Disastrous old Tour I was just reminded of

[Millietant]

Welcoming new member DK to the forum reminded me of a "Family Tour" around Scotland back in 2009 - myself and our youngest Ryan on the FJ, my wife Liz on her Fazer 1000 (FZ1 to some) and our friends Andy and Janet on their Fazer 1000 (which Andy had just gotten to replace his old FJ 1200 3XW).

We started the trip in clear skies and sunshine, but almost as soon as we crossed the border into Scotland by Gretna Green, the rain started.......and it basically didn't stop. We went all along the west coast up to the Isle of Skye crossing, but couldn't go because of the weather, so we headed to Loch Ness instead. Looking at the forecast it said the weather better in the east, so we headed to Pitlochry....but still it rained !! At the end of the 4th day , over dinner in Pitlochry, Liz said that if it was still raining the next morning, she wanted to abort the trip and head for a holiday somewhere warm and dry.

Waking up on day 5 and it was still pouring with rain, so we headed south towards Plymouth (650 miles away, with a stop at home to pick up fresh dry clothes) and jumped on the ferry to Santander in Spain. It was raining as the ferry sailed into the port, but by the time we'd docked and disembarked, the skies had cleared and the sun was shining - and for the following 9 days we had fantastic weather for a beautiful tour through Spain, across the Pyrenees and meandering our way back up through France from the medieval walled city of Carcassonne, to Mont St Michel. We crossed back on the ferry from Le Havre to Southampton and it was quick dry cruise from there back to home - warm, relaxed and refreshed 

[Millietant]

A few photo's from the Scottish leg and at Plymouth

[Millietant]

Our friends didn't have the time to make the second part of the trip and Ryan wanted to stay with his favourite cousins, so it was only Liz and myself for the second part of the tour.

After Landing in Santander, we headed out through the Basque hills to Pamplona and then on to Jaca, at the foot of the Pyrenees. From Jaca, we crossed the Pyreness into France and stopped in Lourdes before heading on to Carcassonne. From there we headed up through the middle of France, taking in the Millau Bridge, the beautiful countryside around Limoges and ending up at Mont St Michel, before crossing back to the UK from Le Havre.

This second half of our 2009 "Scotland" Tour was absolutely faultless.

Both bike ran perfectly for a total of about 3,500 miles each in just over 2 weeks, with nothing more than petrol, a bit of chain lube and some de-ionized water for the FJ battery 

Santander - Jaca - Pyrenees

[Millietant]

Carcassonne - Millau

[Millietant]

 Limousin - Mont St Michel

Hope you're not all bored of the photo's 

This REALLY makes me want to get back there..................

[aviationfred]

Wow, just Wow.....



Fred

[Millietant]

Once we can all travel internationally again Fred, you need to fly across for a tour of the UK and Europe......lots to see and do !!!!