves, with the majestic peaks of the Picos de Europa serving as a constant backdrop. Along the way, you’ll pass through charming villages like Potes.
For those seeking a higher altitude, the ride up to Fuente Dé is a must. This cable car station, located at the end of a dramatic valley, offers spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. The ride up to Fuente Dé involves navigating a series of challenging switchbacks, but the effort is rewarded with some of the most breathtaking scenery in the region.
No trip to the Picos would be complete without exploring the Covadonga Lakes. The winding road up to these glacial lakes is a motorcycling dream, with sharp bends and steep climbs. Once at the top, the serene beauty of the lakes, surrounded by towering peaks, provides a perfect spot to rest and soak in the natural splendour.
The Picos Mountains offer a unique blend of natural beauty and thrilling roads, making it an unforgettable destination for motorcyclists. Whether you’re navigating narrow gorges or climbing to high-altitude lakes, the Picos provide an unrivalled riding experience.
My new Dunlop Meridian tyreswith their “ice-ax” tread pattern certainly proved their worth on these challenging roads too – read my tyre review in full here.
We used mostly smaller hotels which were welcoming, homely and fabulous, nothing was too much trouble and some focused specifically on catering for bikers, with one having car port or garage accommodation and sprays for cleaning bike screens and visors, and even a tool kit for running repairs, which fortunately, we didn’t need.
The views were always fantastic, with lakes and reservoirs in the Picos with their dramatic dams breaking up the scenery and had clearly been recently topped up with the thawing mountain snow as their edges had engulfed many trees, the tops of which protruded from the water, resembling a sinking forest!
One of our party, Wayne, volunteers as a marshal for the British Superbike Championship, and had volunteered his services for the first round ever to be held outside the UK, at the Circuit de Nevarra, near Los Arcos, which had recently been bought by Motorsport Vision, owned by ex-Formula One driver Jonathan Palmer, who also owns Cadwell Park near us and several other popular circuits around the UK.
While Wayne was doing his marshalling duties on the Saturday, the rest of us took the opportunity to tour the Rioja region, but resisted stopping at one of the many bodegas to sample the produce as we were riding our bikes!
Race day on the Sunday gave us a welcome rest day off the bikes – mostly! We’d based ourselves for a couple of nights in Logrono, which was only a 20-minute ride from the circuit, and an easier day for all of us. Anyone who has ridden a bike for several days on the trot will know how tiring and uncomfortable it can become!
The circuit itself was a bit of a disappointment from a spectators’ perspective – you could see very little of the action, other than on the start/finish straight if you could get into the grandstand, so there’s plenty of work for the new owners to do, although we did like the viewing area on the top of the pit garages and restaurant. All the teams were really friendly, and it was great to catch up with Paul Wooding who I knew from my newspaper days who now runs John Darke’s garage in Louth, Lincolnshire, and sponsors one of the teams. Thanks to Paul for giving us a quick tour of the garages between races too!
After the race, we headed to Pamplona for our penultimate night, staying in the amazing ????? hotel in the city centre – we had to ride over a drawbridge to get to it and we chose it because it had secure underground parking!
Next morning, we headed for The Pyrenees offered tighter hair pins, steeper climbs and higher altitude as climbed into the snow line at 6,500ft, with road signs still requiring cars to carry snow chains, but fortunately the winter’s snow had receded from the roads although the -2 temperatures and frozen ice in the gutters demanded a considerable deal of concentration on the road surface and conditions.
Other hazards included chunks of fallen rocks, cattle with bells clinking, sheep, horses and even a deer having her breakfast in the middle of the road, camouflaged in the early morning shadows as we approached. There was also a considerable amount of assorted poo to negotiate, which at times resembled a slalom course!
After largely good weather all week, we woke up to torrential rain for our run back to the ferry, so we all had lots of wet gear to dry off in our cabin once on the ship, so our room resembled a laundry!
Fortunately, the return crossing was very smooth, and we even saw some dolphins in the Bay of Biscay, but as we reflected on our time away, we were all – for once – of the same opinion – how do we top that?
Watch this space . . . Brittany Ferries, we may be back soon!
